[News] Doomsday Clock moved to just two minutes to 'apocalypse'

[Noah All]

Statistically you are more likely to be killed by a honey badger than a nuclear explosion .

Don't give the North Koreans ideas. They'll be putting honey badgers in their missiles next.

 

[OzMike]

Anyone got a live stream.

 

[Conelli98]

I best get down the The Railway Belle for a pint of DOOMBAR then!

 

[Guy Fawkes]

We're closer to nuclear war now than we were during the Cold War. It was never really a possibility at that time, both countries were fear mongering to stabilize their regime (USSR), or building a consensus for a permanent war-time economy (US). Nothing like a good dose of fear induced patriotism to build popular support.

Really?

What about the time a Soviet Army colonel refused to push the red button when he saw an incoming nuclear missile on his satellite screen??

Stanislav Petrov was working at a secret bunker called Serpukhov-15 near Moscow at the height of the Cold War when he suddenly noticed an incoming nuclear missile on his satellite screen.

Moments later the alarms sounded and loud klaxon horns went off as the system showed a further four missiles and flashed its red warning sign.

Petrov had just 15 minutes to inform the Russian Commander in Chief of the missiles - a move which would have undoubtedly resulted in a counter attack and an atomic war.

But instinct told him something was wrong. The separate radar had not picked up the weapons.

As his 120 comrades around him waited for a decision, the air heavy with anticipation, Petrov told them to get back to work and ignore the warning. He was correct in thinking there was an error in the system.

That decision in a forest 100km from Moscow on September 26, 1983, saved the earth from near destruction.

Petrov later reasoned that America would have started the conflict with hundreds of missiles, rather than five.

In a rare interview Petrov said: "I was shocked. For a few seconds I didn't know what to do.

"I could see that everyone was looking at me. Some have turned their heads. Some are on their feet. I can see surprise and a feeling close to panic.

"I was 50:50 as to whether it was real or a false alarm. In this situation I decided that maybe it's my mistake but I don't want to start World War Three."

Petrov, the subject of a film called The Man Who Saved the World, said he was aware "millions of lives were hanging by a thread" but that "none had any idea."

The Russian later said: "When people start a war they don't do it with only five missiles. You can do little damage with just five missiles."

Frighteningly, Petrov almost wasn't at the controls that night. He was standing in for a colleague who needed time off or the outcome could have been very different.

He said: "He was just a military guy. He was ill or something. The guys in the army that just have guns in their hands don't think. They accept orders. My weapon was my brain and that's the big difference."

 

[Guy Fawkes]

13 days of holding our breath to see who would blink first. Fortunately, it was Khrushchev.

Ps it was Oct 62.

https://news.nationalgeographic.com...-everyone-you-know-owe-your-life-to-this-man/

Another incidence where we were saved from nuclear war by the decision of a single Soviet officer who, in this instance, overruled the Submarine commander who had decided to launch a nuclear tipped torpedo at the US fleet who were depth charging the sub

There was an issue with how many depth charges were being dropped at a time and instead of being understood as surface, it was interpreted as trying to sink it and that led to the commanders decision being over ruled by Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov, the flotilla commander who, by luck, was on-board that particular sub at the time

 

[Questions]

Statistically you are more likely to be killed by a honey badger than a nuclear explosion .

But who would win in a scrap between the two ?

 

[Albion my Albion]

There is not much you really can do if a nuclear attack happens near you. You must see where the actual explosions happen in order what to do next.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

We are a lot closer to Civil War than we are to Nuclear War.