Ponniyin Selvan Varalaatru Peravai

*Forwarded from Lt. Col. Balasubramanian* (not sure!)

*Col of the Soviet Army.*


Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov

The date is 1 September 1983 and the Cold War between the Soviet Union and
USA is in full gear, when from the New York skies Korean Air Lines Flight
007 flies from JFK, destination Seoul, South Korea.

In the middle of the flight, while accidentally passing through Soviet air
space, Soviet fighter jets appear getting close the aircraft. The Soviets,
who didn't know the plane contained civilians, warned the pilot that they
will shoot down the aircraft if it doesn't identify itself, and the pilot,
for some unknown reason, doesn't respond.

Reports say the pilot never actually received the information, although
theories about this are still unclear. An hour passes as the fighter jets
still accompany the aircraft, and the orders from Soviet military is to
shoot down the aircraft just as the plane was leaving Soviet airspace. The
Soviet fighter jets shot down the plane, with the aircraft plunging 35,000
feet in less than 90 seconds, killing 269 civilians, including a US
congressman. Hell broke loose. As the Soviets tried to defend their
'mistake', US President Ronald Reagan described the Soviets actions as
"barbaric" and "a crime against humanity that must never be forgotten". The
tension between the two mega-powers hit an all-time high, and on 15
September 1983 the US administration banned Soviet aircrafts from operating
in US airspace. With the political climate in dangerous territory, both US
and Soviet government were on high-alert believing an attack was imminent.

It was a cold night at the Serpukhov-15 bunker in Moscow on 26 September
1983 as Strategic Rocket Forces lieutenant colonel Stanislav Yevgrafovich
Petrov resumed his duty, monitoring the skies of the Soviet Union, after
taking a shift of someone else who couldn't go to work. Just past midnight,
Petrov received a computer report he'd dreaded all his military career to
see, the computer captured a nuclear military missile being launched from
the US, destination Moscow.

In the event of such an attack, the Soviet Union's strategy protocol was
to launch an immediate all-out nuclear weapons counterattack against the
United States with nuclear power, and immediately afterwards inform top
further the military offensive on America. The bunker was in full-alarm,
with red lights all over the place as the missile was captured by the Soviet
satellites via computers. Petrov wasn't convinced though.. He believed that
if the US attacked, they would have attacked all-out, not just sending one
missile and giving a chance for them (the Soviets) to attack back. Petrov
figured something didn't make sense, as strategically, just one missile from
the US would be a strategic disaster. He took some time to think and decided
not to give the order of a nuclear attack against America, since in his
opinion, one missile didn't make sense strategically and it could easily
have been a computer error.

But then, seconds later, the situation turned extremely serious. A second
missile was spotted by the satellite. The pressure by the officers in the
bunker to commence responsive actions against America started growing. A
third missile was spotted, followed by a fourth. A couple of seconds later,
a fifth one was spotted... everyone in the bunker was agitated as the USSR
was under missile attack. He had two options. Go with his instinct and
dismiss the missiles as computer errors, breaking military protocol in the
process or take responsive action and commence full-blown nuclear actions
against America, potentially killing millions. He decided it was a computer
error, knowing deep down that if he was wrong, missiles would be raining
down in Moscow in minutes. Seconds turned to minutes, and as time passed it
was clear Petrov was right, it was a computer error after all. Stanislav
Petrov had prevented a worldwide nuclear war, a doomsday scenario that would
have annihilated entire cities. He was a hero. Those around him
congratulated him for his superb judgment.

Upon further investigation it resulted that the error came from a very rare
sunlight alignment, which the computer read as missile. Of course, top brass
in the Kremlin didn't find it so heroic, as he broke military protocol and
if he would have been wrong, risked millions of Russian lives. He was sent
into early retirement, with a measly $200 a month pension, suffering a
nervous breakdown in the process. Due to military secrecy, nobody knew
Petrov's heroic judgment until 1998, when a book written by a Russian
officer present at the bunker revealed that World War 3 was closer than
people thought, and a nuclear holocaust was avoided by a close shave. Petrov
reminisces what could have been if he didn't get that extra shift that
night.

Even though the Russians have little sympathy to the man who saved millions
of American lives, the United Nations and a number of US agencies honoured
the man who could have started a nuclear war, but didn't.

A documentary film entitled 'The Man who saved the World' is set to be
released, perhaps giving Petrov some financial help, thanking him for the
incredible part he had in keeping the US and the USSR out of a full-blown
war. Without knowing on the cold Moscow night back in 1983, a badly paid
44 year old military officer saved the world, and made himself one of the
most influential persons of the century in the process, saving more lives
than anyone ever did. Most of today's people don't know it, but today's
world as we know it, is like it is because of Stanislav Petrov.

WIKIPEDIA entry about Stanilav Petrov : Here Petrov has said he does not
regard himself as a hero for what he did that day. In an interview for the
documentary film 'The Red Button and the Man Who Saved the World,' Petrov
says, "All that happened didn't matter to me — it was my job. I was simply
doing my job, and I was the right person at the right time, that's all. My
late wife for 10 years knew nothing about it. 'So what did you do?' she
asked me. And I said I did nothing."