That came up in a previous discussion of nuclear weapons (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6419056 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6419056 ). To quote

That came up in a previous discussion of nuclear weapons (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6419056 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6419056 ). To quote my wife (Dove), "There were several close calls during the Cold War, and while the powers involved always chose to respond (they had to, it was doctrine at the time), they always chose to respond cautiously. Both sides wanted to avoid a "hot" war at almost any cost." (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83 ).