E. Telegraph report on Russia/US joint early warning station re Y2K missile problem

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From the Electronic Telegraph (London):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000154642417163&rtmo=LK3b73Ld&atmo=99999999&P4_FOLLOW_ON=/99/2/27/wbug27.html&pg=/et/99/2/27/wbug27.html

Missile alert over Millennium bug By Robert Uhlig, Technology Correspondent IN the most threatening indication yet of the potential effects of the Millennium bug, America and Russia have agreed to man a joint early-warning station in case the software glitch triggers a nuclear missile attack.

American officials proposed a centre in case the bug caused a faulty computer to think that a missile attack was under way, prompting an unnecessary retaliatory offensive. Their Russian counterparts agreed to the proposal at military talks during the week.

Under its terms, Russian and American officers will sit side by side during the weeks before and after the start of the new year to help to avoid confusion if a computer error disrupts either country's missile-warning system.

Vladimir Yakovlev, head of Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces, said: "We have reached a preliminary agreement on this and consultations are now being carried on at a working group level. We have not yet decided the question of where this centre will be located and the scope of its activity. It's early now to speak of timetables for bringing this centre on line. But nonetheless, such terminals of the centre should be located on United States and Russian territory."

Russia has only recently acknowledged the existence of the Millennium bug and the threat it poses. At the end of last year it admitted the glitch could affect its nuclear missile force. Mr Yakovlev said the Strategic Rocket Forces expected to resolve their Millennium bug problem by November.

Some experts fear that the bug could cause Russia's defences to believe erroneously that an attack has begun. Moscow has ruled out an accidental launch; an American defence chief rated the risk of an unauthorised launch as low.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), February 27, 1999

Answers

Well Okay, the Russians won't think we are bombing them and we won't think the Russians are bombing us...

Now how about North Korea, China, India, Pakistan etc. etc.?

(It doesn't take a false nuclear attack to start a big messy confrontation, BTW)

-- (Lancelot @ tavern link.com), February 27, 1999.


Old Git,

Thank you for posting the UK articles that you manage to hunt down.

I have spent the past few hours going through some British papers that a friend got for me. They only range from Feb 9 - 19, but there is absolutely nothing in them relating at all to Y2K. Not even much about the Euro. I was left with a very uneasy feeling and doubts about the seriousness of this started to edge their way in my mind. I had to flee to my PC and start her up and get on to this forum before I lost it completely. Still it is very disconcerting.

The main news that appears to run throughout them is about genetically altered food. There appears to be quite a debate going on as to whether it is safe or not!!!!!!

Anyhow I was wondering if you could post a bit of an update after you speak to your dad or son next time. Is there much being reported in the news both in print or on TV? I think I already have a pretty good idea what the answer will be, but am interested just the same.

There appears to be a lot more activity that is being reported in this country, Canada, Australia, and NZ, than there is in the UK and Europe in general.

PS. Another thing that I find surreal of late is when I listen to the news. I find it bizarre to hear reports on all these new fangled technological wonders that are expected to be available next year, the year after, and so on, supposedly to help make our lives a little easier.

-- Carol (usa-uk@email.com), February 27, 1999.


Hi Carol,

There IS British news about Y2K but you have to hunt for it. Very often it's in a technology or editorial section. I've mentioned a couple of times that Dad (82) Got It just before I did. That must have been around July last year so I expect the media were full of it at that time. By the way, Dad takes only a local weekly paper, can't afford national dailies any more. His news comes from that paper and (mostly) BBC-TV and radio. Lately, Dad has been saying that he thinks things are not going to be quite as bad as he first envisioned, which illustrates to me the current government spin (similar to that here). His recent topic has been GM foods and if it weren't for the fact that he goes to County Council meetings to battle developers, he would take on that challenge too! Dad was a Councillor in the late 1940s and has been giving politicians a hard time ever since. Anyway, I'll write to you privately and see what URLs you have, try to give you some more sources to search.

-- Jolly Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), February 27, 1999.


Imagine your sitting in the Soviet bunker with all the hook ups needed to ascertain missle intelligence exchange between US and Russia . It's Friday, Januruary 31st twelve midnight. Suddenly , an urgent call comes from America. "We are having some unexplained missle launch over the pole on our radar screens. Will you confirm that this is an error in OUR systems"? If the Russians really have lanched a sneek attack, and our officers there are unaware of it, who's word do we take, the Russians ?? Doesn't sound like a great set up from our prospective ! Got a Bunker? Eagle

-- Harold Walker (e999eagle@freewwweb.com), February 27, 1999.

Carol - see you have a fake address too! Here's a link that might help:

http://www.ukdirectory.co.uk/index.htm

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), February 27, 1999.



Harold, yeah we take the Russians' word for it. That's the way it's been since NORAD began. We have other sensors which should pick up the launch at various times so there should be correlation of these events. Having this cooperation between the major nuke forces goes towards minimizing misunderstanding. As for the other countries which may launch, we should be able to detect those as well.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), February 27, 1999.

Harold -

you want paranoia? try this: same bunker, same commo setup, simultaneous incoming and outgoing calls - "China just launched at multiple targets in India, Russia, and the area which will soon be formerly known as Taiwan"...

whaddaya do now?

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), February 27, 1999.


Old Git,

Thank you. Sorry about the previous email -- left out the msn. This one should work.

-- Carol (usa-uk@email.msn.com), February 28, 1999.


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