[FPSPACE] FW: [Wikipedia Daily Article] February 11: Able Archer 83

[LARRY KLAES]

>From: Faraaz Damji <daily-article-l at frazzydee.ca>
>Reply-To: dal-feedback at wikimedia.org
>To: daily-article-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] February 11: Able Archer 83
>Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 21:29:00 -0500
>
>    Able Archer 83 was a ten-day NATO exercise starting on November 2,
>    1983 that spanned the continent of Europe and simulated a coordinated
>    nuclear release.  It incorporated a new, unique format of coded
>    communication, radio silences, participation by heads of state, and a
>    simulated DEFCON 1 nuclear alert.  The realistic nature of the
>    exercise, coupled with deteriorating relations between the United
>    States and the Soviet Union and the anticipated arrival of
>    "super-stealth" Pershing II nuclear missiles in Europe, led some in
>    the USSR to believe that Able Archer 83 was a genuine nuclear strike.
>    In response, the Soviets readied their nuclear forces and placed air
>    units in East Germany and Poland on alert.  This relatively obscure
>    incident is considered by many historians to be the closest the world
>    has come to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.  The
>    immediate threat of nuclear war abruptly ended with the conclusion of
>    the Able Archer 83 exercise on November 11.
>
>Read the rest of this article:
>    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83
>
>
>_______________________________
>Today's selected anniversaries:
>
>1808:
>    Anthracite coal was first experimentally burned as a residential
>    heating fuel by Jesse Fell in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
>    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracite_coal)
>
>1919:
>    Friedrich Ebert became the first Reichspräsident of the Weimar
>    Republic.
>    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Ebert)
>
>1929:
>    The first Lateran treaty was signed, establishing Vatican City as an
>    independent sovereign enclave within Italy.
>    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_City)
>
>1971:
>    Eighty-seven countries signed the Seabed Arms Control Treaty,
>    outlawing weapons of mass destruction on the ocean floor in
>    international waters.
>    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabed_Arms_Control_Treaty)
>
>1979:
>    Iranian Revolution: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power in Iran,
>    and eventually became the Supreme Leader of the Islamic republic.
>    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran)
>
>
>_____________________
>Wikiquote of the day:
>
>    Even if we accept, as the basic tenet of true democracy, that one
>    moron is equal to one genius, is it necessary to go a further step and
>    hold that two morons are better than one genius? -- Leó Szilárd
>    (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Le%C3%B3_Szil%C3%A1rd)
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.