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Hugh Gusterson

Now showing: Countdown to Zero

A new movie for nuclear abolition attracts criticism from surprising quarters.

The olive branch in the West Bank

Showcasing a world where local Fatah, Hamas, and Israeli activists come together, a new documentary provides a snapshot of what peace looks like between Palestine and Israel.

Against counterinsurgency in Afghanistan

How much do we have to lose before the Obama administration realizes that counterinsurgency won’t win?

Do professional ethics matter in war?

The U.S. military's controversial use of embedded anthropologists in Iraq and Afghanistan is both unethical and ineffective. It's time to shut this program down.

An American suicide bomber?

While some pundits find it impossible that Washington would ever employ a war-fighting strategy that involves suicide bombers, they too easily forget the country's suicidal dance with nuclear weapons.

Afghanistan: Vietnam all over again

Seemingly confident that he can avoid the miscalculations LBJ made in Vietnam 45 years ago, President Obama believes escalation will resolve the conflict in Afghanistan--a misbegotten strategy, then and now.

How to get out of Afghanistan

The answer isn't ordering more troops or drone attacks, it is conducting shrewd negotiations that will divide the many disparate elements that constitute the Taliban.

The shared sins of Soviet and U.S. nuclear testing

A new documentary helps illustrate the sad truth that neither the totalitarian Soviet Union nor the democratic United States protected those most affected by their testing programs.

Why the war in Afghanistan cannot be won

The tools President Obama and his military advisers believe they need for victory in Afghanistan--more troops and development aid--are actually what will lead to Washington's downfall there.

Thinking creatively about the North Korean stalemate

Forget stringent designations. To solve the long impasse with Pyongyang, its nuclear weapon status needn't be perfectly clear.

Hiroshima and the power of pictures

Whether it's photos of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors or chronicling detainee abuse in Iraq, war imagery can evoke, provoke, and incite--exactly why it should never be suppressed.

Iran: Looking forward

As Tehran's hard-liners reassert their authority after the country's disputed election, it will be harder than ever to convince them to abandon their nuclear program.

The CTBT debate begins again

With President Obama vowing "aggressive" and "immediate" ratification of the CTBT, the treaty's opponents already have started practicing their arguments against it.

Why Thomas Friedman is wrong about the National Ignition Facility

While a remarkable engineering feat, Lawrence Livermore's National Ignition Facility won't solve the country's energy woes as easily as Friedman claims.

The Washington Post's distorted take on Yucca Mountain

When criticizing President Obama's recent decision to end funding for Yucca Mountain, the Post's editorial board ignored some important facts.

Empire of bases

Eliminating foreign military bases will save the U.S. government money and foreign policy headaches.

The legacy of Ed Grothus and the Black Hole

The late Ed Grothus protested against nuclear weapons from his fabled atomic yard sale/antinuclear art installation located near Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The bursting global security bubble

Are there lessons the United States and the rest of the world can learn about international security from the current financial meltdown?

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Profile

Hugh Gusterson

An anthropologist, Gusterson is a professor of anthropology and sociology at George Mason University. His expertise is in nuclear culture, international security, and the anthropology of science. He has conducted considerable fieldwork in the United States and Russia, where he studied the culture of nuclear weapon scientists and antinuclear activists. Two of his books encapsulate this work--Nuclear Rites: A Weapons Laboratory at the End of the Cold War (University of California Press, 1996) and People of the Bomb: Portraits of America's Nuclear Complex (University of Minnesota Press, 2004). He also coedited Why America's Top Pundits Are Wrong (University of California Press, 2005); a sequel, The Insecure American, is in preparation. Previously, he taught in MIT's Program on Science, Technology, and Society.

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