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Posted on 04/22/2026 6:24:31 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
On April 26, 1986, Soviet engineers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were conducting a safety test. Doomed by a fatal design flaw and pushed to the limit by human negligence, reactor 4 exploded amid an attempted shutdown during a routine procedure, setting off a chain of events that ultimately released radioactive material hundreds of times greater than that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima...
While science has allowed us to understand the circumstances of the explosion itself, it has taken much more work to uncover the layers of mismanagement, negligence and misinformation that resulted in human suffering, ecological disaster and economic damage...
One of the problems is that many of the official Soviet records of the event, such as the KGB files, are located in Moscow and are inaccessible...
But there is a partial workaround: Because East Germany was a Soviet satellite state and not a full member of the Soviet Union, official documents remained in the country after the fall of the Berlin Wall....
Looking at formerly top secret communication between the KGB and Stasi ...despite publicly insisting everything was under control, both intelligence agencies knew the explosion was absolutely devastating. They kept detailed records of hospitalizations, casualties, damaged crops, contaminated livestock and radiation levels...
But only the very top officials (opens in a new window) in East Germany and the Soviet Union had access to these numbers. The main fear for both the KGB and Stasi was not the radiation that would harm affected populations but the damage done to their respective countries’ reputations. Handling the press was a top priority...
“When we inform the public, we should say that the power plant was being renovated at the time, so it doesn’t reflect badly on our reactor equipment.” - Mikhail Gorbachev
(Excerpt) Read more at binghamton.edu ...
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The problem for the East German state was that by the mid-1980s, a lot of people were able to pick up Western TV and radio signals. Many recognized that their own government wasn’t telling them the truth. However, they also knew that Western media would take any chance they got to disparage the Eastern bloc. The result was that many people knew that they weren’t being told the truth, but they weren’t sure exactly what the truth was.
Much of the East German and Soviet propaganda at that time was designed to confuse and cast doubt, not necessarily to fully persuade. The idea was that enough conflicting information would tire people out.
I highly recommend the Chernobyl miniseries on HBO.
“Every time a lie is told, it incurs a debt to the truth. And sooner or later that debt must be repaid.”
I remain amazed that HBO created an amazing TV series that represents the insanity of Chernobyl, and at the same time, the INSANITY of the entire Soviet System.
It is still available. Great acting, facts, on and on.
It’s called Chernobyl
I admit, I only watched one episode and may have to revisit it. It was so intense and bleak!
But there is a fun fact: the series’ creator was Senator Ted Cruz’s roommate in college.
Does anyone believe federal bureaucrats working under a Dem president would have done any differently?
See covid, circa 2020.
An American submarine, while attempting to enter the Mediterranean Sea underwater hit the bottom. The Soviets tried to blame the radiation on that submarine accident but where radiation was actually being detected quickly exposed the claim as fake news.
I have no clue what Lauren Cassidy thinks that means but what it means is absolutely nothing.
Definitely worth watching the show all the way through.
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