THE GHOST OF STANISLAS PETROV

The wandering souls line up in the ambient doldrums. Alive or dead, most have given up. The ghost of Stanislav Petrov should rise among them. That it reminds us of key elements, dissolved by the masters of war or in the slimy self-righteousness and crass individualism: common sense, reflection and humility. Before it’s too late.

The theater of the world. Its peoples, whether victims or spectators, rarely have access to the original script. They know too little about the authors of the didascalies and are content with a rudimentary and crude plot with its designated characters. Their thoughts and actions are conditioned by the proposed/imposed narrative. From then on, it is easy to make them believe in the worst and even to lead them there. This is even more striking when there is no real danger, when the game is adulterated or the threat is accidental. Whether it is war, health, climate, systemic…

But sometimes, depending on the circumstances, because human nature is capable of anything, even the best, some people don’t let it count. They remember who they are, they remember themselves. Calling upon this sleeping force, lurking under layers of virtuality, civilization and thick formatting: instinct. Mentalized, it then becomes common sense, reflection.

Stanislas Petrov was of this type. Officer in the Voyska PVO (Anti-Aircraft Defense Force of the Soviet Union) he became an ordinary hero or an extraordinary human during the « incident of September 26, 1983 ». An incident and a hero long unknown. It was not until the Cold War was over, the Berlin Wall had fallen and a few years had passed that this episode was officially declassified. That was in 1998 and it should be a source of inspiration, especially in these troubled times.

Who knows or remembers that on the night of September 25–26, 1983, with almost no one realizing it, the world was on the verge of a war of no return and perhaps disappearance? In the nuclear fire, this old spectre very present at that time and currently back, at the head of the collective fears.

To put the climate and the tension of this period into perspective, it should be recalled that on September^1, 1983, a Korean Airlines Boeing 747 carrying 269 passengers, including a U.S. senator, deviated from its trajectory and entered the airspace of the USSR. It was shot down by a Soviet fighter plane. A war of American and Russian propaganda on this matter ensued. Between the two blocs, hostility is intensifying, everything is in place for the most dangerous scenario.

Disturbing similarity, these days, this harmful program could be replayed. We learn that Serbia, one of the last European states (along with Hungary) not to enter completely into the game of « condemnation of Russia » continues to ensure its air links with it. In addition to the fact that Air Serbia has since been the victim of incessant bomb threats to disrupt its flights, a new level has been reached. A Nato fighter plane « stuck » to a Serbian civilian plane to enter Russian airspace. At this time, there is no official explanation for this conduct. One can imagine that it was to test the Russian air defense. One can also conceive of the worst: shooting down an airliner full of civilians. What to cut the giant of the East of its last European allies but also to complete a story like Boutcha and flirt with the worst. When will the chemical or even nuclear attack be attributed to Russia?

We can see that the perfidy that is at work is more on the side of the unconsciousness of the sorcerer’s apprentice than the finesse of the military strategist. Of course, it has long been accepted that human lives are of little importance in these morbid tactics. They are always a pretext, never a value. And to drive the point home, the plot has just been repeated 3 days ago (April 8). With several Nato fighter planes flying the Belgian flag.

Back to the night of September 25 to 26, 1983, when, far from being a warmonger and more interested in military logistics, in particular long-range radar systems, Lieutenant-Colonel Stanislas Petrov was assigned to the surveillance of the device that detects ballistic attacks from NATO countries.

Ironically, on the night when everything could have changed, he replaced a sick colleague. At 12:15 a.m., an alert indicated that an intercontinental missile had been launched from a U.S. base. A Minuteman missile containing three nuclear warheads with 20 times the power of Hiroshima. To get an idea of this, it is necessary to know that all the bombs dropped during the Second World War, including the two nuclear ones, represent only 60% of the capacities of a single Minuteman missile. Stanislas Petrov himself declared that, comparatively, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima is a toy.

Petrov decides to trust his instincts. He ignores the computer’s data and deactivates the system in front of the frozen faces of his subordinates and in dead silence.

A second alert sounds, indicating that 4 new missiles have been launched. In the control room, the tension is at its peak. All of Petrov’s men are waiting for his instructions. They are disordered according to the account of the latter who must act quickly. He has only a few minutes to make a decision, knowing that it takes 12 minutes for American missiles to hit Soviet soil.

He picks up the phone and informs his hierarchy when a new alert indicates a missile attack. Petrov chooses to wait, he does not apply the procedure and listens to his instinct. His common sense too, because a nuclear attack with only five missiles does not seem credible. He therefore does not retaliate and informs his superiors that, in his opinion but without certainty, it is a false alarm.

It will turn out that it was an error of the system which had interpreted the reflections of the sun on the clouds as the thermal signature of ballistic missiles. Fortunately for the whole of humanity, in those days, trust in computers was not as prevalent as it is today. Before the machine, its algorithms and its so-called « artificial » intelligence, there was man and his natural instinct.

Stanislas Petrov will be disavowed and transferred for not following the rules. He was later reinstated and remained in the army for another 20 years. It was not until his story made the rounds of a world he saved that Stanislav Petrov became known. He will remain a discreet and humble man.

In 2004, he received the World Citizen Award in recognition of his role in averting a disaster. In 2006, he was received at the headquarters of the United Nations, where he agreed to make a speech (which is not in his habits) where in substance, he repeated what he said since the first Russian journalists were interested in him and until his death in 2017: I never considered myself a hero. I was just doing my job and I was the right person at the right time. Similarly, he said that his late wife, who did not know this story and was surprised by the hype around her husband, said to him: « So, what did you do? To which he replied: « nothing, I have done nothing ».

Instinct, common sense, reflection, humility, the four keys to a heroism that probably saved the world and that should imperatively be on the agenda. Whether on a planetary scale or in a more daily drama, when the order of things changes without warning, when it is necessary to keep one’s composure, not to let oneself be deceived by the siren song of fear, proven or not.

Heroes still exist. But the times do not bring them to light, especially if they follow their deepest feelings and deviate from the protocols. Human beings in the true sense of the word, in their essence, their reflection. Basic but not stupid. Sometimes without any particular course of study, without high education, without having any diplomas. At the other end of the chain of impending vocations and so-called « brilliant » minds. Putting into perspective Jean Piaget’s pertinent definition of intelligence: Intelligence is not what we know, it is what we do when we don’t know.

In this world that is losing its bearings, we can only hope that there will be more of them. We would like a little more of these real heroes and a little less of these false idols. We would like more common sense and less procedure, more humility and less arrogance, more benevolence and less contempt, more Petrov and less BHL. We would like, almost 40 years later, to guess this ghost clearing the path of the intellectual and self-righteous darkness that surrounds us. The ghost of Stanislas Petrov. Whether it is embodied in anonymous people or in figures sold as fodder to the good people. Whether it translates into reflection followed by action, or non-action. The one that changes the deal, the one that instead of oiling the gears of the worst, throws a handful of sand in. It even blocks the mechanics.

And if this ghost does not appear to us, then it is up to us to act, to react, to pay homage to it. Hopefully those who decide and have access to certain buttons can do the same. If not, to paraphrase a song about a Russian who was much more famous for other reasons, then we can say: Stanislav, get up, they have gone mad.

Nicolas d’Asseiva, author of Pax Dystopia