It has been said that the Emperor Deterrence has no clothes, but he is still emperor. The goal of this presentation is to reveal the nakedness of nuclear deterrence.

Roses have thorns, there are horns on a gnu, some snakes have rattles, so threats aren’t new. Lions have roars and the United States has … nuclear deterrence. There is something appropriate about “natural” deterrence, and even (in some circumstances) conventional military deterrence. But nuclear deterrence is not only “unnatural,” it is woefully misguided, seeming to offer security but in fact threatening to literally blow up in our faces. This talk will reveal the many skeletons in the closet of nuclear deterrence, including – but not limited to – problems of sufficiency, credibility. vulnerability, rationality and morality, while also unmasking the seductive presumption that nuclear deterrence has “worked.” This talk will include discussion of the current situation vis-a-vis North Korea, in which I will argue that we - and the Kim government - are both faced with a case of deterrence run dangerously amuck. Other practical issues involve the numerous close calls in which nuclear deterrence between the US and the former USSR has come perilously close to failing, as well as its current status with regard to Israel and Iran.

Speaker Dr. David Barash is a peace scholar/activist, evolutionary biologist and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington. He is the author of more than 230 peer-reviewed articles 40 books, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford), and the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Study and Conference Center, among other honors. He is the author, co-author and/or editor of 40 books, including the following: Stop Nuclear War! a handbook; The Caveman and the Bomb: human nature, evolution and nuclear war; The Arms Race and Nuclear War;  Introduction to Peace Studies; Approaches to Peace; Payback: why we retaliate, redirect aggression and seek revenge; and is co-author and co-author, with Charles Webel, of the textbook, Peace and Conflict Studies, now in its 4th edition.