One undisciplined gunner on each side and the world as we know it today would never have existed.
[editline]31st October 2011[/editline]
Also, the Cuba missile crisis was the closest we got to Mutual Assured Destruction. It was litterally down the wire whether to go to war or not.
My Dad was in Nato when that was going on. He worked on the air to air missile or something like that. He also was doing the calculations with a team of specialists on how much it would cost to go to war with Russia and apparently it would have just been disastrous for both sides because it would have cost too much to go to war.
[QUOTE=DarkWolf2;33052243]One undisciplined gunner on each side and the world as we know it today would never have existed.
[editline]31st October 2011[/editline]
Also, the Cuba missile crisis was the closest we got to Mutual Assured Destruction. It was litterally down the wire whether to go to war or not.[/QUOTE]
thank god for Xavier
Yea, Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest, but there was also the Korea War, where MacArthur planned on nuking China and we actually had everything ready to go except the firing mechanisms for the Atom Bombs, which had just arrived when Truman stopped it.
And the glitch with the NORAD computers in 1979 where it showed that the Soviets had made a full on launch against us.
And Able Archer, where the Soviets mistook a test for a nuclear launch in 89.
There was also a Soviet sub off the Florida coast that had inspired that one movie, I forget its name. Basically, they received orders to launch if they didn't get a contradicting order in so much time, and they didn't. They tried to, but one or two of the occupants held a gun to the captain and made them wait until they got the message, which they hadn't gotten because of radio interference.
And then there was the Pristina Airport standoff in 1999, where a joint operation angered the Russians when they didn't get their own sector to oversee, so they took control of the only airport in the area. NATO commanders ordered troops to take the airport by force, but the order was denied. Russians put their air forces on high alert until the whole situation was defused.
And THEN there was the whole missile shield thing. When we wanted to place anti-ICBMs in Eastern Europe, Russia got angry because it would remove their strike capability and tip the balance of nuclear power in our favor. So they basically threatened to go to war if we placed the shield in Eastern Europe. They punctuated this by flying bombers across Japan without detection, got within 200 miles of the British coast before being detected and intercepted (and they still do push it. In 2010, the RAF intercepted them 20 times), and even flew strategic bombers into US airspace and got as far as Nevada before they were intercepted. We backed down for the time, but it's still debated if we should place it. It wouldn't matter now- the Russians developed a missile specifically to get past the shield, should it go up.
[QUOTE='[Seed Eater];33056057']
And then there was the Pristina Airport standoff in 1999, where a joint operation angered the Russians when they didn't get their own sector to oversee, so they took control of the only airport in the area. NATO commanders ordered troops to take the airport by force, but the order was denied. Russians put their air forces on high alert until the whole situation was defused.
[/QUOTE]
Wasn't that the one where James Blunt saved the world from nuclear holocaust?
[QUOTE=Ignhelper;33056145]Wasn't that the one where James Blunt saved the world from nuclear holocaust?[/QUOTE]
Indirectly. Him and his superior officer were the ones that refused to enact the order.
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