The month began with the Soviet military shooting down a Korean Air passenger flight that had wandered off its course. It concluded a whisker away from an accidental nuclear war that would have obliterated the life we knew.
The conventional wisdom and the story told in Turning Point is that the world is extremely fortunate that Stanislav Petrov, a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Army, was the duty officer at the command centre for the USSR's Oko nuclear early warning system on the night of September 26. Petrov, whose background was in engineering rather than a military careerist, decided that when the monitoring system in his care reported that five American nuclear missiles were on their way, it was likely malfunctioning. He did not, as a real military man would, follow orders and report the alarm to his superiors, who might have launched a retaliatory strike, such was their paranoia.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 25-31 2024 من New Zealand Listener.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 25-31 2024 من New Zealand Listener.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Spilt milk
Excess dietary calcium goes into toilets, not bones.
To the Max
The testosterone and torments of late adolescence are centre stage in this novel about finding your place in life.
A chemical killer
A new book outlines the life of a woman who may well have been New Zealand’s most prolific poisoner. What was it that led police to exhume the body of her husband from its watery grave?
Creating the WOW factor
Meg Williams, in charge of the biggest festival involving a bunch of people wearing wacky outfits, admits she's not very flamboyant in her own dressing.
Leaving it all on the park
After cancer treatment, Graeme Downes takes stock of a musical life leading The Verlaines and lecturing future generations of songwriters.
Wrong message
A UK journalist who came here to talk about Rwanda’s authoritarian regime found herself the victim of a social media hate campaign.
Busting a gut
IBD is escalating, seemingly thanks to the Western lifestyle, and New Zealand has one of the highest rates in the world.
The point of Peters
There's been much to admire about the NZ First leader's politics over the years, but where has it got him?
Don't call us ...
Finland's ingenuity galvanised the rapid global uptake of cellphones, so it's paradoxical the country's latest claim to fame should be the elevation of no-speakies to a new commercial opportunity.
He is here
In the week my brother died, there was a storm in the universe.