At the height of the Cold War, the Soviets designed an early-warning radar system meant to track fast-moving threats to increase the chance of reprisal. On September 26, 1983, however, the system, code-named Oko, malfunctioned. At around midnight, Oko’s alarms rang out, alerting the base of one incoming nuclear missile. The screen read, “LAUNCH,” which […]
The Norwegian Rocket Incident (The Black Brant Scare)
On January 25, 1995, Russian officers at the Olenegorsk Radar Station in the northwestern region of Russia detected the “launch” of what appeared to be a 4-stage missile off Norway’s northern coast. Although the officers were not able immediately identify the missile, the altitude and distance traveled appeared to align closely with the U.S. submarine-launched […]
Beyond Irony: Putin’s Threats and the International Day of Peace
By John Erath September 21 is the “International Day of Peace,” as declared by the UN in 1981. It is therefore something beyond ironic that it was chosen by Vladimir Putin as the appropriate moment to announce a “partial mobilization” of 300,000 reservists to provide additional cannon fodder for Russian operations in Ukraine. Putin cloaked […]
Fact Sheet: Russia’s Nuclear Inventory
The U.S.S.R. dramatically accelerated its atomic weapons program following the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and successfully tested its first plutonium bomb in 1949. An arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union quickly ensued, leading to a massive stockpile build-up, the development of even deadlier thermonuclear weapons, and new vehicles by […]
Nuclear Inheritance Part 2: Ukraine and the Bomb
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought us closer to nuclear escalation than ever in a post Cold War world. One major question hangs overhead: what if Ukraine had kept its nuclear arsenal after the USSR’s dissolution? Host Geoff Wilson speaks with Mariana Budjeryn, author of Inheriting the Bomb: The Collapse of the USSR and […]
