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RIP Stanislav Petrov


blah the Prussian
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The vast majority of people on this forum, and people in general, probably don't know who Stanislav Petrov is. However, I can guarantee that we are only doing all we are doing because of him. In 1983, Petrov, in charge of the nuclear arsenal of the Soviet Union, was ordered to fire said arsenal at the US when Soviet radar detected an American missile fired at the USSR. Petrov refused and demanded further investigation, reasoning that if the US wanted to attack they would have fired more than one missile. As it turned out, the Soviet radar was experiencing issues. Petrov, with his actions, saved perhaps more people than any other single human ever has in history. So, with his recent passing, I'd like to thank him for allowing us all to experience life and civilization.

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Yep, to say it was a close call would be an understatement.

From what I remember reading up, Petrov wasn't even supposed to be there that day. But he was replacing someone who called in sick or something like that. If that's true... well, that only makes it even more extraordinary, since then things might've gone differently.

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6 hours ago, henrymidfields said:

At first glance, I forgot what that name was, until you reminded us of who he was. Rest in peace indeed.

Same here; I knew about the radar malfunction but couldn't remember the man's name. I think the event is somewhat well-known in Germany - newspapers would occasionally write about it, so I'm a bit surprised to learn about it here and not on my primary online news source. He was certainly not as famous as he would have deserved to be, even though iirc he merely thought of it as "doing his job" himself.

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I do remember reading about this somewhere, though I hadn't know his name. So, a great "THANK YOU!" to Mr. Petrov is indeed in order - it truly is strange how a single man can have such a significant impact on this world, whether by action or inaction.

... Though, he died on May 19th, did he not?

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RIP

It sounds like a similar situation during the Cuban Missile Crisis, where two out of three commanders on a sub wanted to unleash their nukes when they lost contact with the rest of the navy and thought nuclear war had broken out, but were only prevented by the remaining commander.

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