How Close Did We Come To A Nuclear War In The 1980s?

New Documents Reveal How a 1980s Nuclear War Scare Became a Full-Blown Crisis -- Danger Room

During 10 days in November 1983, the United States and the Soviet Union nearly started a nuclear war. Newly declassified documents from the CIA, NSA, KGB, and senior officials in both countries reveal just how close we came to mutually assured destruction — over a military exercise.

That exercise, Able Archer 83, simulated the transition by NATO from a conventional war to a nuclear war, culminating in the simulated release of warheads against the Soviet Union. NATO changed its readiness condition during Able Archer to DEFCON 1, the highest level. The Soviets interpreted the simulation as a ruse to conceal a first strike and readied their nukes. At this period in history, and especially during the exercise, a single false alarm or miscalculation could have brought Armageddon.

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My Comment: In my family the deployment of Pershing II missiles in Western Germany made my father and his old World War II buddies (they served in the Soviet army) upset over the installation of these missiles. My father's position was that the Soviet military should rush into West Germany and seize these missiles .... which made me upset in turn. I knew that such an invasion would mean World War III with nuclear weapons .... but my father saw the situation through his World War II experiences.

In the end .... it was these World War II experiences that probably convinced the Soviet leadership to not start a World War .... but I I remember those times very clearly, and how it was "touch and go" for those few years. 

Did The U.S. Plan To Detonate A Nuclear Bomb On The Moon During The Cold War?

Nasa

How The US Planned To Blow Up The Moon To Win The Cold War -- Business Insider

When word came out that the U.S. likely tested toxic aerosols on unsuspecting Missourians during the Cold War, it was hard to imagine the period offering up any stranger scenarios, but it has.

Asian News International reports the U.S. had plans to blow up the moon with a nuclear bomb as late as the 1950s.

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More News On U.S. Plans To Detonate A Nuclear Bomb On The Moon During The Cold War

Revealed: How the U.S. planned to blow up the MOON with a nuclear bomb to win Cold War bragging rights over Soviet Union -- Daily Mail
Confirmed: US planned to nuke the moon -- RT
Report: U.S. Planned On Blowing Up Moon With Nuke During Cold War In 1950s -- CBS/AP
How the U.S. and Carl Sagan planned to nuke the moon -- National Post
Why the U.S. wanted to nuke the moon during the Cold War -- The Week
U.S. Planned Cold War Mission To Blow Up The Moon? Is That Even Possible? -- Forbes

All Quiet On The Cold War Front

The abandoned Soviet era Cold War listening post and base near Sary-Tash, Kyrgyzstan

All Quiet On The Cold War Front: Former Communist Listening Post On Russian/Chinese Border Stands Eerily Abandoned -- Daily Mail

Surrounded by picturesque mountains and huddled in the middle of a deserted plain sits an abandoned soviet-era listening station near a remote village in Kyrgyzstan.

Not far from the border with China, Sary-Tash is a tiny remote village that sits on an important road junction in the land-locked former Soviet-block state.

Close to the village, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, is a collection of bubble shaped buildings that sprout from the land with a huge antenna looming over them.

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My Comment: The former Soviet Union is littered with many of these installations. When visiting my relatives in Russia I tend to stay away from these places .... you can never know for sure if these abandoned installations are contaminated with dangerous chemicals .... or not.

Former Leaders Meet To Commemorate The Fall of The Berlin Wall 20 Years Ago

Bush, Gorbachev, Kohl Mark Berlin Wall's Fall -- Yahoo News/Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) – George Bush, Mikhail Gorbachev and Helmut Kohl paid their respects to the ordinary people who were behind the peaceful revolution of 1989 that brought down the Berlin Wall at an emotional ceremony in Berlin on Saturday.

The three statesmen from the United States, Soviet Union and West Germany -- whose steady-handed leadership paved the way for the Wall's opening on November 9, 1989 -- recalled the heady events that led to the end of the Cold War at a ceremony attended by 1,800 people.

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More News On The 20th Anniversary On The Fall Of The Berlin Wall

Kohl, Bush, Gorbachev remember Cold War in Berlin -- AFP
Leaders recall Berlin Wall's fall -- BBC
Berlin Wall Commemoration Ceremony Unites Bush, Kohl, Gorbachev -- Bloomberg
Statesmen meet in Berlin for reunification event -- AP
George Bush, Mikhail Gorbachev and Helmut Kohl in Germany to mark fall of Berlin Wall -- The Telegraph
Gorbachev, Bush and Kohl revisit Berlin, remember the fall of the Wall -- Deutsche Welle
How Poland and Hungary Led the Way in 1989 -- Spiegel Online
Berlin Wall road trip: Map -- BBC

My Comment: Special mention should also be made to former British PM Margaret Thatcher, Pope John Paul II, and .... of course .... President Reagan.

'Dead Hand' Re-Examines The Cold War Arms Race

Photo: Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987. (Slate)

From NPR:

Journalist David E. Hoffman revisits the high stakes maneuvering of the Cold War arms race and details the inner-workings of the Soviet nuclear program in his new book The Dead Hand. The book takes its title the Russian automatic retaliatory system of the same name, which was designed to launch all of the country's nuclear missiles should it suffer a "decapitating attack" from the United States.

Hoffman, a Washington Post contributing editor, spent six years as the paper's Moscow bureau chief. While researching the book, he enjoyed unprecedented access to secret Kremlin documents, which helped him describe the urgent search for the nuclear and biological hazards left behind after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He is also the author of The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia.

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My Comment: A little bit of history to listen to.

Cold War Models Are Obsolete, National Security Advisor Says

National Security Adviser retired Marine General James Jones (L) pauses while speaking as U.S. President-elect Barack Obama looks on during a news conference in Chicago in this December 1, 2008 file photo. REUTERS/John Gress/Files

From The U.S. Department Of Defense:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 2009 – The U.S. National Security Council and NATO must break out of their Cold War designs and adapt to 21st century challenges, National Security Advisor James L. Jones said this week.

Speaking at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy in Munich, Jones underscored the need for the council and NATO to continue adjusting to the modern security climate.

“To be blunt, the institutions and approaches that we forged together through the 20th century are still adjusting to meet the realities of the 21st century,” he said. “The world has definitely changed, but we have not changed with it.”

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My Comment: National Security Advisor James L. Jones is stating the obvious. The cost and resources needed to maintain a modern military is not going to be possible for any country in today's economic world.

What is the future model of conflict is only now becoming revealed .... narco terrorism, the proliferation to small groups of WMDs, economic deprivation, and an increase in small conflicts that arise from religious, tribal, and ethnic differences.