I gotta reach far and dig deep, but I'm thankful that Stanislav Petrov ignored his orders back in September 1983. Definitely not thankful for anything that's supposed to happen in the foreseeable future.
He was the officer on watch for the USSR's nuclear early-warning system. His orders were that if he saw something that looked like a first strike from the US, he was to report it immediately.
On September 26, 1983, he saw what looked like five missile launches from the US. This was less than a month after the Soviets had shot down Korean Air Lines flight 007, so tensions were very high.
Instead of reporting it immediately, he waited, and it turned out that nothing had been launched. If he'd followed his orders and reported it immediately, Moscow would have assumed the US had started a first strike, launched a retaliatory strike with their entire arsenal, and we'd still be living in the aftermath of a nuclear war today.
Hence my feeling that while we're living in very bad times, we're not living in the worst of times. It's not much, but it helps me sleep at night.
I don't know if it helps, but you always have your friends, your imagination, all of the stories you found or made, and your damned brilliant research skills. :)
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On September 26, 1983, he saw what looked like five missile launches from the US. This was less than a month after the Soviets had shot down Korean Air Lines flight 007, so tensions were very high.
Instead of reporting it immediately, he waited, and it turned out that nothing had been launched. If he'd followed his orders and reported it immediately, Moscow would have assumed the US had started a first strike, launched a retaliatory strike with their entire arsenal, and we'd still be living in the aftermath of a nuclear war today.
Hence my feeling that while we're living in very bad times, we're not living in the worst of times. It's not much, but it helps me sleep at night.
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((HUGS))
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