A grim report issued by The Strategic Missile Forces (SMF), which is the main component of Russia’s Strategic Nuclear Forces (SNF), states that President Putin earlier today issued a feared “Dead Hand” order not used since 26 September 1983 when the nuclear early warning system of the Soviet Union twice reported the launch of American Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) from bases in the United States.
The issuance of the 1983 “Dead Hand” order, this report says, was in response to a five-day North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) command post exercise called Able Archer 83 that Soviet military officials feared was a “ruse to war”.
A “Dead Hand” order, it should be remembered, is a Cold-War-era nuclear-control system developed by the Soviet Union and remains in use today and is controlled from the massive and highly secretive underground military city at Mount Yamantau located in the Republic of Bashkortostan.
“Dead Hand” is an example of fail-deadly deterrence as it can automatically trigger the launch of the Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) if a nuclear strike is detected by seismic, light, radioactivity and overpressure sensors. By most accounts, it is normally switched off and is supposed to be activated during dangerous crises only; however, it is said to remain fully functional and able to serve its purpose whenever needed, such as today.
To Putin’s ordering the “Dead Hand” protocols today, this report continues, is in “direct response” to President Obama’s plan to send US military forces into Ukraine, a hostile war move Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov warned last month would lead to an immediate Russian response by his stating:
Critical to note about Putin’s issuing a “Dead Hand” order today was that nearly immediately after it had been issued, Vladislav Surkov, one of the most powerful men in the Kremlin, and the Russian leaders top aide, in essence, confirmed its existence when during a private interview with the Financial Times News Service on the sham US$50 billion ruling against Russia in a European arbitration proceeding (called The Fine That Rang Out Across The World) relating to the Yukos case stated why the Kremlin wasn’t responding by simply stating: “There is a war coming in Europe. Do you really think this matters.”
While the barrage of trade sanctions Washington and its allies have imposed on Russia is in fact an act of economic warfare, and which they had likewise imposed on Japan in 1941 that led Tokyo to attack the Western powers, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has nevertheless stated that Russia will not respond in kind by stating: “We cannot ignore it. But to fall into hysterics and respond to a blow with a blow is not worthy of a major country.”
And with the US War Party’s desire to punish Putin for pushing back against American interventionism in Syria, Iran, Iraq, and elsewhere in the Middle East, which has left these nations devastated…in just 800 words, even the American old-guard Cold War warrior Pat Buchanan exposes the sheer juvenile delinquency embodied in Washington’s current Ukrainian fiasco.
He accomplishes this by reminding us of the sober restraint that governed the actions of American Presidents from FDR to Eisenhower, Reagan and Bush I with respect to Eastern Europe during far more perilous times and by stating of today’s events:
And with a source from one of the Ukrainian defense departments now stating that a “system mix up” during a Ukrainian air defense units’ rocket launch exercise (and which we had previously reported on) could be the cause of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash in southeast Ukraine, the Obama regime backed Ukrainian military continues to wage war in this area in their bid to cover up the evidence to such an extent that Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has called on them to halt hostilities.
Not to be forgotten, it should be further noted, is that with nearly 500,000 Russian-speaking refugees having poured over Russia’s borders fleeing from the Ukraine Civil War, the 13,000 troops of NATO's Response Force (NRF) would pose no obstacle toRussia’s 845,000 active-duty troops. In fact, by one estimate, Russia’s military could take over the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in an afternoon as sizeable portions of their populations are ethnic Russians to begin with.
As to the US military's 1.4 million active duty troops and 850,000 reservists, it can't just throw all of them at Russia — somebody has to maintain those 900 bases around the world in 130 nations, as well as defend the US homeland…a situation perhaps best summed up by Frederick the Great, the renowned Prussian warrior-king, who once warned: “He who tries to defend everything, defends nothing.”
So to Putin’s issuance of this “Dead Hand” order today, since 1999, Russia has believed it could win a nuclear war against the United States…and with Obama believing he too can win a nuclear war against Russia…sadly the world may see, very soon, who is right.