Reply to thread

Message

Nuclear weapons have not lost their terror factor. Putin had been around for most of the Cold War. He is former KGB as well.

The desire for land and resources has not diminished, especially if they can be taken by force.

I also lived through most of the Cold War. It was not safer by any stretch of the imagination. In the 1980s, I saw a Russian targets list. My city was number 5. Surveillance was not as sophisticated during the 1960s, and the risk of false alarms was higher. The former head of Soviet Rocket Forces from the period appeared on TV. He related how his station received an alert. It showed the U.S. had launched all of their ICBMs. He had 15 minutes to decide on what to do. Soviet agents in the U.S. were contacted. They had observed no launches. The fastest aircraft were dispatched to a certain geographic area, and they also observed nothing. He stood down from the alert. Later, it was determined that the sun striking clouds at a certain angle and altitude caused spy satellites to send the warning.

<blockquote data-quote="edwest4" data-source="post: 659686" data-attributes="member: 43077">Nuclear weapons have not lost their terror factor. Putin had been around for most of the Cold War. He is former KGB as well.The desire for land and resources has not diminished, especially if they can be taken by force.I also lived through most of the Cold War. It was not safer by any stretch of the imagination. In the 1980s, I saw a Russian targets list. My city was number 5. Surveillance was not as sophisticated during the 1960s, and the risk of false alarms was higher. The former head of Soviet Rocket Forces from the period appeared on TV. He related how his station received an alert. It showed the U.S. had launched all of their ICBMs. He had 15 minutes to decide on what to do. Soviet agents in the U.S. were contacted. They had observed no launches. The fastest aircraft were dispatched to a certain geographic area, and they also observed nothing. He stood down from the alert. Later, it was determined that the sun striking clouds at a certain angle and altitude caused spy satellites to send the warning.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="edwest4, post: 659686, member: 43077"] Nuclear weapons have not lost their terror factor. Putin had been around for most of the Cold War. He is former KGB as well. The desire for land and resources has not diminished, especially if they can be taken by force. I also lived through most of the Cold War. It was not safer by any stretch of the imagination. In the 1980s, I saw a Russian targets list. My city was number 5. Surveillance was not as sophisticated during the 1960s, and the risk of false alarms was higher. The former head of Soviet Rocket Forces from the period appeared on TV. He related how his station received an alert. It showed the U.S. had launched all of their ICBMs. He had 15 minutes to decide on what to do. Soviet agents in the U.S. were contacted. They had observed no launches. The fastest aircraft were dispatched to a certain geographic area, and they also observed nothing. He stood down from the alert. Later, it was determined that the sun striking clouds at a certain angle and altitude caused spy satellites to send the warning. [/QUOTE]

Verification