Hacker News with Generative AI: Cold War

The CIA's 'Heart Attack Gun': A Cold War Weapon for Targeted Assassinations (military.com)
Of all the Central Intelligence Agency secrets revealed to the world by the so-called Church Committee of the 1970s, perhaps none captured the American public's imagination as vividly as the agency's "heart attack gun."
CIA, Cold War, Weapons, Assassinations, History
26 points by thunderbong 2 days ago | 9 comments
Zersetzung (wikipedia.org)
Zersetzung (pronounced [t͡sɛɐ̯ˈzɛt͡sʊŋ] ⓘ, German for "decomposition" and "disruption") was a psychological warfare technique used by the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) to repress political opponents in East Germany during the 1970s and 1980s.
Cold War, East Germany, Surveillance, Psychology, History
20 points by walterbell 4 days ago | 0 comments
A deep-cover KGB spy recruited his own son (theguardian.com)
Rudi Herrmann took a deep breath and asked his son Peter to sit down. “I have a story to tell you,” he said. Rudi had been preparing for this conversation for several years, running over the words in his mind. He was about to tell his 16-year-old son that everything Peter thought he knew about their family was a lie.
Espionage, Cold War, Family Secrets
39 points by pepys 8 days ago | 3 comments
How 1000 Volvos Ended Up in North Korea (2017) (npr.org)
Twenty-eight years ago, U.S. journalist Urban Lehner was riding in the back seat of a speeding Volvo 144 sedan. He was on assignment for The Wall Street Journal in North Korea. The road out of Pyongyang was empty.
North Korea, Journalism, Transportation, History, Cold War
15 points by tosh 20 days ago | 2 comments
Masters of Deceit (1958) (gutenberg.org)
Many Americans have not stopped to realize what a “Soviet America” would mean. The communists, however, have no doubts. Their blueprints are already made. So, at the very outset, let us look at their dream and see what it would mean to you and me and all the people we know.
Politics, Cold War, Communism
9 points by petethomas 20 days ago | 1 comments
The CIA Book Club by Charlie English review – 'It was like fresh air' (theguardian.com)
A fascinating, exciting history of how the agency smuggled subversive books across the iron curtain
History, CIA, Books, Cold War
5 points by tintinnabula 36 days ago | 0 comments
America Chose Not to Beat Sputnik into Space (inventionandtech.com)
We could have launched an Earth-orbiting satellite more than a year before the Soviets, but we intentionally held back. And by handing them a propaganda triumph, we ensured their ultimate defeat in the Cold War.
Space Race, Cold War, History
16 points by tacon 37 days ago | 6 comments
A CIA informant stopped Taiwan from developing nuclear weapons (cnn.com)
Taiwan, Nuclear Weapons, Intelligence, History, Cold War
16 points by cwwc 54 days ago | 12 comments
Madman Theory (wikipedia.org)
The madman theory is a political theory commonly associated with the foreign policy of U.S. president Richard Nixon and his administration, who tried to make the leaders of hostile communist bloc countries think Nixon was irrational and volatile so that they would avoid provoking the U.S. in fear of an unpredictable response.[1]
Politics, Foreign Policy, United States, Cold War, History
12 points by baal80spam 54 days ago | 0 comments
February 22, 1985 Operation Beluga (todayinhistory.blog)
In 1984, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the “doomsday clock” to three minutes before midnight, noting a turn for the worse in cold war tensions. “U.S.-Soviet relations”, they noted, “reach their iciest point in decades.”
Cold War, History, International Relations, Politics
63 points by ZeljkoS 76 days ago | 8 comments
Nuclear Proliferation and the "Nth Country Experiment" (nsarchive.gwu.edu)
Washington, D.C., January 23, 2025 - Today, the National Security Archive publishes newly declassified information on a secret mid-1960s project in which a handful of young physicists at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory produced a design for a “credible nuclear weapon” based only on unclassified, open-source information and in just three years.
Nuclear Weapons, Cold War, History, Science, Research
39 points by nabla9 91 days ago | 8 comments
The U.S. Government Just Declassified Cold War-Era Docs About DIY Nukes (gizmodo.com)
The National Security Archive has published recently declassified documents related to the “Nth Country Project,” a Cold War era experiment involving a DIY nuclear weapons project.
Cold War, Government, Nuclear Weapons, History, Declassification
7 points by rntn 91 days ago | 0 comments
A Spy Satellite You've Never Heard of Helped Win the Cold War (ieee.org)
In the early 1970s, the Cold War had reached a particularly frigid moment, and U.S. military and intelligence officials had a problem.
Cold War, Military, Space, Intelligence
71 points by Brajeshwar 94 days ago | 17 comments
A Cold War Satellite Program Called Parcae Revolutionized Signals Intelligence (ieee.org)
In the early 1970s, the Cold War had reached a particularly frigid moment, and U.S. military and intelligence officials had a problem.
Cold War, History, Signals Intelligence, Satellite Technology, Military
84 points by kungfudoi 95 days ago | 24 comments
Bunkers in Albania (wikipedia.org)
Concrete military bunkers are a ubiquitous sight in Albania, with an average of 5.7 bunkers for every square kilometer (14.7 per square mile). The bunkers (Albanian: bunkerët) were built during the Hoxhaist government led by the Leader Enver Hoxha from the 1960s to the 1980s, as the government fortified Albania by building more than 750,000 bunkers.[1][2][3]
Albania, History, Cold War, Architecture, Military
215 points by samclemens 99 days ago | 168 comments
Greenland and the Coldest War (palladiummag.com)
Greenland has returned to the global spotlight as President Trump renews his interest in acquiring the northern island during his second term.
Greenland, Geopolitics, International Relations, United States, Cold War
4 points by havella 106 days ago | 0 comments
How Britain got its first internet connection (2015) (theconversation.com)
The internet has become the most prevalent communications technology the world has ever seen. Though there are more fixed and mobile telephone connections, even they use internet technology in their core. For all the many uses the internet allows for today, its origins lie in the cold war and the need for a defence communications network that could survive a nuclear strike.
History, Internet, Technology, Cold War
169 points by samizdis 106 days ago | 93 comments
Colossus – The Forbin Project (1970) (archive.org)
Defense Department computers of both the United States and The Soviet Socialist Republic become sentient.
Science Fiction, Cold War, Artificial Intelligence
11 points by wallflower 106 days ago | 4 comments
Could the Soviet Union have survived? (historytoday.com)
We ask four historians of the Cold War whether the demise of the USSR was as inevitable as it now seems.
History, Cold War, Soviet Union
31 points by pepys 114 days ago | 98 comments
W54 (wikipedia.org)
The W54 (also known as the Mark 54 or B54) was a tactical nuclear warhead developed by the United States in the late 1950s.
Nuclear Weapons, Military History, Cold War
46 points by thunderbong 129 days ago | 33 comments
Russian UVB-76 radio station broadcasts burst of mysterious messages (meduza.io)
Russia’s mysterious UVB-76 radio station, known for its constant buzzing and occasional cryptic messages, sent out a near record number of transmissions on December 11.
Russia, Radio, Mystery, Cold War, International Relations
18 points by mudil 129 days ago | 2 comments
Atoms for Peace: Learning to Love the Bomb (historytoday.com)
In 1969, North Yorkshire was unknowingly under siege. The market towns of Pickering and Whitby faced a looming existential threat: a nuclear bomb.
Nuclear Weapons, History, Cold War
19 points by Hooke 140 days ago | 10 comments
The Underground University (aeon.co)
In 1986, my quiet life as a doctoral student in philosophy was punctuated by a trip to Brno in Czechoslovakia (as it then was), where I found myself in a high-speed, chicken-scattering taxi, chasing a bus before it reached the border. It was my small part in a larger story of philosophers’ derring-do during the Cold War.
Philosophy, Cold War, Czechoslovakia, History, Academia
23 points by Caiero 141 days ago | 4 comments
The Army built a giant concrete pyramid in North Dakota and used it for 6 months (taskandpurpose.com)
Deep in the farmland of North Dakota sits an ominous and massive concrete pyramid, with large circles on all four faces. It wasn’t built by an ancient civilization or aliens; it was built by the U.S. Army, and it played a pivotal part in the Cold War.
Military, History, Cold War, North Dakota
20 points by PaulHoule 143 days ago | 6 comments
Vasily Arkhipov (wikipedia.org)
Vasily Aleksandrovich Arkhipov (Russian: Василий Александрович Архипов, IPA: [vɐˈsʲilʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ arˈxʲipəf], 30 January 1926 – 19 August 1998) was a senior Soviet Naval officer who prevented a Russian submarine from launching a nuclear torpedo against ships of the United States Navy at a crucial moment in the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.
Cold War, History, Military, Nuclear Weapons, Russia
3 points by tempestn 144 days ago | 0 comments
NASA aircraft uncover Cold War nuclear missile tunnels under Greenland ice sheet (space.com)
Cold War, History, Greenland, Military, Science
126 points by nullhole 149 days ago | 40 comments
Prelude to McCarthyism: The Making of a Blacklist (2006) (archives.gov)
The so-called "Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations" (AGLOSO) was one of the most central and widely publicized aspects of the post–World War II Red Scare, which has popularly become known as "McCarthyism."
History, Politics, Cold War, McCarthyism, United States
51 points by mergy 149 days ago | 53 comments
Agent Blue – Arsenic-Laced Rainbow [pdf] (11thrru.org)
Toxicology, History, Cold War, Espionage, Chemical Weapons
38 points by limit499karma 157 days ago | 15 comments
An unearthly spectacle – The untold story of the biggest nuclear bomb (2021) (thebulletin.org)
In the early hours of October 30, 1961, a bomber took off from an airstrip in northern Russia and began its flight through cloudy skies over the frigid Arctic island of Novaya Zemlya. Slung below the plane’s belly was a nuclear bomb the size of a small school bus—the largest and most powerful bomb ever created.
Nuclear Weapons, History, Russia, Cold War
92 points by arethuza 164 days ago | 154 comments
US Government memo shows Ethel Rosenberg was not a spy but executed her anyway (bloomberg.com)
The children of convicted Soviet spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg spent more than half their lives hunting for a smoking gun document that would prove their mother's innocence. They said their quest is now over.
History, Cold War, Espionage, Justice
33 points by ck2 175 days ago | 29 comments