Author: Laszlo Solymar
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1524633712
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286
Book Description
The novel is set in the Soviet Union. It describes a well known episode in the Cold War when Soviet fighters shot down a Korean passenger plane on the 1st September 1983. The story is based on the official Soviet statements, issued on the 2nd, 3rd and 6th September. Only the third one admitted that their fighters had brought down the plane. Behind this succession of contradictory versions lies a debate. What went on behind the scenes? The main character is Nikolai Taranenko in charge of the Electronics Laboratory of the Soviet Armed Forces. He is brilliant in his job, greatly respected by the authorities. After destroying the plane the Soviet leadership realised that it was a blunder. The KGB arrested Taranenko blaming him for the lack of a device that could have recognised the plane as being a passenger plane. But then Taranenko turns the tables
The Passenger Plane Shot Down by the Russians
Author: Laszlo Solymar
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1524633712
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286
Book Description
The novel is set in the Soviet Union. It describes a well known episode in the Cold War when Soviet fighters shot down a Korean passenger plane on the 1st September 1983. The story is based on the official Soviet statements, issued on the 2nd, 3rd and 6th September. Only the third one admitted that their fighters had brought down the plane. Behind this succession of contradictory versions lies a debate. What went on behind the scenes? The main character is Nikolai Taranenko in charge of the Electronics Laboratory of the Soviet Armed Forces. He is brilliant in his job, greatly respected by the authorities. After destroying the plane the Soviet leadership realised that it was a blunder. The KGB arrested Taranenko blaming him for the lack of a device that could have recognised the plane as being a passenger plane. But then Taranenko turns the tables
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1524633712
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286
Book Description
The novel is set in the Soviet Union. It describes a well known episode in the Cold War when Soviet fighters shot down a Korean passenger plane on the 1st September 1983. The story is based on the official Soviet statements, issued on the 2nd, 3rd and 6th September. Only the third one admitted that their fighters had brought down the plane. Behind this succession of contradictory versions lies a debate. What went on behind the scenes? The main character is Nikolai Taranenko in charge of the Electronics Laboratory of the Soviet Armed Forces. He is brilliant in his job, greatly respected by the authorities. After destroying the plane the Soviet leadership realised that it was a blunder. The KGB arrested Taranenko blaming him for the lack of a device that could have recognised the plane as being a passenger plane. But then Taranenko turns the tables
Shot Down
Author: Marianne van Velzen
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 176087163X
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 221
Book Description
The first full telling of what happened to MH17 and the stories of those who were killed on that tragic day. On 17 July 2014, Malaysian Airlines MH17 was shot out of the sky above Ukraine. Aboard were 298 people, 38 of whom were Australians. No one survived. Subsequently it was shown that the airliner was almost certainly hit by a Buk surface-to-air missile fired by Ukrainian separatists aided by the Russian military. The debris from the plane's disintegration mid-air was spread over 50 square kilometres, but for weeks rescue teams and investigators were denied access. The Russians have refused to take any responsibility for the deaths. This is the story of some of the people who boarded that fatal flight and the conflict below them that was doomed to destroy their lives and the happiness of the people they left behind. The fullest account yet published, it is also the story of a continuing clamour for justice. Unsettling, compelling and revealing, Shot Down will provoke both outrage that this criminal act could have happened and deep sadness for the lives lost. 'A compelling account of one of the most appalling aviation atrocities of our time.' JIM EAMES, author of Courage in the Skies
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 176087163X
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 221
Book Description
The first full telling of what happened to MH17 and the stories of those who were killed on that tragic day. On 17 July 2014, Malaysian Airlines MH17 was shot out of the sky above Ukraine. Aboard were 298 people, 38 of whom were Australians. No one survived. Subsequently it was shown that the airliner was almost certainly hit by a Buk surface-to-air missile fired by Ukrainian separatists aided by the Russian military. The debris from the plane's disintegration mid-air was spread over 50 square kilometres, but for weeks rescue teams and investigators were denied access. The Russians have refused to take any responsibility for the deaths. This is the story of some of the people who boarded that fatal flight and the conflict below them that was doomed to destroy their lives and the happiness of the people they left behind. The fullest account yet published, it is also the story of a continuing clamour for justice. Unsettling, compelling and revealing, Shot Down will provoke both outrage that this criminal act could have happened and deep sadness for the lives lost. 'A compelling account of one of the most appalling aviation atrocities of our time.' JIM EAMES, author of Courage in the Skies
Near Abroad
Author: Gerard Toal
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190253304
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 409
Book Description
In sum, by showing how and why local regional disputes quickly develop into global crises through the paired power of historical memory and time-space compression, Near Abroad reshapes our understanding of the current conflict raging in the center of the Eurasian landmass and international politics as a whole.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190253304
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 409
Book Description
In sum, by showing how and why local regional disputes quickly develop into global crises through the paired power of historical memory and time-space compression, Near Abroad reshapes our understanding of the current conflict raging in the center of the Eurasian landmass and international politics as a whole.
Airframe
Author: Michael Crichton
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345526775
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Jurassic Park, Timeline, and Sphere comes this extraordinary thriller about airline safety, business intrigue, and a deadly cover-up. “The pacing is fast, the suspense nonstop.”—People Three passengers are dead. Fifty-six are injured. The interior cabin is virtually destroyed. But the pilot manages to land the plane. At a moment when the issue of safety and death in the skies is paramount in the public mind, a lethal midair disaster aboard a commercial twin-jet airliner flying from Hong Kong to Denver triggers a pressured and frantic investigation. Airframe is nonstop reading, full of the extraordinary mixture of super suspense and authentic information on a subject of compelling interest that are the hallmarks of Michael Crichton. “A one-sitting read that will cause a lifetime of white-knuckled nightmares.”—The Philaelphia Inquirer “The ultimate thriller . . . [Crichton’s] stories are always page-turners of the highest order. . . . [Airframe] moves like a firehouse dog chasing a red truck.”—The Denver Post “Dramatically vivid.”—The New York Times
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345526775
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Jurassic Park, Timeline, and Sphere comes this extraordinary thriller about airline safety, business intrigue, and a deadly cover-up. “The pacing is fast, the suspense nonstop.”—People Three passengers are dead. Fifty-six are injured. The interior cabin is virtually destroyed. But the pilot manages to land the plane. At a moment when the issue of safety and death in the skies is paramount in the public mind, a lethal midair disaster aboard a commercial twin-jet airliner flying from Hong Kong to Denver triggers a pressured and frantic investigation. Airframe is nonstop reading, full of the extraordinary mixture of super suspense and authentic information on a subject of compelling interest that are the hallmarks of Michael Crichton. “A one-sitting read that will cause a lifetime of white-knuckled nightmares.”—The Philaelphia Inquirer “The ultimate thriller . . . [Crichton’s] stories are always page-turners of the highest order. . . . [Airframe] moves like a firehouse dog chasing a red truck.”—The Denver Post “Dramatically vivid.”—The New York Times
NL ARMS Netherlands Annual Review of Military Studies 2020
Author: Frans Osinga
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9462654190
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 538
Book Description
This open access volume surveys the state of the field to examine whether a fifth wave of deterrence theory is emerging. Bringing together insights from world-leading experts from three continents, the volume identifies the most pressing strategic challenges, frames theoretical concepts, and describes new strategies. The use and utility of deterrence in today’s strategic environment is a topic of paramount concern to scholars, strategists and policymakers. Ours is a period of considerable strategic turbulence, which in recent years has featured a renewed emphasis on nuclear weapons used in defence postures across different theatres; a dramatic growth in the scale of military cyber capabilities and the frequency with which these are used; and rapid technological progress including the proliferation of long-range strike and unmanned systems. These military-strategic developments occur in a polarized international system, where cooperation between leading powers on arms control regimes is breaking down, states widely make use of hybrid conflict strategies, and the number of internationalized intrastate proxy conflicts has quintupled over the past two decades. Contemporary conflict actors exploit a wider gamut of coercive instruments, which they apply across a wider range of domains. The prevalence of multi-domain coercion across but also beyond traditional dimensions of armed conflict raises an important question: what does effective deterrence look like in the 21st century? Answering that question requires a re-appraisal of key theoretical concepts and dominant strategies of Western and non-Western actors in order to assess how they hold up in today’s world. Air Commodore Professor Dr. Frans Osinga is the Chair of the War Studies Department of the Netherlands Defence Academy and the Special Chair in War Studies at the University Leiden. Dr. Tim Sweijs is the Director of Research at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies and a Research Fellow at the Faculty of Military Sciences of the Netherlands Defence Academy in Breda.
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9462654190
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 538
Book Description
This open access volume surveys the state of the field to examine whether a fifth wave of deterrence theory is emerging. Bringing together insights from world-leading experts from three continents, the volume identifies the most pressing strategic challenges, frames theoretical concepts, and describes new strategies. The use and utility of deterrence in today’s strategic environment is a topic of paramount concern to scholars, strategists and policymakers. Ours is a period of considerable strategic turbulence, which in recent years has featured a renewed emphasis on nuclear weapons used in defence postures across different theatres; a dramatic growth in the scale of military cyber capabilities and the frequency with which these are used; and rapid technological progress including the proliferation of long-range strike and unmanned systems. These military-strategic developments occur in a polarized international system, where cooperation between leading powers on arms control regimes is breaking down, states widely make use of hybrid conflict strategies, and the number of internationalized intrastate proxy conflicts has quintupled over the past two decades. Contemporary conflict actors exploit a wider gamut of coercive instruments, which they apply across a wider range of domains. The prevalence of multi-domain coercion across but also beyond traditional dimensions of armed conflict raises an important question: what does effective deterrence look like in the 21st century? Answering that question requires a re-appraisal of key theoretical concepts and dominant strategies of Western and non-Western actors in order to assess how they hold up in today’s world. Air Commodore Professor Dr. Frans Osinga is the Chair of the War Studies Department of the Netherlands Defence Academy and the Special Chair in War Studies at the University Leiden. Dr. Tim Sweijs is the Director of Research at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies and a Research Fellow at the Faculty of Military Sciences of the Netherlands Defence Academy in Breda.
Russian Decepticon
Author: Rick Martin
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 1490778365
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 123
Book Description
On that one fateful day, June 7, 2015, the headlines read Lufthansa Airlines flight number KB101 downed by Ukrainian separatists. This time, a German airliner was en route from Stockholm, Sweden, to Ankara, Turkey. That is when the Russian separatists, using ground-to-air Russian missiles, targeted her. Bad boys with big (Russian) toys can be dangerous. In this case, several satellite-based weather systems were tracking flight KB101 when three missile tracks from separatist-held Ukraine zeroed in on her. Germany started to roll tanks into Ukraine. All this really pissed off the kings men running the Kremlin. So somehow, somewhere, somebody ordered the super-secret Reeba submarine to launch a warning shot across the bow of America. Reeba was ordered to sneak out of her sunken hideaway near the Fort Lauderdale inlet and launch a nuclear-tipped cruise missile off the coast of Washington, DC, and that is where my involvement began. This Reeba plan was brilliant, thought Ivan in 2007. Make sure they do not rediscover their balls. But a little nuclear explosion in view of the White House, where nobody died? This was perfect. This was not treason. This would get those goddamn German tanks out of Ukraine! So Ivan pulled the trigger on Reeba. Within twenty-four hours, Reeba had crewed up, leaving only Polina and those married couples with children. They would continue to live as sleeper cells, gathering intelligence. Polina could drive that speedboat and detonate the nuclear device planted near the Fort Lauderdale inlet, if hot war started. Captain Nikolay of the Reeba was put on wartime alert. This was no drill! Reebas crew dropped the hull panel to release Reeba on the inland side of the tanker 600 feet below the ocean surface, next to Fort Lauderdale. The Virginia class sonar systems heard a wide range of electromagnetic signals in addition to the audible sound frequencies of a torpedo tube hatch opening. Thus, the electronics aboard Reeba suddenly came to life. We had a target location already in the computer. We fired two MK48 torpedoes. One targeted the bubble from the missile; it broke the oceans surface and exploded. This explosion damaged the guidance system in the cruise missile. And so as this cruise missile flew, it now started going through other embedded targets all over Americaincluding Chicago; New York; Washington, DC; and Houston, Texas. The erratic motions of the cruise missile became world news very quickly. It was not the Kremlins idea to kill American women and children with US Navy antimissile defense systems. But thats what happened. In fact, we learned later that the missiles incoming threat detection system was to trigger the nuke harmlessly a hundred miles off the East Coast if it was not going to reach ground zero on the Washington, DC, shoreline. The best-laid plans of mice and men can backfire when reckless leaders play with weapons of mass destruction. Apparently, Reeba had ten knots over our top speed, and of course, there was the entire Atlantic Ocean to hide in. I had a target resolution on Reeba for her four-thousand-mile cross ocean voyage. I shared my target resolution of coordinates, depth, speed, and direction with every US Navy vessel in the Atlantic Ocean. The sonar exec was caught (accidentally) talking to the control room. They launched a fish at us. It is honing in at high speed. We are a sitting duck. If that is an ASTOR-type nuclear torpedo, then all of us within ten miles will be vaporized or vibrated to death. God be with us all! Its time to pray!
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 1490778365
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 123
Book Description
On that one fateful day, June 7, 2015, the headlines read Lufthansa Airlines flight number KB101 downed by Ukrainian separatists. This time, a German airliner was en route from Stockholm, Sweden, to Ankara, Turkey. That is when the Russian separatists, using ground-to-air Russian missiles, targeted her. Bad boys with big (Russian) toys can be dangerous. In this case, several satellite-based weather systems were tracking flight KB101 when three missile tracks from separatist-held Ukraine zeroed in on her. Germany started to roll tanks into Ukraine. All this really pissed off the kings men running the Kremlin. So somehow, somewhere, somebody ordered the super-secret Reeba submarine to launch a warning shot across the bow of America. Reeba was ordered to sneak out of her sunken hideaway near the Fort Lauderdale inlet and launch a nuclear-tipped cruise missile off the coast of Washington, DC, and that is where my involvement began. This Reeba plan was brilliant, thought Ivan in 2007. Make sure they do not rediscover their balls. But a little nuclear explosion in view of the White House, where nobody died? This was perfect. This was not treason. This would get those goddamn German tanks out of Ukraine! So Ivan pulled the trigger on Reeba. Within twenty-four hours, Reeba had crewed up, leaving only Polina and those married couples with children. They would continue to live as sleeper cells, gathering intelligence. Polina could drive that speedboat and detonate the nuclear device planted near the Fort Lauderdale inlet, if hot war started. Captain Nikolay of the Reeba was put on wartime alert. This was no drill! Reebas crew dropped the hull panel to release Reeba on the inland side of the tanker 600 feet below the ocean surface, next to Fort Lauderdale. The Virginia class sonar systems heard a wide range of electromagnetic signals in addition to the audible sound frequencies of a torpedo tube hatch opening. Thus, the electronics aboard Reeba suddenly came to life. We had a target location already in the computer. We fired two MK48 torpedoes. One targeted the bubble from the missile; it broke the oceans surface and exploded. This explosion damaged the guidance system in the cruise missile. And so as this cruise missile flew, it now started going through other embedded targets all over Americaincluding Chicago; New York; Washington, DC; and Houston, Texas. The erratic motions of the cruise missile became world news very quickly. It was not the Kremlins idea to kill American women and children with US Navy antimissile defense systems. But thats what happened. In fact, we learned later that the missiles incoming threat detection system was to trigger the nuke harmlessly a hundred miles off the East Coast if it was not going to reach ground zero on the Washington, DC, shoreline. The best-laid plans of mice and men can backfire when reckless leaders play with weapons of mass destruction. Apparently, Reeba had ten knots over our top speed, and of course, there was the entire Atlantic Ocean to hide in. I had a target resolution on Reeba for her four-thousand-mile cross ocean voyage. I shared my target resolution of coordinates, depth, speed, and direction with every US Navy vessel in the Atlantic Ocean. The sonar exec was caught (accidentally) talking to the control room. They launched a fish at us. It is honing in at high speed. We are a sitting duck. If that is an ASTOR-type nuclear torpedo, then all of us within ten miles will be vaporized or vibrated to death. God be with us all! Its time to pray!
Stalking the Antichrists (1965–2012) Volume 2
Author: George E. Lowe
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1477142754
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 725
Book Description
Volume 1 of Stalking the Antichrists and Their False Nuclear Prophets, Nuclear Gladiators, and Spirit Warriors,1940-1965 is essentially an enhanced memoir. It is based for the most part on my personal observations and knowledge and specialized information from my academic studies of history, political science, and literature at Grove City College and the University of Chicago,as well as my professional insights into the heart of the U. S. Navy (1953-1957, 1960-1961[OP- 09D]) as an Air Intelligence Officer in Hawaii and Japan and the Pentagon; political- military/counsellor assignments in the State Department as a Foreign Service Officer(FSO-6) at the American embassy in Paris (1962-64); and a speechwriter in the Navy Department (1965). In volume 2, the textual narrative begins with the end of my specific actions/ activities in the Navy and Foreign Service in July 1965, which I have called How I Lived in History, 1950-1965. In retrospect my entire Navy careerfrom my commissioning as Ensign USNR, 1355 AIO, in early September 1953 at Naval Station, Newport, Rhode Island, to my first honorable discharge at Treasure Island on August 27, 1957was in preparation to an understanding of World War II and the Cold War.
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1477142754
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 725
Book Description
Volume 1 of Stalking the Antichrists and Their False Nuclear Prophets, Nuclear Gladiators, and Spirit Warriors,1940-1965 is essentially an enhanced memoir. It is based for the most part on my personal observations and knowledge and specialized information from my academic studies of history, political science, and literature at Grove City College and the University of Chicago,as well as my professional insights into the heart of the U. S. Navy (1953-1957, 1960-1961[OP- 09D]) as an Air Intelligence Officer in Hawaii and Japan and the Pentagon; political- military/counsellor assignments in the State Department as a Foreign Service Officer(FSO-6) at the American embassy in Paris (1962-64); and a speechwriter in the Navy Department (1965). In volume 2, the textual narrative begins with the end of my specific actions/ activities in the Navy and Foreign Service in July 1965, which I have called How I Lived in History, 1950-1965. In retrospect my entire Navy careerfrom my commissioning as Ensign USNR, 1355 AIO, in early September 1953 at Naval Station, Newport, Rhode Island, to my first honorable discharge at Treasure Island on August 27, 1957was in preparation to an understanding of World War II and the Cold War.
AIR CRASH INVESTIGATIONS - SHOT DOWN OVER UKRAINE? - The Crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17
Author: Dirk Jan Barreveld, editor
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0359872182
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 346
Book Description
On 17 July 2014, at 13.20 a Boeing 777-200 with the Malaysia Airlines nationality and registration mark 9M-MRD disappeared to the west of the TAMAK air navigation waypoint in Ukraine. The aeroplane impacted the ground in the eastern part of Ukraine, near the villages of Hrabove, Rozsypne and Petropavlivka. All 298 persons on board lost their lives. The in-flight disintegration of the aeroplane near the Ukrainian/ Russian border was the result of the detonation of a warhead. The weapon used was a 9N314M-model warhead carried on the 9M38-series of missiles, as installed on the Buk surface-to-air missile system. But was MH17 really hit by a 9N314M model war head mounted on a 9M38 series missile? Careful examination of the available facts show that the conclusion of the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) are questionable to say the least. The report is a mixture of an air crash investigation and a criminal investigation.
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0359872182
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 346
Book Description
On 17 July 2014, at 13.20 a Boeing 777-200 with the Malaysia Airlines nationality and registration mark 9M-MRD disappeared to the west of the TAMAK air navigation waypoint in Ukraine. The aeroplane impacted the ground in the eastern part of Ukraine, near the villages of Hrabove, Rozsypne and Petropavlivka. All 298 persons on board lost their lives. The in-flight disintegration of the aeroplane near the Ukrainian/ Russian border was the result of the detonation of a warhead. The weapon used was a 9N314M-model warhead carried on the 9M38-series of missiles, as installed on the Buk surface-to-air missile system. But was MH17 really hit by a 9N314M model war head mounted on a 9M38 series missile? Careful examination of the available facts show that the conclusion of the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) are questionable to say the least. The report is a mixture of an air crash investigation and a criminal investigation.
KAL Flight 007: The Hidden Story
Author: Oliver Clubb
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504012445
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 168
Book Description
Written with the drama and suspense of a detective story, KAL Flight 007: The Hidden Story takes the reader through the process of piecing together the evidence surrounding the unexplained flight of a Korean airliner over Soviet strategic territories on September 1, 1983—a flight brought to a tragic end when a Soviet interceptor shot down the airliner, killing all 269 people aboard.
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504012445
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 168
Book Description
Written with the drama and suspense of a detective story, KAL Flight 007: The Hidden Story takes the reader through the process of piecing together the evidence surrounding the unexplained flight of a Korean airliner over Soviet strategic territories on September 1, 1983—a flight brought to a tragic end when a Soviet interceptor shot down the airliner, killing all 269 people aboard.
The Brink
Author: Marc Ambinder
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 1476760381
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
“An informative and often enthralling book…in the appealing style of Tom Clancy” (Kirkus Reviews) about the 1983 war game that triggered a tense, brittle period of nuclear brinkmanship between the United States and the former Soviet Union. What happened in 1983 to make the Soviet Union so afraid of a potential nuclear strike from the United States that they sent mobile ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) into the field, placing them on a three-minute alert Marc Ambinder explains the anxious period between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1982 to 1984, with the “Able Archer ’83” war game at the center of the tension. With astonishing and clarifying new details, he recounts the scary series of the close encounters that tested the limits of ordinary humans and powerful leaders alike. Ambinder provides a comprehensive and chilling account of the nuclear command and control process, from intelligence warnings to the composition of the nuclear codes themselves. And he affords glimpses into the secret world of a preemptive electronic attack that scared the Soviet Union into action. Ambinder’s account reads like a thriller, recounting the spy-versus-spy games that kept both countries—and the world—in check. From geopolitics in Moscow and Washington, to sweat-caked soldiers fighting in the trenches of the Cold War, to high-stakes war games across NATO and the Warsaw Pact, “Ambinder’s account of a serious threat of global annihilation…is spellbinding…a masterpiece of recent history” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). The Brink serves as the definitive intelligence, nuclear, and national security history of one of the most precarious times in recent memory and “shows the consequences of nuclear buildups, sometimes-careless language, and nervous leaders. Now, more than ever, those consequences matter” (USA TODAY).
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 1476760381
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
“An informative and often enthralling book…in the appealing style of Tom Clancy” (Kirkus Reviews) about the 1983 war game that triggered a tense, brittle period of nuclear brinkmanship between the United States and the former Soviet Union. What happened in 1983 to make the Soviet Union so afraid of a potential nuclear strike from the United States that they sent mobile ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) into the field, placing them on a three-minute alert Marc Ambinder explains the anxious period between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1982 to 1984, with the “Able Archer ’83” war game at the center of the tension. With astonishing and clarifying new details, he recounts the scary series of the close encounters that tested the limits of ordinary humans and powerful leaders alike. Ambinder provides a comprehensive and chilling account of the nuclear command and control process, from intelligence warnings to the composition of the nuclear codes themselves. And he affords glimpses into the secret world of a preemptive electronic attack that scared the Soviet Union into action. Ambinder’s account reads like a thriller, recounting the spy-versus-spy games that kept both countries—and the world—in check. From geopolitics in Moscow and Washington, to sweat-caked soldiers fighting in the trenches of the Cold War, to high-stakes war games across NATO and the Warsaw Pact, “Ambinder’s account of a serious threat of global annihilation…is spellbinding…a masterpiece of recent history” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). The Brink serves as the definitive intelligence, nuclear, and national security history of one of the most precarious times in recent memory and “shows the consequences of nuclear buildups, sometimes-careless language, and nervous leaders. Now, more than ever, those consequences matter” (USA TODAY).