"Oh, fuck."

[unixronin]

The Ukraine, which has been charged with selling nuclear weapons or component materials thereof to Al-Qaeda representatives in 1988, has mislaid "several hundred missiles".  According to the Register, the BBC report 'studiously avoids using the word "nuclear" in relation to "missile", although it seems pretty certain that these are ICBMs we're talking about here.'

Meanwhile, Prince Hassan of Jordan has said he fears a third world war is erupting in the Middle East.

Comments

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

Whee!

"like a whirlwind spinning faster, faster..."

-Ogre

[caged-admin.livejournal.com]

Relax. The reason the BBC was "studiously" avoiding the word is because they're not (or at least almost certainly not) nukes. They're SA-2 Guidelines (http://cnn.aimtoday.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0001/20040326/0915025522.htm).

Marchuk didn't specify the types of missile. Defense Ministry spokesman Kostyantyn Khivrenko told The Associated Press that he was referring to S-75 air defense missiles - also known in the West by the code-name SA-2.

Admittedly, the SA-2 could carry a nuke warhead (http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/airdef/v-75.htm), but somehow I think those were rare. I can't help but wonder if the BBC purposely left out mention of what type they are/were.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

That's a relief. The thought of several hundred ICBMs unaccounted for -- even clerically -- is a nasty one. Thank you, gospodin Khivrenko, for the clarification. :)