The Man Who Saved the World by Doing Nothing

[The Straight Story]

The Man Who Saved the World by Doing Nothing
23/01/2008

Ever heard of Stanislav Petrov?

Probably not – but you may very well owe him your life.

Petrov, a former member of the Soviet military, didn't actually do anything – but that's precisely the point.

In 1983, Petrov held a very important station: As lieutenant colonel, he was in charge of monitoring the Soviet Union's satellites over the United States, and watching for any sign of unauthorized military action.

This was the Cold War era, and suspicions were high – on September 1st, the Soviet Union had mistakenly shot down a Korean aircraft it had believed to be a military plane, killing 269 civilians, including an American Congressman. The Soviet Union believed that the United States might launch a missile attack at any moment, and that they would be forced to respond with their own arsenal of nuclear weapons.

....

According to the system, the United States had launched five missiles, which were rapidly heading into Soviet territory. The U.S.S.R. was under attack.

All Petrov had to do was push the flashing red button on the desk in front of him, and the Soviets would retaliate with their own battery of missiles, launching a full-scale nuclear war.

....

Luckily for all of us, he decided not to push that button. Later, his instincts were proven right – the malfunctioning system had given him a false alarm, and the U.S. had not deployed any missiles. Thanks to Petrov's cool head, nuclear war had been narrowly averted, and millions of lives were saved.

http://www.gimundo.com/Articles/Daily/805/1/23/2008/The_Man_Who_Saved_the_World_by_Doing_Nothing

[Captain Angry]

1. That is an amazing story.

My dad was a B-52 pilot in the 70's and 80's. He was on alert, living in a bunker at the runway, for weeks at a time when I was growing up. I've had the alert shack food.

He was constantly worried that at some point he'd have to fly over and kill thousands of people. It made him sick to know that he'd have to do it if we were attacked. I know that he would never have pushed the button unless we'd been attacked first.

As many awful stories come out of the military, I've known too many good people that were in to know that it's not all bad. There are reasonable and intelligent people that won't just push the button if they're told to.

Thanks for posting that.

[magellan]

2. !

:wow: I think my life just passed before my eyes.

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. Actually he did quite a bit - he THOUGHT.

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More from the article:

"Though the bunker atmosphere was chaotic, Petrov, who had trained as a scientist, took the time to analyze the data carefully before making his decision. He realized that, if the U.S. did attack, they would be unlikely to launch a mere five missiles at once. And when he studied the system's ground-based radar, he could see no evidence of oncoming missiles."
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He was correct there, the U.S. wouldn't just launch 5 missiles.

More:

Unfortunately, Petrov didn't exactly receive a heroic reward from the Soviet military: Embarrassed by their own mistakes, and angry at Petrov for breaking military protocol, they forced him into early retirement with a pension of $200 a month. Petrov's brave act was kept secret from the outside world until the 1998 publication of a book by one of Petrov's fellow officers, who witnessed his courage on that terrifying night.

Since the book's publication, Petrov has been honored by the United Nations and presented with a World Citizen Award, and there has been talk of giving him the Nobel Prize. Still, the humble Russian scientist plays down his role in averting a nuclear crisis: "I was simply the right person in the right time, that was all," he said in the upcoming documentary, The Red Button and the Man Who Saved the World.
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Interesting

I rarely watch videos,

but this one was worth it.

[Selatius]

4. Now THAT was far closer to the "edge" than the Cuban Missile Crisis. This takes the cake.

All he had to do was push the red button to alert the entire nuclear missile force to unleash their nukes. One button decided whether the world would exist as it currently does or exist as a black rock, skies blackened by dust, smoke, ash, and radioactive fallout with billions dead or dying.

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. And I fear we are still that close.

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We got silos less than 100 cliks from where I live.

I wonder if they are empty.

[Selatius]

6. Likely not. I remember a Lt. col. who used to be a silo watcher tell me that...

his friends who are still in said that on 9/11, those missile silos were warmed up and ready to fly if Bush said to nuke a country like Russia or some other target he thought hit us.

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. Not the answer I wanted or expected, but definitely a wake-up

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Major fly-overs here, NOT passenger jets

And I'm in a wee town in northern Ontario.

I'm in between two bases, one 70 kilometers away, and the other about 120km away

I'm sure they are SOMEONE'S targets, even the USA's in case we get to independent.

Time to store up on more foodstuffs, and get ready for an Iraq-style life

USA's War-Machine is out of control

No knowing what the USA War-Machine will do next

But it ain't gonna be humanitarian

That's for sure.

[Herman74]

8. Not necessarily...

...look up the actions of one Vasily (alt. spelling: Vasili) Arkhiphov, who, from what I understand, disobeyed a command during the Cuban Missile Crisis which would have started World War III

[Herman74]

9. Another Soviet Who Saved The World -- Vasily Arkhipov

The lesson from this is that a guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world,'' said Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive. He was referring to the
Soviet captain who prevailed on his fellow officers not to fire the nuclear torpedo .

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cold-war/sovietsbomb.htm