Word: launching
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...potential is there for some form of nukenapping--grabbing weapons for ransom or nuclear blackmail--or sales to rogue states or terrorists, or unauthorized launches by renegade commanders. Some Russians even fret about a nuclear civil war. If a region in Siberia were to declare its independence, a retired senior officer in Moscow speculates, "the entire missile force in the area might cut itself off from the chain of command and control and get reprogrammed to be able to launch at will...
...secret CIA study last September, first reported by the Washington Times, rated the likelihood of such a launch as still low but found the Russian control system under such unprecedented stress that some high-level commanders in Moscow were worried about the security of their nuclear weapons. The CIA also reported that the famous code briefcases are not what they seem. They allow the President or the Defense Minister or the Chief of the General Staff to authorize a nuclear attack, but the actual ability to launch missiles lies much further down the line of command, even in regional command...
...Russia?s financial woes and the rickety condition of its Space Station Mir, Russia will be kept on board as a full fledged partner in the construction of the international space station, NASA announced Thursday. Agency officials said Russia would live up to its end of the deal and launch the station's first component, a U.S.-financed service module, in June, 1998, seven months behind schedule. The move comes amid growing concerns about Russia's ability to meet the demands of the station in light of recent troubles at the Russian Space Agency, which have included spontaneous fires aboard...
...forum, "Islamic Finance in the Global Market," was sponsored by the Harvard Islamic Finance Information Program (HIFIP) to launch its new CD-ROM database on Islamic finance and banking...
...Defense Minister Igor Rodionov warned Russian government officials in February and March that the country's nuclear control equipment will soon collapse without much-needed funding for repairs and upgrades. While the study rates the risk of an accidental nuclear attack as low under "normal circumstances," even one accidental launch could prove deadly. Although Russian missile technically no longer target the U.S., if a missile is launched without a destination it automatically reverts to its original target. Pentagon officials insist there is no evidence that risk of an accidental nuclear attack exists, since codes that control locks on the weapons...