The Man Who Prevented WWIII

MikeC101 · 10-10-2009 10:12PM

asdasd wrote: »

He saved the world. The Americans would have responded to his response to the fake missiles with real missiles. The Soviets then responded to those and the 50-75K missiles deployed around the world at the time would have ended the world. i believe there were 4 targeted at Ireland.

Targeted by the Reds or the Yanks? I assume the former.

Anyway, Dev would have rised from his grave and used his super powered neutrality beam to shield us from the nukes, so we would have been ok.

I think.

asdasd · 10-10-2009 10:16PM

We would have been saved by the virgin Mary actually, as they targetted Knock.

ejmaztec · 10-10-2009 10:17PM

MikeC101 wrote: »

Targeted by the Reds or the Yanks? I assume the former.

Anyway, Dev would have rised from his grave and used his super powered neutrality beam to shield us from the nukes, so we would have been ok.

I think.

It was the Orange Order.:eek:

Soby · 10-10-2009 10:17PM

Berkut wrote: »

pfttt..old news...in fact do a search and you'll find this thread was on boards about 9 months ago at least.:p

Would if i could:P

robinph · 10-10-2009 10:48PM

Wasn't there another close call in the '80's when there was a massive NATO training operation going on, but without any actual troops I think, but setup so that all the systems were simulating actually starting an attack on the Eastern Block. It fooled them as well and they very nearly retaliated to the fake attack.

aidan_dunne · 10-10-2009 11:27PM

robinph wrote: »

Wasn't there another close call in the '80's when there was a massive NATO training operation going on, but without any actual troops I think, but setup so that all the systems were simulating actually starting an attack on the Eastern Block. It fooled them as well and they very nearly retaliated to the fake attack.

Yep, it was an exercise in late 1983 called 'Able Archer'. The Soviets (Andropov in particular) were so paranoid about it, especially with everything that had happened in the weeks and months leading up to it (the Korean airliner being shot down, Reagan's description of the Soviet Union as being 'the evil empire', the announcement of the 'Star Wars' project, the joke recording of him saying "I have declared war on Russia, the bombing begins in five minutes", etc.), they honestly believed that they were going to launch a real first strike attack using the 'Able Archer' excercise as a cover for it.

There was a good documentary about the whole thing on Channel 4 a couple of years ago called '1983: The Brink Of Apocalypse' and the Petrov incident was also mentioned in it. I recommend anyone to try and track down a copy as it'll really explain how close we came to the big one! :eek:

kincsem · 10-10-2009 11:37PM

His picture here

http://www.islandbreath.org/2009Year/2009-08/090810homer.png

Jesus Wept · 11-10-2009 03:36AM

Yes I've heard of him.

I prevented World Wars IV, V, and VIII and Rocky VII but you don't hear me boasting.

thebman · 11-10-2009 04:26AM

Fooking trade union action saved us all, who'd have thunk it :P

Mr Benevolent · 11-10-2009 08:06AM

MikeC101 wrote: »

Targeted by the Reds or the Yanks? I assume the former.

Anyway, Dev would have rised from his grave and used his super powered neutrality beam to shield us from the nukes, so we would have been ok.

I think.

You're a bit premature there. Dev is alive and the father of Boards.ie*. I suspect he could save us from nuclear attack though. Probably by creating some sort of AH invective shield. If he put his mind to it he could probably overthrow the government to become Ireland's most successful leader. I for one will welcome our Devorian overlord!

*I know who you meant though

jaysusjones · 11-10-2009 11:28AM

Pfft, I bet he was just out back having a smoke and missed the whole thing.

Bandit12 · 11-10-2009 12:04PM

Well done to that man. Buy him a pint.

Ghost Train · 11-10-2009 12:51PM

*Raises Glass to man who invented the Wii*

Wagon · 11-10-2009 02:00PM

Ghost Train wrote: »

*Raises Glass to man who invented the Wii*

And then the glass flys out of your hand and hits the TV. Kind of like using a Wii.

Riddle101 · 11-10-2009 04:25PM

Great story. I hate the fact that history never really talks about these people. I mean I remember reading that during the Cuban Missle Crisis, one of the Soviet war ships was actually ordered to attack, but they refused to do it, even though they were risking their lives by disobeying their Superiors. But I think it's just wonderful that there are people out there that have actually made some singificance in preventing wars and major event from happening, yet I don't think we'll every see a guy like Stanislav Petrov in the history books.

El_Dangeroso · 11-10-2009 06:10PM

That's really interesting. I just finished reading a book called 'Blink' about the power of rapid cognition, those split-second decisions that are made by the unconscious brain and are often referred to as 'gut-reactions'. This sounds like a lot of those scenarios described in the book such as times when firefighters know to get out of a building and such.

josip · 19-09-2017 12:27AM

I know it's an old thread but it seems the most appropriate place to post that Stanislav died in May.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41314948

(Mods if you think this should be in a new thread I'll create one)

wakka12 · 19-09-2017 01:02AM

Absolutely mad that armageddon was so narrowly avoided, and that one person pressing a button could cause the world to end

Kermit.de.frog · 19-09-2017 01:43AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFNRlvEh7ok

RobertKK · 19-09-2017 06:22AM

I heard it was November 11th when the US were doing war games and it looked like the US had launched a nuclear strike, but the war games were stopped to mark armistice day, and his screen showed that there was no attack, but he had waited and waited, that he had 7 minutes to make a decision.

gramar · 19-09-2017 07:29AM

Didn't David Bowie write a song about him before it even happened?

Greybottle · 19-09-2017 07:38AM

The song 99 Red Balloons was based on a similar incident, but was written a couple of months before the Soviet incident.

Fact following fiction.

dexter_morgan · 19-09-2017 07:43AM

If WW3 has been prevented, will the next world war be WW4?

19-09-2017 09:25AM

Ever watch Countdown to Zero?

It's a documentary that's about nuclear weapons. I don't think this guy is mentioned, but it does talk about just how close we've come to nuclear war. It's really quite bananas.

gramar · 19-09-2017 09:29AM

More reading here from a former US launch control officer.

death1234567 · 19-09-2017 09:34AM

I wish he had pushed the button so that I could have grown up in a post apocalyptic world where cigarettes and fuel are used as currency, Mad Max style.