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In reply to the discussion: Heroic USAF Captain Defied Orders and Stopped America From Starting World War III in 1962... [View all]eridani
(51,907 posts)38. Close calls on the Russian end as well
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident
On 26 September 1983, the nuclear early warning system of the Soviet Union twice reported the launch of American Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles from bases in the United States. These missile attack warnings were correctly identified as a false alarm by Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov, an officer of the Soviet Air Defence Forces. This decision is seen as having prevented a retaliatory nuclear attack based on erroneous data on the United States and its NATO allies, which would have likely resulted in nuclear war and the deaths of hundreds of millions of people. Investigation of the satellite warning system later confirmed that the system had malfunctioned.
And in 1995--
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/01/25/how-nuclear-near-miss-95-would-be-disaster-today
20 years ago today the launch of a lone scientific rocket from a small island off the northwest coast of Norway set off Russias nuclear attack early warning system.
As the rocket took off, it initially passed above the horizon of the curved earth into the field of view of Russian radar. After the motor shut down, the rocket then coasted to higher altitudes into the middle of the major attack corridor between the US intercontinental ballistic missile fields at Grand Forks, N.D., and Moscow. Unknown to the scientists who launched it, one of the rockets stages finished its powered flight at an altitude and speed comparable to that expected from a Trident submarine-launched ballistic missile. This combination of events exactly fit the template of an attack scenario under which nuclear weapons are intentionally exploded at high altitudes so as to blind early warning radars before a major bombardment of Russian nuclear forces.
The most immediate explanation for what went wrong that day appears to be serious shortfalls in the Russians detection apparatus. But the underlying root cause stems from Russian paranoia. Fears created and bolstered by the relentless, obsessive and ongoing American nuclear force modernization program. This initiative was, and remains today, heavily focused on increasing the killing power of each deployed US nuclear warhead, producing and reaffirming concerns by Russian military analysts and leaders that the United States might truly be preparing to fight and win a nuclear war against Russia.
What happened after these initially ambiguous events has been a source of extensive speculation in the West. Fortunately, political tensions between Russia and the United States and Europe at the time of the incident were very low, but it is known that the alarm caused Russias then leader, Boris Yeltsin, to be called and kept closely informed by the Russian military leadership while the rocket was tracked until it reached and passed its maximum altitude of 1,400 kilometers.
On 26 September 1983, the nuclear early warning system of the Soviet Union twice reported the launch of American Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles from bases in the United States. These missile attack warnings were correctly identified as a false alarm by Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov, an officer of the Soviet Air Defence Forces. This decision is seen as having prevented a retaliatory nuclear attack based on erroneous data on the United States and its NATO allies, which would have likely resulted in nuclear war and the deaths of hundreds of millions of people. Investigation of the satellite warning system later confirmed that the system had malfunctioned.
And in 1995--
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/01/25/how-nuclear-near-miss-95-would-be-disaster-today
20 years ago today the launch of a lone scientific rocket from a small island off the northwest coast of Norway set off Russias nuclear attack early warning system.
As the rocket took off, it initially passed above the horizon of the curved earth into the field of view of Russian radar. After the motor shut down, the rocket then coasted to higher altitudes into the middle of the major attack corridor between the US intercontinental ballistic missile fields at Grand Forks, N.D., and Moscow. Unknown to the scientists who launched it, one of the rockets stages finished its powered flight at an altitude and speed comparable to that expected from a Trident submarine-launched ballistic missile. This combination of events exactly fit the template of an attack scenario under which nuclear weapons are intentionally exploded at high altitudes so as to blind early warning radars before a major bombardment of Russian nuclear forces.
The most immediate explanation for what went wrong that day appears to be serious shortfalls in the Russians detection apparatus. But the underlying root cause stems from Russian paranoia. Fears created and bolstered by the relentless, obsessive and ongoing American nuclear force modernization program. This initiative was, and remains today, heavily focused on increasing the killing power of each deployed US nuclear warhead, producing and reaffirming concerns by Russian military analysts and leaders that the United States might truly be preparing to fight and win a nuclear war against Russia.
What happened after these initially ambiguous events has been a source of extensive speculation in the West. Fortunately, political tensions between Russia and the United States and Europe at the time of the incident were very low, but it is known that the alarm caused Russias then leader, Boris Yeltsin, to be called and kept closely informed by the Russian military leadership while the rocket was tracked until it reached and passed its maximum altitude of 1,400 kilometers.
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Heroic USAF Captain Defied Orders and Stopped America From Starting World War III in 1962... [View all]
Octafish
Oct 2015
OP
Looking at that photo again, you have to know that JFK was controlled by the brass
erronis
Oct 2015
#34
Me, too. I'd like to know who went around the President's back or whether it was an 'accident.'
Octafish
Oct 2015
#5
From the Bulletin comments: an Airman who served there linked to this site re Okinawa MACE base...
Octafish
Oct 2015
#15
DCI Dulles and JCS chair Lemnitzer counseled JFK launch all-out attack on USSR in 1961.
Octafish
Oct 2015
#11
"At the end of the war if there are two Americans and one Russian left alive, we win"
MisterP
Oct 2015
#25
Wasn't there another incident involving a Soviet submarine commander, during the same crisis?
LongTomH
Oct 2015
#17
Thanks Octafish. It's terrifying to think how close we've come to nuclear destruction!!!
LongTomH
Oct 2015
#26
It IS horrifying. One mistake with nuclear weapons can lead to the end of human life on Earth.
Octafish
Oct 2015
#28
This concept of a 'survivable nuclear war' has been part of Pentagon and Republican doctrine.....
LongTomH
Oct 2015
#30
And in the Atlantic, a Soviet political officer prevented a sub commander from firing
jpak
Oct 2015
#23
Gen. Curtis LeMay ordered intrusion missions trying to instigate Soviet response...
Octafish
Oct 2015
#35
Singer James Blunt claims he Stopped America From Starting World War III in 1999
MowCowWhoHow III
Oct 2015
#42