8/12/2019 1989 Issue 8 - From Russia With Glasnost - Counsel of Chalcedon

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''From Russia with

Glasnost''

by Robert C. Michelson

During 1988, the United States once

again completed the changing of the

guard, and

as

we watched, we noted with

interest changes occurring

in

the world

arena-

changes which

our

new presi

dent has had to confront daily. Of par

ticular interest is Soviet leader Mikhail

Gorbachev's program

of

perestroika

(restructuring) and offer

of

glasnost

(openness). Just before the inauguration,

a foreign delegation of 110 experts from

45 countries was allowed to inspect the

Soviet Shikhany chemical weapons fa

cility near Moscow in which they stock

pile a quarter to one half a megaton of

chemical warfare agents (like the yel

low rain used in Afghanistan). Only six

months earlier the Soviets denied having

any such weaponsat all. In Septemberof

1987, three Democratic members of the

U.S. Congress were invited

to

visit the

Krasnoyarsk phased array radar station

Sep-83

Jul-81 2

Apr-78

2

Jan-64

Jul-60

Sep-58

Jul-55

Nov-54

Sep-54

Jun-54

Jul-53

Mar-53

Oct-52

Jun-52

Jun-

5

Apr-50

Apr-48

0 50

which the Reagan administration main

tained was a major breach of the 1972

Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

These were some

of

the

ftrSt

ex

amplesofSovietattemptsatglasnost,but

asNickEberstadtoftheAmericanEnter

prise Institute points out in an article

entitled

Unraveling the Soviet s New

Message (Insight,

December28, 1987),

The conceptof glasnost fits into a long

standing Soviet practice of image-mak

ing and of limited amounts of informa

tion released for specific purposes. In

fact, while the term is usually translated

into 'openness' in English, it translates

equally well into 'publicity' or 'propa

ganda'.

The United States is an

open

soci

ety. We have large phased array radar

facilitiesalong ourborders and we main

tain stockpiles of chemical warfare

agents within the continental United

NUMBER KILLED SINCE WWII

100 150

200

States

and

in remote locations such as

Johnston Island in the Pacific. f the

Soviet Union is now going to become

more open, in

what

ways will they differ

from America' s open society?

Even i fwe were to view glasnostas

a genuine openingofSoviet affairs to the

scrutiny of the West as opposed to an

other

fonn

of propaganda, major differ

ences in ideology still prevail. The So

viet Union, in spite

of

Billy Graham's

comments regarding their freedom of e

ligion, is an atheistic society. That is not

to say that they are godless. Man is the

supreme being of he Soviet Union. Hu

manism is their religion and competing

religions such as Christianity are sup

pressed.

The

Soviet Union also exports and

promotes revolution. They are warlike.

Though actions often speak louder than

words, Soviet actions and words have

historically gone hand-in-hand. Con

sider

theWarsawPactattacks on foreign

aircraft Most people are quite familiar

with the Soviet destruction of the South

Korean airliner over the Sea of Japan in

1983, but few realize that there is a grim

history ofsuch attacks over the past forty

years. During the 1950's

it

was risky

business flying near Warsaw Pactcoun

tries, particularly

i f

you were

in

a mili

tary

aircraft

Note that many Warsaw

Pact air incidents occurred during t e

TrumanandEisenhower years as a result

of

NATO

intelligence gathering mis-

250 300

The Counsel

o

Chalcedon October 1989 page 15

8/12/2019 1989 Issue 8 - From Russia With Glasnost - Counsel of Chalcedon

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'

Date

4/5/48

10 22/49

4/8/50

6/6/51

11/17/51

4 29 52

6/13/52

.6/13/52

6/16/52

lOn/52

10/8/52

3/10/53

3/12/53

3/12/53

3/15/53

1 29 53

12{3/53

1{22/54

3/12/54

6{3154

9/4/54

ll/7154

6f'l.2/55

1121/55

6/27/58

7/10/58

9 2158

11{1/58

11 1/58

6/16/59

5/1/60

7/1/60

12/28/60

11 21/63

1/28/64

3/10/64

4/20 78

7/18/81

9/3/83

8 9 84

SOVIET AND WARSAW PACT AIR INCIDENTS

SINCE THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WARt

. '

Location Target

Betlin

British

Viclcefll

Vikin airliner

SeaofJapan tisd

RB 29 Recon.

2

Baltic

Sea

.USN patrol aircraft

Arctic

Ocean

USRc:ron.

2

Hungary

USAF

C-47

transport

Berlin

French airliner

air

o r r i d o r

O f f J a p ~

USRecon.

2

Baltic

Sea.

Swedish.C-47

Baltic

Sea

transpqrt .

Swedish ~ u e aircraft

: N o r t h J a p ~ ' USAF bomber

Berlin'

us aircraft

.air

corridor

WestGerm Uly USAFF-84

~ l i n

British Vickers

air

corridor Viking airliner

WestGermany British Avro Lincoln

bomber

Soviet border USRecQn.

2

SeaofJapap

USAF bomber

Hungary British DC-3

Yellow Sea USRectm.

2

Czech border 2 US traineraircraft

Yugoslavia 2 Belgiancargo

aircraft

E.

Vladivostok

USN Neptune Recon.

2

Offiapan

USAF bomber

Bering Strait

USN Neptune aircraft

Bulgaria . Israeli

Lockheed

Constellation airliner

SovietAnnenia

US

transport aircraft

Kamchatka

USAF RB50 Recon.

2

Peninsula

Soviet Armenia

USAF

transpOrt

Baltic. Sea

. USRecon.

2

Sea of

Japan

USRccon.

2

Seaof

Japan USN patrol aircraft

Soviet Union

US

Lockheed U2

Recon.

2

Barents Sea

USAFRB47 Recon.Z .

Laos

us light aircraft

Iran

Iranian mapping

East Germany

US

trainer aircraft

East Germany

US

RB6 Recon.

2

Soviet Karelia

South Korean airliner

Boeing707

Soviet Armenia Argentiniancargo acft.

Sea

of

Japan South Korean airliner

Boeing747

Gotland, S \ V e d ~ s h chartered

Baltic Sea

airbus

3H)

Result

14dead

No injuries

10dead

10dead

Damaged,

no injuries

4wounded

No injuries

. 8 missing;

probably

dead

.. ?rescued

1 wounded

8dead

Noinjurie8

lrescuedi

No

i.I)juries

5dead,

2rescued

1

No injuries

16dead

No injuries

Noinjuries

No injuries

1 dead,

2wounded

1 dead,

9re

scued

1 dead,

10iescued

1

?wounded

58 dead

No injuries

No injuries

17dead

No injuries

No injuries

1 wounded .

1 rescued

1

4dead

,

2rescued

1

No injuries

Not known

3de

ad

No

injuries

2dead,

13wounded

Crew dead

269dead

Comments

Airlinerhit by Soviet fighters

at

5 5 ft altitude just before landing.

Attackedby o v i e ~ fighters

Probably shot

doWil

some 80nn1 southeast

of

Gotland Part

of

a

wrecked plane, including penetrated landing gear, found.

Shot

down by Soviet fighters

321rJn

outside Soviet territory

in

the

vicinity ofVladivootoic:.

Two Soviet

pilots

decorated.

N a v i g a t i o n ~ e r r o r . Aircraft forced down. Crew released.

Attacked

by

two Soviet MiG15s in the corridor between

Frankfurt and Berlin. Escaped in cloud.

No detaikreveated.

Probably shot

dOwn

by Soviet fighters outside dotland.

Only lifera tfolli -d;'penetrated by Soviet ammunition.

Shot dowil:by o Soviet MiG15s .Emergency ditching at sea.

. Crewrescued. . . .

Shot down by Soviet

fig iters

off n

8/12/2019 1989 Issue 8 - From Russia With Glasnost - Counsel of Chalcedon

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INCIDENTS INVOLVING US MILITARY AIRCRAFT

5

ruman

4

3

2

1

0

1949 1950

1951

1952 1953 1954 1955 1958 1959 1960 1964

sions over or near Warsaw Pact airspace.

Incidents involving

U.S

.militaryaircraft

becamelessfrequentintheearly60 snot

so much due to the change in the U.S.

administration policy, but due to ad

vances in technology. In the early 60 s

electronic and photographic intelligence

missions could be conducted

by

the

newly developed Air Force/Lockheed

SR-71 Black Bird) spy plane which

until

just recently had the greatest ex

tremes

of

speed and

altitude

of

any

air

craft, thereby making it almost impervi

ous to Soviet defences. About the same

The five tapes on

Love

I C01inthians 13)

by

Joe Morecraft,

III

are still available as a

gift, upon request,

to anyone donating

100.00

or

more to

The Counsel

time theuse ofspy satellites became fea

sible. In spite of decreases in overflight

provocations by NATO reconnaissance

aircraft, Warsaw Pact attacks

on

civilian

aircrafthave continued.

Attacks on civilian aircraft, espe

cially those over non-Warsaw Pact ir-

space, are the actsofa nation at war. The

SovietUnion in spiteof ts

perestroika

and

glasnost

is at war with the West, but

even

more

so, it is at war with Christ The

Soviet

Union can

grow

to

look more

and

more like the United States but they will

never have

the

Christian heritage thathas

made theWest prosperous andfree. The

Soviet Union boasts in its Bolshevik

Revolution but what

it

desperately needs

is a Christian reformation.

0.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 1 1 1 1 1 ] ~ ~

Rob

ert Michelson is a member

of

the

Re

-

search Faculty at the Georgia Institute of

Technology

in

Atlanta, Georg1a, and

is

Heaii

of

he Institute s Instrumentation Technology

Branch. e is a Deacon at the Cherokee Pres-

b Jterian Church (PCAJ

in

Woodstock Geor-

g ~ a a church started

by

Chalcedon Presby-

terian Church.

The Counsel of Chalcedon October, 1989 page 17