How close was close...did we come?

[ruggedscotty]

Ive seen a few stories on the net about the cold war and about the times that it nearly went... err.. Nuclear...

The near misses and the almost crossed the line moments..

What ones have you heard and what were your thoughts... have we been so lucky to avoid the abyss


Thinking about it now and what the future holds, how long do you think it will be before some crazed terrorist decides to use a dirty bomb on a city, or even for some renergade general to go and launch a nuke.

Is it years, or sooner or are we through that and it will never happen now scenario ?

[Donbot]

Korean war - McArthur being an absolute lunatic and even stating in the media that the US should nuke them.

Operation Chrome dome - They lost a few nukes and potential for comms problems.

Obviously the Cuban missile crisis with that bloke who didn't press the button.

Vietnam - A number of high ranking officials wanted to nuke the place.

And probably a load of other stuff.

Oh, and man portable nuclear weapons were probably not the best idea either.

Edited by Donbot on Thursday 9th September 18:36

[Dan_1981]

Able Archer
The Petrov incident

and obviously the sub in the Cuban Crisis.


They spring to mind.

Apparently Yeltsin was quite keen to kick a nuclear football into use at some point but I don't recall the detail on that one.

[Donbot]

Does Alexander Litvinenko count?

I didn't know much about it before watching a youtube doco the other day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXOWK-Vj7_M

Polonium is nuclear - sort of. Well, highly radioactive. Contaminated some of London as well.

[glenrobbo]

In answer to part two of the OP's question, the answer is...



Nobody knows



/D'ya feel lucky, Punk?

[fatboy b]

My uncle was often called away for 2-3 months at a time to ’man’ the big red button in the bunkers in Belgium. The red bat-phone was to Maggie. That’s all I was told. Haven’t been able to find more info about his time there.

Squadron leader Reginald Taylor. I believe he was also CO at Northolt for a while.

Edited by fatboy b on Thursday 9th September 20:05

[Evoluzione]

I believe it's called 'edging'.

[anonymous-user]

The trouble is the majority of the info you're getting is purely through the media. Scary stories sell loads. The layman really doesnt know what's happening behind the scenes. Back door channels constantly chat to each other but the head of states have to show they're in control to keep the population calm.

[Tango13]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CDBZ6NA/ref=dp-kind...

[Tango13]

flashbang said:

The trouble is the majority of the info you're getting is purely through the media. Scary stories sell loads. The layman really doesnt know what's happening behind the scenes. Back door channels constantly chat to each other but the head of states have to show they're in control to keep the population calm.

User name checks out...

I read somewhere that the breakthough in the Cuban missile crisis came about when the CIA and KGB met up and agreed to tell their respective masters to wind their necks in or things would end very badly.

[Bradgate]

On 9/11 Condoleeza Rice, the National Security Advisor who was responsible for explaining important stuff to Dubya, called Vladimir Putin to tell him that the US was mobilising its military in self-defence against possible further attacks and to ask if he would be so kind as not to view this as an act of war against Russia. Thankfully, he complied....

[Huff]

Tango13 said:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CDBZ6NA/ref=dp-kind...

Yep, this is the book you want to read; it's well-written, and great value.

[anonymous-user]

Not sure I really would want to know, no doubt it has been a close call more times than I care to think about but we're still here. That works for me.

[jan8p]

Bradgate said:

On 9/11 Condoleeza Rice, the National Security Advisor who was responsible for explaining important stuff to Dubya, called Vladimir Putin to tell him that the US was mobilising its military in self-defence against possible further attacks and to ask if he would be so kind as not to view this as an act of war against Russia. Thankfully, he complied....

You watched that documentary too?

[Gecko1978]

1st Gulf war, Saddam threatened to use chemical weapons agaist british troops and was allegedly told via Russian Embassy we would respond with nuclear strike if he did that. Seems likely he never had any really effective ones in the end.

[Steamer]

Wracking my brain to remember the details / where I heard it...

...Pretty sure there is an unexplained instance of a missile going into a launch sequence (70's / 80's)

However even if this did happen there is still a final 'agreement' in place that can be put into action to 'hopefully' stop the target retaliating in the event of a false / mis-launch.

[Zarco]

Evoluzione said:

I believe it's called 'edging'.

[PurpleTurtle]

As a kid in the early 80s I remember things getting a bit sticky but we would’ve all been OK as we’d have just hidden under the kitchen table with a white sheet over it as recommended in Public Information Films of the time!

Edited by PurpleTurtle on Friday 10th September 10:58

[Wildcat45]

anonymoususer said:

I recently saw the documentary about the White supremacists who planned to detonate a dirty bomb in london in the later 70s.

They managed to create the bomb and it was to be detonated in a bowling alley. The plot was foiled by a joint effort between the UK's special branch and another government department

Scary stuff

I’d love to see that. Can you remember the title or what channel it was on?

[Pickled]

anonymoususer said:

I recently saw the documentary about the White supremacists who planned to detonate a dirty bomb in london in the later 70s.

They managed to create the bomb and it was to be detonated in a bowling alley. The plot was foiled by a joint effort between the UK's special branch and another government department

Scary stuff

Wasn’t that an episode of The Professionals?