So, were the Soviets just going to destroy the pipeline and then go home

[fgadmin]

Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — World War III

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euro4569 — 14 years ago(February 12, 2012 01:03 PM)

or
Was this just the start of an actual invasion ala Red Dawn and Amerika, where they were eventually going to move into the US and take over?

[fgadmin]

jloper — 14 years ago(February 13, 2012 12:57 PM)

Nope, nothing that ambitious. The USA had stopped selling grain to the USSR (why, I don't remember, it's been ages since I saw the movie). The USSR planned to seize the pipeline's valve station to use it as leverage to get the USA to resume selling grain. (At the station it would be possible to put explosives in the pipeline and blow up a big piece of it.) This is something David Soul's character Col. Caffey correctly figured out halfway through the movie and passed on to his superiors.