{"id":461,"date":"2005-01-08T08:50:30","date_gmt":"2005-01-08T13:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vmalt\/?p=461"},"modified":"2005-12-05T14:24:01","modified_gmt":"2005-12-05T19:24:01","slug":"rust-never-sleeps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/rust-never-sleeps","title":{"rendered":"Rust Never Sleeps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month, as I was walking through the parking lot to my office, I wondered, “Whatever happened to Mathias Rust?”<\/p>\n

There was no significant provocation for this. No one was running a “history of punk-rock Cold War pranks” or “I Love the ’80s” special. It was just the idle maunderings of this brain of mine.<\/p>\n

For those of you who don’t remember herr Rust, here’s the skinny:<\/p>\n

In 1987, a certain someone flew a little Cessna plane into Moscow and landed it in the middle of Red Square. The Russians immediately arrested the 19-year-old German pilot, and threw Mathias Rust into jail for an 8-year sentence. He served 18 months before getting out.<\/p>\n

The damage to the Soviet rep was done, though. There are some who read this act to mean that the great Soviet military wasn’t All That<\/a>, and that Gorbachev’s double-whammy of trying to keep up with Reagan’s SDI initiative and getting hit with Rust’s merry prank were the kickers that led to Glasnost.<\/p>\n

The rest of Rust’s story is filled with some lowlights, but he’s supposedly living in Berlin with his 2nd wife, and maybe he’s got his house in order. There’s a website called “Whatever Happened To<\/a>” that relates stories like Rust’s, a service for which I’m quite appreciative.<\/p>\n

I wonder how tough it is to live a normal day-to-day after your crowning achievement comes at the age of 19. I mean, since I live in my hometown, I used to wonder this about some of my high-school classmates, who kinda epitomized Springsteen’s Glory Days<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But it’s one thing when that achievement was making a great touchdown catch, and another thing when you’re known for pantsing a world superpower that was devoting 25% of its GNP to its military.<\/p>\n

I hope he’s living pretty peacefully, maybe having a kid or two, and getting them ready for flight lessons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last month, as I was walking through the parking lot to my office, I wondered, “Whatever happened to Mathias Rust?” There was no significant provocation for this. No one was running a “history of punk-rock Cold War pranks” or “I Love the ’80s” special. It was just the idle maunderings of this brain of mine. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Rust Never Sleeps”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-7r","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4867,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-jan-15-2010","url_meta":{"origin":461,"position":0},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Jan. 15, 2010","author":"Gil","date":"January 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Yeahyeah: \"Make with the links, Gil!\" Fine. Just click \"more\"! Said it before and I'll say it again: it's the quiet ones you gotta watch out for. * * * My brother & I used to listen to Art Rust, Jr. on the radio all the time as kids. He\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2901,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-nov-14-2008","url_meta":{"origin":461,"position":1},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Nov. 14, 2008","author":"Gil","date":"November 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Time for another roundup of oddball links, dear readers! Just click more! From the Batter Blaster to Rocket Balls! * * * Yarr! Movie-time, mateys! * * * The former Jane Galt on saving the rust belt. (Of course, it's not just the Big 3 2.5) * * * The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3677,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/my-next-job-title","url_meta":{"origin":461,"position":2},"title":"My next job title","author":"Gil","date":"March 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"We get a lot of fun\/strange product-new press releases and conference announcements by mail at our magazines. 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