Perimeter actually works to make an unintentional nuclear launch less likely, not more. The article makes this quite clear. It isn't a "Doomsday Device", it's a safeguard against human error. That's why it wasn't publicized; it was never intended as a deterrent.
We already know that in one instance, the Soviet military was, indeed, level-headed enough. It would take a huge chain of coincidence to cause the Perimeter system to fail and false-launch.
-Kle.
@Klebert L. Hall: Ding! Nail = Head. Seems we have a winner here. Not to mention that it is NOT ACTIVATED at all, but rather turned off all the time. The only time it is ever activated is if their radar outposts tells them a ballistic nuke is incoming.
And last time I checked neither terrorists attack nor earthquakes are usually preceded by ballistic missiles...
@Dirk Anger: That always seemed like the strangest part of the movie. I couldn't figure out why they kept it a secret when it so obviously seemed to be the end-all-be-all of deterrents. I guess this (sorta) answers that question.
@Jester21: That was not strange, it was just a totally ridiculous thing, because it was completely and obviously stupid to keep it secret, since it's the "end-all-be-all of deterrents".
What IS strange is that real people is crazed enough to actually do it, and that that people has been in a position of power that's high enough to execute that project without nobody shutting them down
@Pope John Peeps II: Are you suggesting that Vladimir Putin -- former spy and procurer of nuclear poisonings and other assassinations -- doesn't have public safety foremost in his thoughts each and every day?
I cant look at bomb shelters anymore without thinking of that bloody awful film 'Blast form the Past'. Brendan bloody fraiser. What a crock of shit. That film may eventual be the deciding vote on weither I buy one or not. The irony is.....when the nukes drop and everyone gets zombified. Brendan Fraiser will be eating my throat. Bloody great!!
I would rather eat a bullet than live a few years in those tiny bunkers only to emerge back into a world full of mutant zombies and human/cyborg hybrid infiltrators.
And McG movies. I would eat a bullet before seeing another McG movie too.
10/09/09
We already know that in one instance, the Soviet military was, indeed, level-headed enough. It would take a huge chain of coincidence to cause the Perimeter system to fail and false-launch.
-Kle.
10/09/09
And last time I checked neither terrorists attack nor earthquakes are usually preceded by ballistic missiles...
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And still they detained my mother for toilet paper in her suitcase. The government budget savings from confiscating that stuff must have been amazing.
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:)
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So Doctor Strangelove was historically accurate
Live and see...
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What IS strange is that real people is crazed enough to actually do it, and that that people has been in a position of power that's high enough to execute that project without nobody shutting them down
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What's next? The USAF perfected a nuclear bomb you can ride on?
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Judging by Russia today, those safeguards have been dismantled for scrap and sold for pairs of American jeans, and 9mm pistols.
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I bid you good day, sir.
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And McG movies. I would eat a bullet before seeing another McG movie too.