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A comment on Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet officer who averted nuclear war, has died. Parent comment

Re:Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet officer who averted nuclear wa... by 0xbear on Monday September 18, 2017 @07:24AM (#15274892)
This plan strikes me as idiotic TBH. The Kremlin is situated smack dab in the center of the most populous city in Russia, Moscow. You can’t take out just the Kremlin without taking out millions of people in the process. And even if you could, the USSR would have no choice but to respond. It’s like someone nuked the White House. Rockets would be flying within minutes.

Nowadays there’s an automated system in place that ensures a response even if the entire high command is taken out: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand_(nuclear_war)

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Re:Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet officer who averted nuclear wa... by dwringer on Monday September 18, 2017 @09:26AM (#15275672)
Well... to that page's credit somewhere halfway down it does mention that the existence of a dead hand is only a hypothesis. I suppose it's just one more onto the pile of things from Dr. Strangelove that people interpret as absolute fact.
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Re:Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet officer who averted nuclear wa... by 0xbear on Monday September 18, 2017 @09:33AM (#15275733)
Of course it’s a “hypothesis”. No one wants to drink polonium tea after confirming it.
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Re:Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet officer who averted nuclear wa... by dwringer on Monday September 18, 2017 @09:40AM (#15275800)
The whole point of a doomsday device is lost if you keep it a secret! But, a little bit of polonium in your tea is nothing compared to the international conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
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Re:Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet officer who averted nuclear wa... by 0xbear on Monday September 18, 2017 @09:54AM (#15275911)
Not really. It’s like Israel’s nuclear arsenal. Not confirming its existence allows Israel to stay out of the various treaties, but is there any doubt that they have it?
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