NATO stood down once Western leaders became aware that the Soviets were fully prepared to 'launch on warning' a full retaliatory strike on Western targets. Yes folks, we were THAT close to nuclear annihilation in 1983. Recommended reading: A Cold War Conundrum: The 1983 Soviet War Scare. Google it.
The Soviets had good reason for their paranoia, and many experts believe that if not for Gordievesky's leaking details of RYAN to MI-6, Able Archer 83 very well may have been the initiation of a counterforce first strike by NATO against the Warsaw Pact.
So that is the untold story of this documentary. This data has just recently been declassified. The Reagan admin were playing a game of "chicken' with the Soviets, and it became painfully aware early on that NATO Air and Naval forces could project supremacy over strategically important territory at will.
The US Navy played a key role in the PSYOP program after President Reagan authorized it in March 1981 to operate and exercise near maritime approaches to the USSR, in places where US warships had never gone before.25 Fleet exercises conducted in 1981 and 1983 near the far northern and far eastern regions of the Soviet Union demonstrated US ability to deploy aircraft-carrier battle groups close to sensitive military and industrial sites, apparently without being detected or challenged early on.
Another former US official with access to the PSYOP program offered this assessment: "It really got to them," recalls Dr. William Schneider,undersecretary of state for military assistance and technology, who saw classified "after-action reports" that indicated U.S. flight activity. "They didn't know what it all meant. A squadron would fly straight at Soviet airspace, and other radars would light up and units would go on alert. Then at the last minute the squadron would peel off and return home.
Sometimes we would send bombers over the North Pole and their radars would click on," recalls Gen. Jack Chain, [a] former Strategic Air Command commander. "Other times fighter-bombers would probe their Asian or European periphery." During peak times, the operation would include several maneuvers in a week. They would come at irregular intervals to make the effect all the more unsettling. Then, as quickly as the unannounced flights began, they would stop, only to begin again a few weeks later.
5:12 Operation RYAN (RYAN is an acronym for nuclear missile attack in Cryllic), was launched by Andropov and the Soviet leadership for good reason. Almost immediately after taking office, the Reagan admin decided to employ the "Madman" theory to scare the shit out of the Soviets. Beginning in 1981, NATO, led by U.S. forces began conducting extremely secret military exercises that were designed to look like a preemptive attack against the U.S.S.R. (cont'd)
What i dont understand is where and when this deep seated hatred started between Russian and America. Did it slowly escalate as paranoia had both sides believe that the other was going to nuc? Why would this thought even cross either parties mind unless they were already on bad terms with one another?
3:05 "...Because we don't start World War III's or do Pearl Harbor's. We're the United States. Naive? But that's the way people thought. That's the way people still think frankly." Well, who I ask still thinks that way? After the fraudulent 2002 Iraq invasion, I don't think anybody on this planet "naively" trusts the motives of imperialist America.
Able Archer and the Fall of 1983 was a scary time. I would wager If Bush had been president in the 80s that would have been the last decade for everyone. Reagan wasnt perfect, but we are all still here. The russian people, just like any intelligent american didnt want a war. On a sided note... Makes one wonder back to the Cuban Missle Crisis....we had Kennedy's cool hand over Richard Nixon's hot headed personality. A few thousand votes in the 1960 election may have saved us in october 1962.
@ashland1977 technically it was not JFK that stopped escalation over Cuba, but was his brother. He was the first president to use EXCOMM to decide what to do. Initially the Air Force was going to bomb the Soviet installation but Robert Kennedy asked if the could guarantee if all the missiles would be destroyed, the response was no. Thus the 'quarantine' (a blockade is an act of war) was formed around Cuba by the US Navy. The rest is history.
NATO stood down once Western leaders became aware that the Soviets were fully prepared to 'launch on warning' a full retaliatory strike on Western targets. Yes folks, we were THAT close to nuclear annihilation in 1983. Recommended reading: A Cold War Conundrum: The 1983 Soviet War Scare. Google it.
geoffck6969 4 days ago
The Soviets had good reason for their paranoia, and many experts believe that if not for Gordievesky's leaking details of RYAN to MI-6, Able Archer 83 very well may have been the initiation of a counterforce first strike by NATO against the Warsaw Pact.
geoffck6969 4 days ago
So that is the untold story of this documentary. This data has just recently been declassified. The Reagan admin were playing a game of "chicken' with the Soviets, and it became painfully aware early on that NATO Air and Naval forces could project supremacy over strategically important territory at will.
geoffck6969 4 days ago
The US Navy played a key role in the PSYOP program after President Reagan authorized it in March 1981 to operate and exercise near maritime approaches to the USSR, in places where US warships had never gone before.25 Fleet exercises conducted in 1981 and 1983 near the far northern and far eastern regions of the Soviet Union demonstrated US ability to deploy aircraft-carrier battle groups close to sensitive military and industrial sites, apparently without being detected or challenged early on.
geoffck6969 4 days ago
Another former US official with access to the PSYOP program offered this assessment: "It really got to them," recalls Dr. William Schneider,undersecretary of state for military assistance and technology, who saw classified "after-action reports" that indicated U.S. flight activity. "They didn't know what it all meant. A squadron would fly straight at Soviet airspace, and other radars would light up and units would go on alert. Then at the last minute the squadron would peel off and return home.
geoffck6969 4 days ago
Sometimes we would send bombers over the North Pole and their radars would click on," recalls Gen. Jack Chain, [a] former Strategic Air Command commander. "Other times fighter-bombers would probe their Asian or European periphery." During peak times, the operation would include several maneuvers in a week. They would come at irregular intervals to make the effect all the more unsettling. Then, as quickly as the unannounced flights began, they would stop, only to begin again a few weeks later.
geoffck6969 4 days ago
5:12 Operation RYAN (RYAN is an acronym for nuclear missile attack in Cryllic), was launched by Andropov and the Soviet leadership for good reason. Almost immediately after taking office, the Reagan admin decided to employ the "Madman" theory to scare the shit out of the Soviets. Beginning in 1981, NATO, led by U.S. forces began conducting extremely secret military exercises that were designed to look like a preemptive attack against the U.S.S.R. (cont'd)
geoffck6969 4 days ago
What i dont understand is where and when this deep seated hatred started between Russian and America. Did it slowly escalate as paranoia had both sides believe that the other was going to nuc? Why would this thought even cross either parties mind unless they were already on bad terms with one another?
sgtsnakeeyes11 3 weeks ago
3:05 "...Because we don't start World War III's or do Pearl Harbor's. We're the United States. Naive? But that's the way people thought. That's the way people still think frankly." Well, who I ask still thinks that way? After the fraudulent 2002 Iraq invasion, I don't think anybody on this planet "naively" trusts the motives of imperialist America.
geoffck6969 1 month ago
EVERYBODY SUCKS!
alystrastardust 2 months ago
Stupid fucked up paranoid Yankeis +War mungering UK Poms Fuck you.
quantumofhate 2 months ago
Stupid, paranoid Russians.
aznsbd 2 months ago
Able Archer and the Fall of 1983 was a scary time. I would wager If Bush had been president in the 80s that would have been the last decade for everyone. Reagan wasnt perfect, but we are all still here. The russian people, just like any intelligent american didnt want a war. On a sided note... Makes one wonder back to the Cuban Missle Crisis....we had Kennedy's cool hand over Richard Nixon's hot headed personality. A few thousand votes in the 1960 election may have saved us in october 1962.
ashland1977 11 months ago
@ashland1977 technically it was not JFK that stopped escalation over Cuba, but was his brother. He was the first president to use EXCOMM to decide what to do. Initially the Air Force was going to bomb the Soviet installation but Robert Kennedy asked if the could guarantee if all the missiles would be destroyed, the response was no. Thus the 'quarantine' (a blockade is an act of war) was formed around Cuba by the US Navy. The rest is history.
mattread77 6 months ago
@mattread77 Thank you for the good info. I would say that is was a good thing Robert was around.
ashland1977 6 months ago
The PC pussies of today would have lost the Cold War...
Dazy143 1 year ago
I watched this and broke out the toilet paper. This shit's scary. Makes you think about North Korea, Al-Qaeda, Iran and Pakistan.
lsnows 1 year ago
seems to me that Ronald Reagan has been playing Missle Command on his Atari. lol
rawrvintageisclassic 1 year ago
Argh! Why can't she pronounce "nuclear" properly? Mr. Bush I can expect, but from a Brit?
895angela 2 years ago
Argh! Why can't she pronounce "nuclear" properly!!!!
895angela 2 years ago
@895angela She pronounces it like George W Bush.Glad he wasnt president in 1983 or the earth would be a charcoal briquitte orbiting the Sun.
MrJacMac1986 10 months ago
"evil empire" ahh conservatives and their sensationalist jargon
dodplayer45 2 years ago
@dodplayer45
It's called projection.
sture8808 2 years ago