Ka cika wannan magana: Sa'ad da Yuri Andropov ya gaji Leonid Brezhnev a matsayin shugaban Tarayyar Soviet a watan Nuwamba na shekara ta 1982, jaridu da mujallu na Yammacin duniya sun buga hotuna da labarai da yawa a kan shafin farko game da shi. Yawancin ɗaukar hoto ba shi da kyau kuma ya ba da ra'ayi game da sabon barazana ga kwanciyar hankali na Yammacin duniya. Andropov ya kasance Jakadan Soviet a Hungary a lokacin juyin juya halin Hungary na 1956 kuma Shugaban KGB daga 1967 zuwa 1982; a lokacin da yake aiki, an san shi a Yammacin Turai don
murkushe Prague Spring da kuma zalunci na zalunci na masu adawa, irin su Andrei Sakharov da Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Ya fara aikinsa a matsayin shugaban Soviet ta hanyar karfafa ikon KGB, da kuma murkushe masu adawa. A cewar Vasili Mitrokhin, Andropov ya ga gwagwarmayar kare hakkin dan adam a matsayin wani bangare na wani babban makircin mulkin mallaka don rushe tushen gwamnatin Soviet. Yawancin tashin hankali na duniya sun kewaye da ƙoƙarin Soviet da na Amurka don haɓaka makamai masu iya ƙaddamarwa daga tauraron dan adam a cikin sararin samaniya. Dukkanin gwamnatocin biyu suna da manyan shirye-shiryen bincike da ci gaba don haɓaka irin wannan fasaha. Koyaya, ƙasashen biyu suna fuskantar matsin lamba don rushe aikin. A Amurka, Shugaba Ronald Reagan ya fuskanci matsin lamba daga rukunin masana kimiyyar Amurka da masana makamai, yayin da a Tarayyar Soviet gwamnati ta fitar da wata sanarwa da ta ce, "Daga hana yin amfani da sararin samaniya a matsayin makamai na soja yana daya daga cikin ayyuka mafi gaggawa da ke gaban 'yan Adam".