U.S. and Russian Nuclear Missiles are Still on Hair-Trigger Alert

[G_j]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1217-01.htm

Published on Friday, December 17, 2004 by Knight-Ridder

U.S. and Russian Nuclear Missiles are Still on Hair-Trigger Alert

by Mark McDonald

MOSCOW - Just after midnight, in a secret bunker outside Moscow, the warning sirens began to blare. A simple, ominous message flashed on the bunker's main control panel: Missile Attack!

It was no drill. A Soviet satellite had detected five U.S. nuclear missiles inbound.

The control computer ordered a counterstrike, but the bunker commander, a nerdy lieutenant colonel named Stanislav Petrov, acting on a hunch, overrode the computer and told his Kremlin superiors it was a false alarm. The Soviet brass quickly stood down their missiles, saving 100 million Americans from nuclear incineration.

This brush with Armageddon happened more than two decades ago, but nuclear missiles are still on hair-trigger alert in Russia and the United States. Today, they may be even more vulnerable to an accidental or renegade launch than they were in Petrov's day.

"The security of both nations should not be dependent on the heroic act or good judgment of a single individual," said Sam Nunn, the former senator from Georgia.


..more..

[cornermouse]

1. Nunn should have that little discussion with George.

[NNN0LHI]

2. Yeltsin damned near launched a full-scale nuclear attack on us in 1995

http://www.ippnw.org/InTheNews.html

<snip> On January 25, 1995, Russian military radar mistook a weather rocket launched from Norway for a possible missile attack on Russia. President Boris Yeltsin was given five minutes to decide if he should launch a full-scale counterattack on the United States that would have involved, at that time, 4,000 nuclear bombs hitting every city in the United States.

We don’t know exactly what happened in the Kremlin that day, but Mr. Yeltsin did not launch a nuclear counterattack.

That January 25 was an ordinary day. There was no great international crisis, not even a minor bump in relations between the US and Russia. Yet the policy of maintaining thousands of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert brought us to the brink of global destruction.

The American people do not support these policies. More than 80 percent wanted the Senate to ratify the CTBT, and nearly as much favor the complete abolition of all nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, these huge majorities are not well organized or particularly vocal, and they have not influenced US government policy.

[oneold1-4u]

3. Not to worry!

As of last week our defence anti-missle missles don't work!
Quite likely Russia's old stuff is in about the same condition.

[lonestarnot]

4. LOL You funny grasshopper....

[G_j]

5. interesting

and now we have Russia and China making new military agreements.
mmm..

[NNN0LHI]

7. Word at the time was Yeltzin was too drunk to program the launch codes...

...before someone finally got the Russian nuclear football away from him until he sobered up.

Don

[Jack_DeLeon]

9. Boris was still asleep...

after his late night Vodka binge.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. This is exactly why we need the missile defense system!

Umm, sure, whatever... :eyes:


</sarcasm>


edit: spelling..

[teryang]

8. I still think the US still has over 35,000 warheads

These agreements pertain to delivery systems for nuclear warheads or "deliverable strategic warheads" in specific categories, MIRVed, MRV, land based ICBMs and sea based ICBMs, and strategic bombers. Tactical nuclear delivery systems, such as the thousands of nuclear capable tactical aircraft we have don't count. Short range submarine and surface based delivery platforms don't count. The stockpiled short range tactical nuclear standoff weapons don't count. The most powerful nuclear warheads stockpiled (in reserve) and unconnected to a strategic delivery platform don't count.

Somebody bring me up to date. I don't follow it like I used to, but I haven't read anything to disabuse me of this notion obtained from when I used to read the treaties and factbooks.

[Deja Q]

10. If it happens, it happens. The media wants to scare us. There is nothing

we can do about it.

The media will only cry "the sky is falling" at every given opportunity.

The US reneged on a deal to dismantle Russian nukes.

Why does Yahoo and other media sources pour out this diarrhea they laughably call news?

[lovuian]

11. Its lunacy thats for sure because Nuclear War is a No Win

situation!!!