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Deterrence

Illogic of Nuclear Disarmament in the Contemporary Era

Archive, Strategic AdversariesArms Control, Arms Race, Article VI, AUKUS deal, biases, bilateral arms control, China, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), conference on disarmament (CD), confidence-building measures (CBMs), conventional imbalance, crisis management, Deterrence, deterrent credibility, disarmament deception syndrome (DDS), discriminatory norms, emerging technologies, France, geopolitical landscape, global zero (GZ), India, Iran nuclear pursuit, Israel, modernization, multilateral treaties, National Security, Negative Security Assurances, non-nuclear weapon states, North Korea, North Korea withdrawal, nuclear arms race, nuclear disarmament, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), nuclear proliferation, Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG), nuclear umbrella, nuclear weapon states, Pakistan, positive security assurances, prestige-driven ambitions, Russia, security betrayal trap (SBT), South Asia, space-based capabilities, strategic chain, strategic stability, Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), Ukraine paradox, United Kingdom, United States

Illogic of Nuclear Disarmament in the Contemporary Era

Sher Ali Kakar & Atta Ullah1 Comment

Since the beginning of the nuclear age, the international community consistently made efforts toward disarmament. However, the world saw both vertical and horizontal nuclear proliferation. Nuclear-armed states are modernizing…

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Mutually Assured Destruction

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Bonus Reads, Strategic Adversariesadversaries, adversary, American, any, assured, conflict, conventional, destruction, Deterrence, deterrent, force, forces, land-based, MAD, military, missile, mutually, nuclear, president, soviet, states, strategic, strategy, these, united, use, war, warheads, weapons, would

Mutually Assured Destruction

Peter Huessy0 Comments

Mutually assured destruction or MAD is not an American doctrine or military strategy. Those who believe MAD is how America deters nuclear-armed adversaries assume that any use of nuclear weapons by the United States…

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This Week in Deterrence (September 15-19, 2025)

Archive, Bonus Reads, Emerging Threats, Space Deterrence & Conflict, Strategic Adversariesanti-satellite, Attrition, B-21 raider, B-52J, China, Cyber, Denmark, Deterrence, Doctrine, electronic warfare, End-to-End Testing, Golden Dome, hypersonic, industrial base, Iran, Kill Chains, long-range strike, missile defense, modernization, multi-domain operations, NATO, Precision Fires, proliferation, resilience, Responsive Launch, Russia, Space, strategic advantage, Survivability, Tactical Edge, Taiwan

This Week in Deterrence (September 15-19, 2025)

GSR Staff0 Comments

This past week was maelstrom of activities in deterrence. We are seeing a shift of the forces reshaping deterrence across domains. Paramount is the urgency of integrating allied doctrine, accelerating…

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Deconstructing Deterrence

Archive, Arms Control & Nonproliferationassumptions, attack, attacks, began, conflict, counteraction, credible, defeat, Deterrence, enemies, failed, Fear, first, force, global, honor, ingram, Israel, maintain, major, military, nuclear, paradigm, paul, peace, phobos, planning, policy, principal, problem, rational, response, seay, sought, state, threat, trinity, trouble, weapons, work

Deconstructing Deterrence

Paul Ingram & Ted Seay2 Comments

Since October 7, 2023, the term “deterrence” has circulated with increased frequency. There is one problem: as it is currently defined and understood, deterrence does not work. The Oxford Essential…

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Nuclear Danger Remains in Ukraine Peace Settlement

Archive, Emerging Threats, Strategic Adversariesarmageddon, ceasefire, conflict, crisis, Deterrence, deterrents, Diplomacy, escalation, Europe, Medvedev, NATO, negotiations, nuclear, peace, Putin, Russia, sanctions, security, strategic, submarines, tactical, Trump, Ukraine, war, weapons

Nuclear Danger Remains in Ukraine Peace Settlement

Stephen Cimbala0 Comments

The Alaska summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on August 15, 2025, together with the follow-on meetings in Washington, DC, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European heads…

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Deterring Nuclear Terrorism in the Era of Great Power Competition

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Arms Control & Nonproliferation, Defense & Security, Deterrence & Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Emerging Threats, Strategic AdversariesAfghanistan, Arms Control, Atomic, China, cold war, Deterrence, global security, Hezbollah, ICBM, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Middle East, National Security, Nuclear Deterrence, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, security, Syria, Taliban, Terrorism, Title 22, UN

Deterring Nuclear Terrorism in the Era of Great Power Competition

Alexis Schlotterback0 Comments

As the Cold War ended and new counterterrorism priorities took root in the 2000s, the threat of nuclear terrorism cemented itself as the ultimate catastrophic scenario. Dick Cheney famously stated…

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Restoring Ukraine Sovereignty Requires Restoring Deterrence

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Deterrence & Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Government & Politicsallies, America, American, capability, defeat, Deterrence, deterrent, enhanced, escalation, Here’s the comma-separated list of the top 20 keywords from the document: **nuclear, military, Moscow, nation, NATO, Russian, theater, threats, Ukraine, use

Restoring Ukraine Sovereignty Requires Restoring Deterrence

Peter Huessy0 Comments

The impact on American security from the Ukraine conflict, especially the impact on the nuclear and extended deterrent for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are significant. A key part…

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A Nuclear Umbrella in Peril: Lessons from North Korea’s Escalation Scenarios

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Strategic Adversariesalliance, bombers, China, coercion, conventional, credibility, crisis, Deterrence, escalation, escalation scenarios, extended deterrence, Guardian Tiger, Indo-Pacific, Japan, missile defense, North Korea, nuclear, nuclear threshold, nuclear umbrella, preemptive, proliferation, retaliation, signaling, South Korea, strategic, strike, submarines, tactical, Taiwan, United States

A Nuclear Umbrella in Peril: Lessons from North Korea’s Escalation Scenarios

Ju Hyung Kim0 Comments

What happens when the world’s most powerful nuclear arsenal blinks in the face of a nuclear strike? In a recent Atlantic Council “Guardian Tiger” exercise, the United States faced precisely…

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Failed Deterrence and Misplaced Compellence in Gaza

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Bonus Reads, Defense & Security, Deterrence & Foreign Policy, Emerging Threats, Strategic Adversariesattack, attacks, ceasefire, civilians, compellence, deterred, Deterrence, endured, first, Gaza, hamas, Here is the comma-separated list of the top 30 keywords from the article: **israel, Hezbollah, hope, houthis, Iran, Leadership, military, nuclear, october, offensive, security, state, they, two, US, while, would

Failed Deterrence and Misplaced Compellence in Gaza

Justin Leopold-Cohen2 Comments

The October 7, 2023, Hamas surprise attack on Israel proved that Israel’s strategy of deterrence was a failure. After two destructive wars in Gaza, in 2014 and 2021, the hope that…

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How US and Israeli Attacks on Iran Will Reshape the Future of Nuclear Proliferation

Strategic Adversariesair defenses, asymmetric hedging, bunker-busting munitions, crash programs, Deterrence, enrichment facilities, Fordow, GBU-57 bombs, global instability, Iran, kinetic counter-proliferation, Midnight Hammer, Miscalculation, Natanz, normative firebreak, nuclear club, nuclear proliferation, operational secrecy, Peter Huessy, preemptive strike, resilience, Stephen Cimbala, strategic risk, underground facilities, US-Israel strikes

How US and Israeli Attacks on Iran Will Reshape the Future of Nuclear Proliferation

Aaron Holland0 Comments

The recent joint US-Israel strikes on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities mark more than a tactical blow to Tehran, they represent a strategic turning point for nuclear aspirants worldwide. Fourteen GBU-57…

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Drones and the Death of Deterrence: Lessons from Nagorno-Karabakh

Archive, Strategic Adversariesadaptability, aircraft, algorithmic, algorithms, Armenia, asymmetric, Azerbaijan, bandwidth, bayraktar, conventional, Deterrence, drones, escalation, hybrid, innovation, integration, loitering, munitions, precision, proliferation, resilience, retaliation, strategic, superpowers, tactical, visibility, warfare

Drones and the Death of Deterrence: Lessons from Nagorno-Karabakh

Vikramaditya Shrivastava0 Comments

Drones did not change how wars are fought; they changed who can win them. In 2020, Azerbaijan used drones to dismantle Armenia’s defenses in Nagorno-Karabakh with chilling efficiency. Tanks, artillery,…

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It Is Time to Test Again

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Arms Control & Nonproliferation, Emerging Threats, Strategic Adversariesadversary behavior, Arms Control, China, deeply buried targets, Deterrence, firing systems, geopolitical developments, high explosives, hypersonic delivery, life-extension programs, Limited Test Ban Treaty, low-yield test, moratorium, Nevada test sites, new warhead designs, nonproliferation norms, novel nuclear systems, nuclear arsenal, nuclear testing, nuclear-armed adversary, plutonium pits, policy shift, radioactive containment, Russia, safety, Stockpile Stewardship Program, strategic behavior, strategic surprise, technical challenges, testing infrastructure, Threshold Test Ban Treaty, warhead reliability

It Is Time to Test Again

James Ragland & Joel Karasik0 Comments

The United States has observed a moratorium on nuclear explosive testing since 1992, relying instead on the Stockpile Stewardship Program in place of full-scale detonations to ensure the safety, security,…

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