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http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/17-10/mf_deadhand?currentPage=all

The point of the system, he explains, was to guarantee an automatic Soviet response to an American nuclear strike. Even if the US crippled the USSR with a surprise attack, the Soviets could still hit back. It wouldn't matter if the US blew up the Kremlin, took out the defense ministry, severed the communications network, and killed everyone with stars on their shoulders. Ground-based sensors would detect that a devastating blow had been struck and a counterattack would be launched.

..given the way that their tech has fallen apart in the last few years I'm almost amazed that we're still here.

The Russians still won't discuss it, and Americans at the highest levels—including former top officials at the State Department and White House—say they've never heard of it. When I recently told former CIA director James Woolsey that the USSR had built a doomsday device, his eyes grew cold. "I hope to God the Soviets were more sensible than that." They weren't.

Quite.

Those wacky Russians...

All I have to say is We Cannot Allow This Doomsday GAP!

I remember watching a program on the discovery channel on how things had degraded so badly that the people in the bunkers would have been able to launch the nuclear weapons without the need for permission or launch codes as all the normal procedures for a launch had been bypassed.

In the same program they said that they had proof that Russia had several of their suit base bombs go missing and are still unaccounted for. Though I'm not too sure on the validity of my last statement. Russia is hardly likely to have admitted that I'm sure

I say fire it all up and let's get the nuclear holocaust out of the way!!!

at this point you have to wonder how much damage theyd do to themselves from retaliation.
vlad and mikail using the missile cooling system as a lunch freezer may have compromised a few things.
i think i heard some where that "cross your fingers and hold your breath" is actually written in their missile launch procedures.

It sounds like a load of bollocks to me.

How was the Soviet Union going to make hundreds more missiles and put them in super-tough silos when (A) their economy was falling apart (b) satellite surveillance would have seen them being installed.

This means that we're one earthquake away from hundreds of non functioning russian nuclear missiles firing at us in theory while staying on the ground due to the lack of actual upkeep and power.

I hope that we don't have a mineshaft gap. Although, personally, I'm looking forward to four or five women per man ratio, but with my luck instead of getting the "super model" bunker, I'd be in the "Rosie O'Donnell and her lesbian feminazis" bunker. At which point, I would have to kill myself.

warpcrafter wrote:I say fire it all up and let's get the nuclear holocaust out of the way!!!

Im down with that idea warpcrafter. I actually like the winter anyways. I thought many times about building an island made from pycrete........ crap the name escapes me now. (the stuff made from sawdust and frozen water lol)
Anywho, and floating up to the Arctic and just live there for the rest of my life, chilling with the polar bears.

KingCracker wrote:

Im down with that idea warpcrafter. I actually like the winter anyways. I thought many times about building an island made from pycrete........ crap the name escapes me now. (the stuff made from sawdust and frozen water lol)
Anywho, and floating up to the Arctic and just live there for the rest of my life, chilling with the polar bears.

No way, I can't do with losing my broadband connection cus the country/worlds gone to pot!

Read Cory Doctorow's "When Sysadmins Ruled The Earth."

hellsguardian316 wrote:In the same program they said that they had proof that Russia had several of their suit base bombs go missing and are still unaccounted for. Though I'm not too sure on the validity of my last statement. Russia is hardly likely to have admitted that I'm sure

Yeah, that's based on statements made by a former high ranking Russian security dude. On the one hand, it's an incredible story so it's probably untrue. On the other hand, the Russian military and politicians have denied it, so it's probably true.

Meanwhile, if you want to talk about how utterly insane the Cold War got, look no further than the Davy Crockett, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_(nuclear_device). It was a nuke designed to be fired from a recoilless rifle, to destroy and impede Russian tank columns advancing over Europe. Not for retaliation to an enemy nuclear strike, but a weapon of first response. And there was no launch protocols possible for what was basically a 2nd Lieutenant with a jeep and a nuke.

They didn’t actually deploy them, but the idea that they were proposed is just madness.

FRIGGIN NUTZ

Its not a dead hand switch, readv the article properly.

It opens up opportunities to bypass security levels and allow those in command of missile silos to launch under a set number of criteria.

In fact its over-computerised.

The UK's nuclear deterent had few such safety systems but simply had a dual key launch without electronic failsafes, it was then the responsibility of the Royal Navy to make sure only the right people were on duty.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

sebster wrote:

hellsguardian316 wrote:In the same program they said that they had proof that Russia had several of their suit base bombs go missing and are still unaccounted for. Though I'm not too sure on the validity of my last statement. Russia is hardly likely to have admitted that I'm sure

Yeah, that's based on statements made by a former high ranking Russian security dude. On the one hand, it's an incredible story so it's probably untrue. On the other hand, the Russian military and politicians have denied it, so it's probably true.

One of the smartest things Clinton did was open his checkbook at the time the Soviet Union's security system collapsed. The idea was simple, send CIA to any breakaway republics with a mission, if anything nuclear enters the black market don't try attack or assassinate, just buy it. The US government can outbid anyone if they wanted to, and so that is exactly what they did. We have no idea just how much was bought but I reckon that from that far sighted plan has set back proliferation and kept materials out of the hands of terrorists. Much has gone missing yet there is still no terrorist bomb, we would all know if there was.

sebster wrote:

hellsguardian316 wrote:In the same program they said that they had proof that Russia had several of their suit base bombs go missing and are still unaccounted for. Though I'm not too sure on the validity of my last statement. Russia is hardly likely to have admitted that I'm sure

Yeah, that's based on statements made by a former high ranking Russian security dude. On the one hand, it's an incredible story so it's probably untrue. On the other hand, the Russian military and politicians have denied it, so it's probably true.

Meanwhile, if you want to talk about how utterly insane the Cold War got, look no further than the Davy Crockett, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_(nuclear_device). It was a nuke designed to be fired from a recoilless rifle, to destroy and impede Russian tank columns advancing over Europe. Not for retaliation to an enemy nuclear strike, but a weapon of first response. And there was no launch protocols possible for what was basically a 2nd Lieutenant with a jeep and a nuke.

They didn’t actually deploy them, but the idea that they were proposed is just madness.

You think the Davy Crocket is mad? Try this one on for size.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peacock

BrotherStynier wrote:You think the Davy Crocket is mad? Try this one on for size.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peacock

Wow. I remember that now, having read that article. The Cold War was absolutely bonkers.

Who votes for a button?!

sebster wrote:They didn’t actually deploy them, but the idea that they were proposed is just madness.

One of the reasons why they were never deployed was that they couldn't get it to have enough reach so that the firer would not be within the blast range when it hit it's target.

I can't believe those hippies stopped the chicken nukes from being invented.

Now I'm going to be mad all day.

BrotherStynier wrote:You think the Davy Crocket is mad? Try this one on for size.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peacock

Size? This wins.

The seismic shock created by the detonation was measurable even on its third passage around the Earth.