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Ankit Panda

@nktpnd.bsky.social

17K followers 260 following 1.2K posts

Stanton Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Author of ‘THE NEW NUCLEAR AGE’ (Polity) & ‘KIM JONG UN AND THE BOMB’ (Hurst/Oxford) Subscribe to my newsletter (Nukesletter): https://panda.substack.com/

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · May 21

Folks, I'm taking another stab at a newsletter: introducing Nukesletter (a revamp of my old newsletter from a couple years ago). Brief takes (longer form than what I'll share here) on my work, thinking, and interests. Take a look and subscribe here: panda.substack.com/p/introducin...

Introducing Nukesletter

...a place for my ruminations on the new nuclear age.

panda.substack.com

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 2d

How it started (2012) vs. how it's going (2025).

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 2d

Specifically, the TEL in these pictures.

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 2d

First look at the Hwasong-20: North Korea's massive new solid-fuel ICBM.

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Reposted by Ankit Panda

Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social · 2d

Japanese politics was rocked on Friday as the Kōmeitō announced it would leave its coalition with the LDP after twenty-six years. To understand why this happened and what it means, I wrote a guide for the perplexed.

open.substack.com/pub/observin...

Kōmeitō quits the coalition

A guide for the perplexed

open.substack.com

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 6d

Great work here by @colinzwirko.bsky.social: All the weapons on display at North Korea’s 2025 arms expo www.nknews.org/pro/all-the-...

All the weapons on display at North Korea’s 2025 arms expo | NK PRO

North Korea has revealed a range of new weapons developments at an arms expo ongoing this week in Pyongyang, according to NK Pro analysis of state media imagery, including nuclear missiles and aerial ...

www.nknews.org

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 6d

And will be in the Bay Area later this month!

Institute for Security and Technology @istorg.bsky.social · 6d

In a world with increasing nuclear dyads, can emerging technologies make us safer? On 10/23, IST will host author & international security expert @nktpnd.bsky.social in Palo Alto to discuss his book on the new nuclear age & the changing landscape of nuclear security.
🌐 Register to attend:

Book Talk | The New Nuclear Age: At the Precipice of Armageddon

In a world with increasing nuclear dyads, can emerging technologies make us safer – or are we opening Pandora's Box? Join IST in Palo Alto, CA or virtually for a book talk with Ankit Panda.

securityandtechnology.org

Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 7d

Hi!

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 7d

Up to some good in France.

Jeffrey Lewis @armscontrolwonk.bsky.social · 8d

🥖🍷🇫🇷

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Reposted by Ankit Panda

Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 11d

New from me: on the bizarre new executive order pledging to defend Qatar and what I see as two big problems with it panda.substack.com/p/did-the-un...

Did the United States Just Commit to Defending Qatar?

Extended deterrence continues to be a hot topic in 2025.

panda.substack.com

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Reposted by Ankit Panda

Adam Weinstein @adamweinstein.bsky.social · 11d

I did not expect this kind of fire from Eliot Cohen, but he has Hegseth absolutely pegged www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

There is a certain kind of Army officer who, after the excitement of company command, finds his career stalled, and who perhaps leaves the service as a major in the National Guard filled with bitterness and resentment. He may then dream of one day being in a position to make all the superior officers who failed to appreciate his leadership qualities, his insight, his sheer fitness stand to attention and hear him lay down the law about what it is to be an officer, and threaten to fire those who do not meet his standards. In this respect, and this respect only, on that stage Pete Hegseth was living the dream.

In all other respects, however, he was ridiculous...

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 11d

New from me: on the bizarre new executive order pledging to defend Qatar and what I see as two big problems with it panda.substack.com/p/did-the-un...

Did the United States Just Commit to Defending Qatar?

Extended deterrence continues to be a hot topic in 2025.

panda.substack.com

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Reposted by Ankit Panda

Alex Wellerstein @wellerstein.bsky.social · 11d

Wild illustration choice in this slide from training materials for ICBM launch officers, ca. 2010

Screenshot of a Powerpoint slide. The title is "Strategic Effects." It has three bullet points: 1. The physical employment of nuclear weapons at any level requires explicit orders from the President. 2. Nuclear weapons are unique in their destructive power and psychological impact. 3. The use of nuclear weapons represents a significant escalation from conventional warfare.

There is then an incongruous illustration: a screenshot of the game MISSILE COMMAND for the Atari 5200 (1982).

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Reposted by Ankit Panda

James Cameron @jjjcameron.bsky.social · 12d

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1989–1992, Volume XXXI, START I, 1989–1991 is out today!

Huge congratulations to @jamesgrahamwilson.bsky.social and the rest of the team at the State Department's Office of the Historian. history.state.gov/historicaldo...

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1989-1992, Volume XXXI, START I, 1989-1991

Editor: James Graham Wilson

General Editor: Kathleen B. Rasmussen

Department of State
Washington
2025

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 12d

I’m back with @pranayrvaddi.bsky.social and Vipin Narang to talk about the US-Korea alliance and various North Korea things (reflecting on some recent takeaways from a trip to Seoul earlier this month). Listen here: strategicsimplicity.substack.com/p/catching-u...

Catching up on Korea

Ankit Panda rejoins the pod to talk about recent developments on the Korean Peninsula

strategicsimplicity.substack.com

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Reposted by Ankit Panda

Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social · 12d

Get a deal on my book, yes, but also books from @nktpnd.bsky.social, @ajwsmall.bsky.social, and others.

👇🏻

Hurst Publishers @hurstpublishers.bsky.social · 12d

📢 Back to Uni Flash Sale 🌟

Get 35% off all Hurst books until midnight on Friday 3rd October!

Discount will be applied at the checkout automatically.

Browse the full list ➡️ hurstpublishers.com

Powder blue sale sign with the words 'Back to Uni Sale, 35% off, ends 3rd Oct' visible.

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 13d

In recent days, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui met Wang Yi (PRC FM) and Li Qiang (PRC Premier) in China. Neither Chinese readout mentions "denuclearization."

Choe-Wang: www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjbzhd/2...

Choe-Li: www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xw/z...

Wang Yi Holds Talks with DPRK Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui

www.fmprc.gov.cn

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 13d

Pentagon Pushes to Double Missile Production for Potential China Conflict www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

www.wsj.com

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Reposted by Ankit Panda

Theresa Hitchens @thitch.bsky.social · 17d

This is a big deal for Germany. I remember when no German politician would be willing to mention the words space and military in the same paragraph, much less the same sentence. breakingdefense.com/2025/09/germ...

German military to invest $41B in space capabilities - Breaking Defense

"Satellite networks today are an Achilles' heel of modern societies. Whoever attacks them paralyzes entire nations,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said.

breakingdefense.com

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 18d

It's a nice morning up here.

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 18d

Good to be back in Oslo!

Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 19d

UK friends: I’ll be in London next month to talk about my book (among other things). Details here for Oct. 17 at King’s College London: www.kcl.ac.uk/events/book-...

Book Talk: The New Nuclear Age: At the Precipice of Armageddon | King's College London

Ankit Panda will discuss his new book, The New Nuclear Age: At the Precipice of Armageddon, and the changing landscape of nuclear security.

www.kcl.ac.uk

Reposted by Ankit Panda

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 19d

You can talk to Isaac Chotiner; I have. The key is you just have to not be famous or well-regarded enough for him to want to put whatever dumb things you said in The New Yorker.

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 19d

Well, that was bleak.

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 19d

Woops. Didn't mean to not answer. Will try to write something up soon, but IMO, this is neither particularly helpful nor particularly harmful. I'm very skeptical that one year lets both sides get to anything resembling a true follow-on treaty.

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Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social · 20d

Kim Jong Un: "If the U.S. drops its hollow obsession with denuclearization and wants to pursue peaceful coexistence with North Korea based on the recognition of reality, there is no reason for us not to sit down with the U.S." www.npr.org/2025/09/22/n...

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