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Robert Farley

Robert Farley is an assistant professor at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, University of Kentucky. He contributes to the blogs Lawyers, Guns, and Money and TAPPED.

Recent Articles

NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR TEST FAKED?

Robert FarleyJun 18, 2009

There is chatter in the nuclear scientist community that North Korea's nuclear test may have been faked. Thus far, no radioactive evidence of an atomic explosion has been detected, putting the test at odds with North Korea's previous one, and with just about every other underground nuclear test ever conducted. The explosion is estimated at 4,000 tons of TNT; assembling that much TNT is difficult, but hardly impossible.

RUSSIAN DEMOBILIZATION BLUES.

Robert FarleyJun 17, 2009

Last year, Russia's armed forces were undergoing a mild revitalization after years of Kremlin neglect. The flood of petrodollars gave Moscow the opportunity to undertake some modernization of forces that had remained static or declined since the end of the Cold War. The number of personnel in uniform mildly increased to about 1.1 million, from a post-Cold War low of 900,000. Then came the war with Georgia, and the global financial crisis.

MORE ON OBAMA'S RHETORICAL POSITIONING.

Robert FarleyJun 16, 2009

To follow up on Tim's previous points, Dan Nexon at Duck of Minerva has a good post on the demands that President Obama rhetorically intervene in the Iranian election.

NORTH KOREA DEMANDS THAT THE WORLD STOP PAYING ATTENTION TO IRAN.

Robert FarleyJun 15, 2009

On Saturday, North Korea declared an intention to continue to develop nuclear weapons and announced the existence of a parallel program to enrich uranium for use in weapons.

SUBMARINES, COCAINE, AND AQUATIC TERRORISM?

Robert FarleyJun 11, 2009

I'm not sure what submarines have to do with human nature, but, in any case, William Saletan has devoted a column to discussion of the threat posed to the U.S. by submarine-operating terrorists. Saletan points out that drug cartels have used submersibles to good effect -- though the amount's debatable, he says they transport up to a third of the U.S. cocaine supply. Cartels value the subs because they're difficult to detect, and because they have heretofore enjoyed legal near-immunity. When a drug-carrying submarine is identified by the Coast Guard or the Navy, the crew abandons ship and scuttles the boat, sending the evidence to the bottom.

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