The New York Times on recent revelations about Able Archer, a 1983 NATO military exercise in Europe so realistic that nearly frightened the Soviet Union into launching a pre-emptive nuclear war.
The Russians were making their decisions, in part, by feeding 40,000 variables into a computer to predict the likelihood of nuclear attack.
“Soviet intelligence clearly had tipoffs” to the Able Archer exercise, the advisory board’s report said, and some scenarios suggested a nuclear first strike.
The Wall Street Journal has an amusing piece on Michael Bohm, an American who routinely appears on Russian television to present a pro-American political perspective. The innocuous Mr. Bohm (who speaks fluent Russian) typically tries to get a word in edge-wise while being shouted at by the Russian equivalent of Donald Trump supporters.
“Michael, go for it!” said the host of top-ranked “Evening with Vladimir Solovyov” with a fist pump three Sundays ago. “First of all, may I ask: Is it true that Russia is at fault for everything?”