Holy Plutonium: US and Russia Still Stumbling Over Details of Nuclear Arms Reductions

The best news of the nuclear arms reduction talks between the US and Russia this week is that both acknowledged that reducing nukes in these two countries will not only help the global population in the near to long to term, but also help in asking Iran and North Korea to halt their development of the weapons. They've also added smaller tactical weapons to the negotiating table.

Arms reduction is obviously an extremely complicated process. For example, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has pressed the US both to cut more numbers of weapons while at the same time loosening up on the verification measures. Think about it.

Remember when the end was near? Just back in the 1980s it seemed every fifth movie was about an apocalypse of some kind. Hell, with all the talk back then about being blown to bits I remember people were compelled to take life by the antlers and act on love and have that seventeenth Margarita. Who knew what would happen next?

Years on, the dangers are even more clear in the political sphere, but culturally we're back in the warm arms of denial. I'm not dreaming of a society revived with doomsday fear. But there must be some positive way to rally people behind the nuclear arms reduction cause and put pressure on the US and Russia to act more expediently. Well, here's a start:

Nathan Hodge, a writer for Jane's, and Sharon Weinberger, who pens for Wired, wrote a great book you should pick up as soon as possible. I've met them both and also saw them present the book down at Politics & Prose in Washington, DC. They're good people. The book's a witty and creative look back at the geography, trivia, and bizarre aspects of the development of atomic and nuclearn weapons called, A Nuclear Family Vacation.

[Photo: Titan Missile System, Kingdafy]