Russia's Y2K Effort

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The real progress we have made in the United States can be undermined by Y2K hitting Russia--Kosovo has created problems in this effort. If Y2K challenges are not met in Russia due to lack of cooperation or too little time, then movement of nuclear materials or maintenance of Rocket Forces becomes very serious. Have we thought about how we will get information from inside Russia if signals are no longer supported by an electrical basis (faxes, computers, phones, etc. not operating? How do you do surveillance of every day conversations when limited to that? Van Eck? What else?

-- Anonymous, April 29, 1999

Answers

Not to mention the fact that Russia is not too happy with us right now. Both Russia and China have stated that they would use Y2K disruptions to a military advantage. They are already choked about the war in Kosovo, and have even voiced a threat of bringing nuclear weapons to the forefront battle lines. There was talk of having a mutual buddy system where some Russians would check over our shoulders making sure no weapons were launched, and viceversa. But since this war started, that has been called off.

If power and telecommunications goes down while a new cold war is escalating, bad things can happen while people guess what the other guy is doing. And ofcourse, you don't need to launch missiles, either. All planes are radar invisible when the radar can't work. And the US is one of the most poorly defended countries on earth. All of the military is used as offensive aggressors, not defensive.

Sorry for sounding like a fanatic. I just realized how paranoid all of this sounds. Honestly, it's just one of my theories, and I don't fully buy it myself...

-- Anonymous, April 30, 1999


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