2025 Day 305: CTBT Ratification and Minimum Credible Deterrence

2:15 PM Saturday.

I did well with yesterday's plan until 2 PM. Then, instead of focusing on exercise and blogging from 2-5 PM, I veered into Islamic research from 2 PM to 7:30 PM. I made it to sleep around 8:30 PM, but I woke again at 11:30 PM and continued my research until 4 AM this morning. Finally, I slept for 8 hours solid until waking up at noon today.

Here is my agenda:

• 12-1 PM Prayer, Daily Planning, Light Lunch, Herbal Tea
• 1-2 PM Banking, November Amazon Order, Registration for November MJTI Panim el Panim with Rabbi Stuart Dauermann, Email to Frank Hoffman
• 2-3 PM Blog Post Day 305
• 3-4 PM Walk
• 4-5 PM Simplify YouTube Watch Later List
• 5-6 PM Supper and Hygiene
• 6-8 PM Reading in Misquoting Muhammad by Brown and A History of God by Armstrong
• 8 PM to 5 AM Sleep
• 5-6 AM Prayer and Daily Planning
• 6-8 AM Blog Post Day 306

I have fallen into an exercise slump and need to see if I can break my way out of it here at the beginning of November. I am pretty sure my psychiatric medications have made me a lot more temperature sensitive. November can be a tricky transition month in upstate New York even for the naturally hardy.

I think Congress and the White House should be leaning toward CTBT ratification, no first strike, and a credible minimum deterrent in lockstep with China. Russia is now a rogue nuclear state, not a peer nuclear non-proliferation competitor. There is no point pacing with Russia. NATO needs to assert muscular nuclear non-proliferation leadership to maintain and improve the status of the Alliance with the NNWS. Late 2025-2026 is an excellent time for Trump to do that. I am still on the fence about whether I'd advise President Trump to greenlight the delivery of Tomahawks to Ukraine. Will Tomahawks bring Putin and Zelensky back to the Istanbul table, or drive them further apart? What does Erdogan think NATO needs to do next in its relations with Russia?

End 3:10 PM.