Decent episode. Chernobyl is always interesting to see no matter how many documentaries you see on it. But I wish that they would mention just how many people (farmers primarily) live in the exclusion zone, and are just fine.
Also always like the confirmation in owning a good car, in having bought a Fiesta myself.
So Wesley Clark same near started world war 3 just over an airport?! What a blithering insane fool.
Like most things, it is a bit more complex than that.
The Russians by that point, were a belligerent. Their ultimate goal was to split the country like they split Germany. Obviously NATO was against that. So after refusing to join the NATO mission, Russia went their own way and proved to be a significant problem for NATO the whole time. Moving into areas that NATO planned to bomb, etc.
In taking over that airfield they wanted to force NATO into negotiations after they reinforced, significantly. The only reason that didn't happen is because the US used its political muscle to force countries like Romania to block their airspace from Russian reinforcements. But none of that was guaranteed. And Clark knew that. Generals have orders, and his were to prevent the Russian's from reinforcing.
The order was purposely vague because of who was dealing with. This British general had a history of not following orders coming from Americans. And they were not nearly as justifiable as in this case. Clark had British staff officers under him and they all believed that at best, the 500-strong force would roll onto the airfield and brew up some tea while ignoring the Russians yelling at them to leave, guns drawn or not. And at worse you'd have two forces in offensive/defensive postures while the politics sorted itself out. Nobody really believed that there would be shooting. And certainly nobody believed that Yeltsin of all people, would go nuclear over this.
This was all politicized during an election period in the US, with Clark running for president. So the WW3 stuff sounds great, but it's all hyperbole. Sounds good on British TV, but they do a disservice by not providing any historical context. And then you no longer need to wonder why people think of the US military like they do...