BarkellWH -> RE: Black Hole eats sun (May 31 2012 15:00:44)
|
quote:
We were quite aware that we were gambling with human lives. Even more, we were gambling with the end of civilization. The Soviets were just as aware. Early in my career, in the mid-1960s, I spent a few years in the U.S. Air Force. I was in an Air Force intelligence unit monitoring the Soviet Bomber Command, tracking Soviet bombers as they were deployed within the Soviet Union and as they flew reconaissance missions just outside U.S. air space, primarily near Alaska. We, of course, did the same thing near Soviet air space. The idea on both sides was to force the activation of air defense radar stations so that each would know the location of the other's air defenses. Later, I became a career Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. Department of State. My whole career has been involved in foreign affairs and national security, and I continue doing such work as a consultant. Your statement, quoted above, Richard, is very true. The critical point, however, is that both the United States and the Soviet Union were equally aware of the consequences of a misstep or misinterpretation of intentions. Both the U.S. and the USSR were concerned that there not be any action taken by one that would trigger a retaliatory response on its territory by the other. Thus, such measures as the Washington-Moscow Hotline were put into place. Of course, the U.S. and the USSR went belly-to-belly in activities meant to undermine each other's influence in much of the rest of the world, primarily in the so-called Third World. But I actually was convinced that both Washington and Moscow were led by rational leaders and establishments, and I think that history has confirmed this to be true. In my opinion, the most dangerous confrontation was the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the fact that we worked out a solution short of war serves to reinforce my view of the rational approach demonstrated by both the U.S. and the USSR. Cheers, Bill
|
|
|
|