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Oh, that big 1982 Siberian explosion?
Fort Worth Star-Telegram / The New York Times ^ | 2/3/04 | William Safire

Posted on 02/03/2004 9:13:42 PM PST by Valin

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To: DeepDish
I have high speed cable but this box mostly just idles.
21 posted on 02/03/2004 11:55:13 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States - and war is what they got!!!!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Outstanding! Thanks for the ping.
22 posted on 02/04/2004 5:37:17 AM PST by Dog Gone
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To: Valin
Completely shameless bump
23 posted on 02/04/2004 6:47:42 AM PST by Valin (Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.)
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To: Valin
Amazing story!

Thanks for posting.

24 posted on 02/04/2004 6:50:12 AM PST by Constitution Day
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To: Constitution Day
It makes you wonder just what else they did. I guess it would fall under "I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you."
25 posted on 02/04/2004 7:02:40 AM PST by Valin (Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.)
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To: Capriole
Good post. Thus being the case, hard to "tout" one's success, is know by the liberals who have decided to politicize our intel gathering.

Appears that many have been frozen out on that oh so cherished intel and are "running" in the dark. The politicals are acting very scared, as though they have something to HIDE.

26 posted on 02/04/2004 7:10:48 AM PST by Just mythoughts
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To: Valin
The Eighties were a great time to be involved in the dreaded Military/Industrial Complex.

Too bad most of these stories will never be declassified. Many were better than any Hollywood thriller ever made ...

27 posted on 02/04/2004 7:23:06 AM PST by LTCJ (Gridlock '05 - the Lesser of Three Evils.)
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To: Valin
We will probably never know even a small fraction of all the things they've done.

It's amazing, really.

28 posted on 02/04/2004 7:26:00 AM PST by Constitution Day
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To: dts32041
I believe I read a Tom Clancy interview some years back in which he said a fictional account of sabotaged computer chips was based on true events. He didn't give any details.
29 posted on 02/04/2004 7:37:14 AM PST by js1138
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To: Valin
well they new in 81 that the soviets were doomed.
30 posted on 02/04/2004 7:39:39 AM PST by Walkingfeather
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To: Walkingfeather
I can't say about others, but I always assumed they were.
31 posted on 02/04/2004 7:44:49 AM PST by Valin (Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.)
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To: Capriole
true dat!
32 posted on 02/04/2004 7:49:57 AM PST by CJ Wolf
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To: Valin
"In our complex disinformation scheme, deliberately flawed designs for stealth technology and space defense sent Russian scientists down paths that wasted time and money".

I'm really glad that Bill Safire outlived Gus Weiss, if only to be able to let the world know that it's one more positive thing/momentous event that happened during the Reagan Administration.

33 posted on 02/04/2004 3:31:52 PM PST by Pagey (Hillary Rotten is a Smug and Holier- than- Thou Socialist)
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To: Valin
People only believe this because they see the name Reagan and doing something against the evil, evil Soviet Union. If you actually start thinking about it: the plan allegedly dates from January 1982, the explosion from the summer of 1982. Is there anybody here who believes you successfully build a pipeline under 6 months? Or if they are not building it and it is already there, that they replace existing software with American software without knowing what it does or testing it for several months on a test platform to get accustomed to it and see how it works when applying it to Russian equipment?
34 posted on 03/04/2004 6:20:32 AM PST by Simon666 (Think for yourself instead of letting people do it for you.)
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To: Simon666
The catch: Computer chips would be designed to pass Soviet quality tests and then to fail in operation.
35 posted on 03/04/2004 7:44:13 AM PST by Valin (America is the land mine between barbarism and civilization.)
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To: Valin
Look, the pipeline was probably already there in January as you can't built a pipeline in Siberia in the winter for the simple reason it is freezing the soil rock hard. You don't build that thing under 6 months. That means also there was already hardware and software on it. So I really doubt the Soviets would change existing software/hardware with something unproven you bought from dubious sources unless the existing stuff was really bad.

And the time window is just too small if you consider the plan is from January 1982 and the "effect" is in the summer of 1982 already. That would require the plan to be executed in record time by both the American and Soviet bureaucracy. Now the American bureaucracy is feasible, but passing the Soviet bureaucracy at such speed as well? If it would have been the 1989 explosion of a pipeline that killed 600 people on passenger trains, I might have believed it.
36 posted on 03/04/2004 8:04:58 AM PST by Simon666 (Think for yourself instead of letting people do it for you.)
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To: Valin
Anybody else reminded of Fred Pohl's The Cool War?
37 posted on 03/04/2004 8:05:42 AM PST by steve-b
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To: Simon666
Gee you don't suppose the hradware and software were upgraded do you? Nah, no one ever does that, particularly the soviets as they always produced state of the art hardware and software.
38 posted on 03/04/2004 8:08:55 AM PST by Valin (America is the land mine between barbarism and civilization.)
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To: Simon666
The pipeline was above ground.
39 posted on 03/04/2004 8:18:47 AM PST by Old Professer (“Dad, they’re just cigarettes -- give them up. Quit smoking: you’ll be healthier,” his son Angelo Jr)
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To: Simon666
Simon666
Since Mar 4, 2004

Welcome to FR, newbie

40 posted on 03/04/2004 8:46:06 AM PST by Freebird Forever
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