Stanislav Petrov

[Chuck Bronson]

The name may not sound familiar, but it should be.  With one decision, one act, this man single-handedly prevented WW III from occurring.



His job was to monitor missile launch detection systems, with protocol being should any be detected, he is to report this immediately to his superiors, which in turn would have immediately launched a counter-strike due to the doctrine of mutual assured destruction.  This was at the height (1983) of the twitchiest of fingers being on the hairiest of triggers, with both sides on 'fail-deadly' mode...



The early warning systems detected five missiles launched from the US.  Defying protocol, he didn't tell his superiors this.



Petrov cited his belief and training that any U.S. first strike would be massive, so five missiles seemed an illogical start.  In addition, the launch detection system was new and in his view not yet wholly trustworthy, while ground radar had failed to pick up corroborative evidence even after several minutes of the false alarm.



It was subsequently determined that the false alarms were caused by a rare alignment of sunlight on high-altitude clouds and the satellites' Molniya orbits, an error later corrected by cross-referencing a geostationary satellite.



He later became known as "the man who single-handedly saved the world from nuclear war."  He died last year at age 77.



https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Stanislaw-jewgrafowitsch-petrow-2016.jpg/330px-Stanislaw-jewgrafowitsch-petrow-2016.jpg">

[Anonymous]

The name may not sound familiar, but it should be.  With one decision, one act, this man single-handedly prevented WW III from occurring.



His job was to monitor missile launch detection systems, with protocol being should any be detected, he is to report this immediately to his superiors, which in turn would have immediately launched a counter-strike due to the doctrine of mutual assured destruction.



The early warning systems detected five missiles launched from the US.  Defying protocol, he didn't tell his superiors this.



Petrov cited his belief and training that any U.S. first strike would be massive, so five missiles seemed an illogical start.  In addition, the launch detection system was new and in his view not yet wholly trustworthy, while ground radar had failed to pick up corroborative evidence even after several minutes of the false alarm.



It was subsequently determined that the false alarms were caused by a rare alignment of sunlight on high-altitude clouds and the satellites' Molniya orbits, an error later corrected by cross-referencing a geostationary satellite.



He became known as "the man who single-handedly saved the world from nuclear war."  He died last year at age 77.



https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Stanislaw-jewgrafowitsch-petrow-2016.jpg/330px-Stanislaw-jewgrafowitsch-petrow-2016.jpg">

He was a real hero.

[Chuck Bronson]

He was a real hero.

Defying protocol, especially in Soviet Russia, would have taken some balls.  I think he knew what would have happened, had he followed protocol.

[Anonymous]

Another Soviet who prevented nuclear war over the Cuban missile crisis was Vasili Arkhipov.

[cc]

And I also credit Nikita Khrushchev on Cuba crisis. I feel that he knowingly sacrificed his career   ... because he knew that the boy Kennedy did not know enough to nor how to back off

[Anonymous]

And I also credit Nikita Khrushchev on Cuba crisis. I feel that he knowingly sacrificed his career   ... because he knew that the boy Kennedy did not know enough to nor how to back off

Could you imagine if Stalin was still in power at that time.

 

[cc]

That's a scary thought

[Berry Sweet]

Our world is fucked..  over a few dumb men...

[Anonymous]

Our world is fucked..  over a few dumb men...

But, Josef Stalin is dead.