Cold War Conversations Podcast
LightNews LightNews
banner
coldwarpod.bsky.social
Cold War Conversations Podcast
@coldwarpod.bsky.social
8.5K followers 4.4K following 1.2K posts
Award-winning #podcast preserving the stories of the #ColdWar before they are lost...

Listen & follow for free at https://coldwarconversations.com/

Hosted & produced by Ian Sanders, Fellow of Royal Historical Society & Manchester Museum
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
coldwarpod.bsky.social
Cold War Conversations Podcast @coldwarpod.bsky.social · 8d
Interested in the #coldwar?
go.bsky.app/NxazDvU
coldwarpod.bsky.social
NEW EPISODE - When #Terrorism Went #Global: Plane #Hijackings and Violence in the 1970s

Listen here 🎧🎧
coldwarconversations.com/episode437/

@germanatpompey.bsky.social @Jasonburke2.bsky.social @lucatrenta.bsky.social #raf #blackseptember #redarmyfaction #terrorism
January 3, 2026 at 1:15 PM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
NEW EPISODE - When #Terrorism Went #Global: Plane #Hijackings and Violence in the 1970s

Listen here 🎧🎧
coldwarconversations.com/episode437/

@germanatpompey.bsky.social @Jasonburke2.bsky.social @lucatrenta.bsky.social #raf #blackseptember #redarmyfaction #terrorism
January 3, 2026 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Cold War Conversations Podcast
markstout.bsky.social
In 1958, the Canadians mentioned the possibility of Soviet nuclear submarines operating in Hudson Bay. I wonder if any study beyond this paragraph was ever undertaken on this. It's quite the notion.
January 2, 2026 at 2:14 AM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
From the archive - Warsaw Bureau Chief for Time Magazine 1981-83

Richard & I talk about his interview with General Jaruselski and his meeting with Father Jerzy Popieluszko, who was later murdered, plus his challenges with the SB Polish Security Service.

coldwarconversations.com/episode118/
Warsaw Bureau Chief for Time Magazine 1981-83
Richard Hornik was the Warsaw Bureau Chief for Time Magazine from 1981-1983. He carried out numerous interviews with Solidarity Free Trade Union leader Lech Wałęsa including his last
coldwarconversations.com
January 1, 2026 at 8:25 PM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
Jacqueline Hayden met the leading members of the #Polish free trade union ‘#Solidarność’, including the future president #LechWałęsa. She reported the events when shipyard workers went on strike to demand the creation of Free Trade Unions. coldwarconversations.com/episode152
January 1, 2026 at 7:11 PM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
From the archive - Sex, spies and scandal : the John Vassall affair
coldwarconversations.com/episode336/
Sex, spies and scandal : the John Vassall affair
Alex Grant’s new book Sex, Spies and Scandal The John Vassall Affair has everything: a honey trap, industrial-scale espionage, journalists jailed for not revealing their sources and the firs
coldwarconversations.com
December 31, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Cold War Conversations Podcast
sandbaggerone.bsky.social
More than 600 government files released under 20-year rule

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/m...
More than 600 government files released under 20-year rule - The National Archives
More than 600 documents are released by the Cabinet Office today under the 20-year rule. Most are correspondence and work on government policies during Sir Tony Blair’s Labour administration 2004-2005...
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
December 30, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Reposted by Cold War Conversations Podcast
wellerstein.bsky.social
Another one for the Cold War "bad ideas" nuke file — a study on how effective it would be to put megaton-range nuclear weapons onto balloons and just sort of let them drift towards targets you wanted to irradiate. Some obvious downsides to this approach! Sandia labs, 1957. Citation in alt text.
Excerpt from C.E. Buell and D.W. Stoddard, "Feasibility of Weapon Delivery by Free Balloons," Sandia Corporation Technical Memorandum 289-56-51, (January 1957): https://www.osti.gov/opennet/servlets/purl/16340119.pdf : CH III -- CAPABILITY OF BALLOONS AS A WEAPONS DELIVERY SYSTEM To get some indication of the capability of a free-balloon delivery system, consider the following problem. Suppose it is desired to cover with radioactive fallout a target with a north-south dimension of 150 miles and an east-west dimension similar to the downwind distance of the minimum dose rate of interest. These dimensions are typical of industrial areas such as the Donets Basin of European Russia. If the longitude errors of the burst point are small and the latitude errors have a standard deviation of 200 miles, the probability of covering a fraction, f, of the target with a radiation dose associated with 30 roentgens per hour at 1 hour after burst of one, two, or three 1-megaton weapons is given by Fig. 13. Recent tests indicate that a weapon weighing less than 2000 pounds may have a yield of 1 megaton. A large (~ 100-foot diameter) balloon may be able to carry such a weapon sufficient distances to attack enemy targets without endangering friendly territory. Figures 10 and 11 indicate that a latitude standard deviation of 200 miles is attainable. Longitude errors can be made small by using position-determining devices which release the weapon when the balloon reaches the longitude of the target. Figure 13 shows that there is a small probability of covering even a small fraction of the target when one weapon is used. However, use of more than one weapon increases this probability. Time does not permit extension of Fig. 13 to more than three weapons, but it appears that reasonably high probabilities of covering the target can be obtained by the use of a few more weapons. Also, smaller fractions of the target will receive greater radiation dosages and other damage effects. Document continued. Brackets show someone's hand annotations: From the above example it appears that under certain conditions the free-balloon delivery system may compete with other systems requiring multiple weapons. Advantages of the free-balloon system are: 1. Simplicity of equipment 2. Low cost of equipment 3. Ease of saturating enemy defenses with cheap dummy balloons. [EFFECTIVE?] Disadvantages of the free-balloon system are: 1. Launching can only be done in good weather. [?] 2. Launch point must be upwind from the target. [AT SOME CRUISE ALTITUDE] 3. Balloons are easily spotted and shot down. [?] 4. Fast attacks are impossible. 5. The balloon could return to friendly territory during its flight. [PROBABILITY?] Continued: Free balloons are subject to failures from many causes such as unpredictable weather changes, resulting in icing conditions, thunderstorms, or winds blowing away from target area; structural failure of the balloon or associated equipment; and enemy countermeasures. These failures can be reduced by good engineering design and improved meteorological prediction techniques. However, if the number of failures is not reduced enough, the number of weapons wasted will be so great that the system must be discarded as unfeasible. Weapons delivered by free balloons should be designed to burst on the surface since fallout contamination is the principal damage agent. The delivery errors are so large that the probability of damage due to blast or thermal effects is extremely small. Figure 13 from the aforementioned text: "Fig. 13 -- Probability P of covering fraction f of a target 150 miles square with a radiation dose associated with 30 roentgens per hour at one hour after burst of one, two, or three 1-megaton weapons." For 3 weapons, the there is a 60% chance of 30 r/hr at H+1 covering 10% of a target. For 2 weapons, it drops to ~45%. For 1 weapon, it drops to ~25%. For larger fractions of target covered (e.g., 30%-40%) 3 weapons have a less than 10% chance of achieving that, and less than that is 0%.
December 31, 2025 at 12:00 PM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
From the archive - A photojournalist in Cold War Eastern Europe coldwarconversations.com/episode232/
A photojournalist in Cold War Eastern Europe
During the 1970s and 1980s, Arthur Grace travelled extensively behind the Iron Curtain, working primarily for news magazines. One of only a small corps of Western photographers with ongoing
coldwarconversations.com
December 30, 2025 at 6:09 PM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
From the archive - Flying the Cold War A-10 Tankbuster coldwarconversations.com/episode305/
Flying the Cold War A10 Tankbuster Part 1
Joe’s father served in World War 2 in the USAF. His service inspired Joe to try and join the USAF or the Naval Air Force despite having no flying experience.It’s the aftermath of
coldwarconversations.com
December 30, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Cold War Conversations Podcast
gahsyqx.bsky.social
Fidel Castro shopping in the gift shop at Gander during the late 60s - early 70s. You never know who you will see at Gander airport. From movie stars, celebrities, to world leaders, they relaxed while stretching their legs, without the throngs of gawkers or paparazzi
December 16, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by Cold War Conversations Podcast
gahsyqx.bsky.social
RCAF Voodoo CF101s at Gander c.1978. The RCAF would temporary station the Voodoo fighters at Gander, to chase away Soviet TU-95 bombers when they infringed Canadian airspace testing NORAD Defense systems during the Cold War .
December 28, 2025 at 9:52 AM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
go.bsky.app/NxazDvU
December 29, 2025 at 11:05 PM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
NEW EPISODE When #EastGerman Soldiers Dreamed of Flying Over the #BerlinWall

🎧🎧Listen here
coldwarconversations.com/episode436/

@ddronline.bsky.social@GermanAtPompey.bsky.social #eastgermany #GDR #DDR #berlinermauer
December 28, 2025 at 8:45 PM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
NEW EPISODE When #EastGerman Soldiers Dreamed of Flying Over the #BerlinWall

🎧🎧Listen here
coldwarconversations.com/episode436/

@ddronline.bsky.social@GermanAtPompey.bsky.social #eastgermany #GDR #DDR #berlinermauer
December 28, 2025 at 9:05 AM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
‘I am not who you think I am’: how a deep-cover KGB spy recruited his own son www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ap...

As featured in our episode here. coldwarconversations.com/episode397/
‘I am not who you think I am’: how a deep-cover KGB spy recruited his own son
The long read: For the first time, the man the KGB codenamed ‘the Inheritor’ tells his story
www.theguardian.com
December 28, 2025 at 8:57 AM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
NEW EPISODE When #EastGerman Soldiers Dreamed of Flying Over the #BerlinWall

🎧🎧Listen here
coldwarconversations.com/episode436/

@ddronline.bsky.social@GermanAtPompey.bsky.social #eastgermany #GDR #DDR #berlinermauer
December 27, 2025 at 10:33 PM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
Hurry a new episode of Cold War Conversations is out! coldwarconversations.com
December 27, 2025 at 2:50 PM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
Hurry a new episode of Cold War Conversations is out! coldwarconversations.com
December 27, 2025 at 2:50 PM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
NEW EPISODE When #EastGerman Soldiers Dreamed of Flying Over the #BerlinWall

🎧🎧Listen here
coldwarconversations.com/episode436/

@ddronline.bsky.social@GermanAtPompey.bsky.social #eastgermany #GDR #DDR #berlinermauer
December 27, 2025 at 1:15 PM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
NEW EPISODE When #EastGerman Soldiers Dreamed of Flying Over the #BerlinWall

🎧🎧Listen here
coldwarconversations.com/episode436/

@ddronline.bsky.social@GermanAtPompey.bsky.social #eastgermany #GDR #DDR #berlinermauer
December 27, 2025 at 8:05 AM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
DEAD AIR is a solo RPG about running a radio station after a nuclear apocalypse. The elevator pitch is Threads meets The Thick of It www.blackwellwriter.com/products/dea...
Dead Air: A Game About Radio Activity
You can buy a PDF only version at https://sleepysparrowgames.itch.io/dead-air DEAD AIR is a solo RPG about running a radio station after a nuclear apocalypse. The elevator pitch is Threads meets The T...
www.blackwellwriter.com
December 26, 2025 at 7:46 PM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
Interested in the #coldwar?
go.bsky.app/NxazDvU
December 26, 2025 at 2:50 PM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
This 56-year #coldwar conflict still pauses for Christmas news.sky.com/story/this-5...
This 56-year conflict still pauses for Christmas
There are now more conflicts than at any point since the Second World War. But a glimpse of peace appears each year in what is widely considered the world's longest-running communist insurgency.
news.sky.com
December 26, 2025 at 1:32 PM
coldwarpod.bsky.social
Gift a @ColdWarPod membership because history is best served cold...

1. Ad free unique stories of the Cold War
2. Book Giveaways
3. Access to the exclusive CWC community
4. Bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history
patreon.com/coldwarpod/g...
December 23, 2025 at 11:45 PM