By John Erath This week marks the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, generally considered to be the closest the world came to all out nuclear war. Perhaps inevitably, much of the commentary has highlighted supposed parallels to the current situation, specifically Russia’s threats to use nuclear weapons in support of its aggression against […]
Russia’s Nuclear Threats Prompt Memories Of Cuban Missile Crisis
Senior Policy Director John Erath spoke with Newsy on the 60th anniversary of the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis about comparisons to then and now, when tensions are as high as they were then.
Timeline: The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day nuclear crisis between the United States and the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. Learn more.
The Soviet False Alarm Incident and Able Archer 83
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 […]
