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The diplomatic situation and military buildup between the US-NATO and Russia over Ukraine seems to be taken out of an old drama called The Cuban Missile Crisis, which was one scene from the Cold War of 1947-1989. The difference in this new revised version of the drama is the main roles are reversed.
Not lost on the similarities between then and now, is the fact the 1962 Soviet missiles had been boarded into the ships at Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. This present crisis comes eight years after Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula.
The Cuban Missile Crisis is generally considered the historical point at which the US and USSR came closest to nuclear war. Three decades ago, the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the establishment of the US as the world's sole superpower.
During this period of the US sitting unchallenged, many military moves have been instigated by the US. The attack on the former Yugoslavia was a US-NATO operation that had 'regime change' as a goal. The US and coalition attack, invasion, and occupation of Iraq were based on lies by the US, and were for 'regime change'.
Cuban Missile Crisis
One of the most important events of the Cold War was the Cuban Missile Crisis. Nuclear war was averted by negotiations of the US and USSR sides, during the prolonged period of hostility between the two superpowers, with the use of militarization used to pressure the opposite side at the negotiation table.
The major players in the 1962 conflict were the US, led by President John F. Kennedy, Cuba, led by President Fidel Castro, and the USSR, led by Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
The current actors of the present drama are the US, led by President Joe Biden, Ukraine, led by President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin.
A US spy plane on October 15, 1962, had discovered Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, off the Florida coast. The missiles had a range of 1,609 km and could hit Washington, DC in less than 13 minutes. This posed a threat to the US and Canada and brought the entire world facing possible nuclear war.
The crisis was played out between October 16 to 28, 1962. Now, sixty years later, the world is facing another nuclear threat while all eyes are on the eastern border of Ukraine.
Castro was worried that the US would invade Cuba, and Khrushchev saw Cuba as a launchpad for an offensive against the US. Castro agreed to the missile placement in the interest of national security.
Kennedy delivered a televised address to the nation on October 22 in which he announced the discovery of the missiles. He said: "It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the US, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union."
Khrushchev was willing to listen to Kennedy's concerns over the missile deployment in Cuba, but will Biden be willing to listen to Putin's concerns of planting US nuclear missiles inside Ukraine pointed toward Moscow?
The negotiations in 1962 were carried out in secret and sought to satisfy both sides, while both parties are on military high alert. Present negotiations are ongoing between Washington and Moscow.
Secret negotiations were carried out in an attempt to resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis in a way that would satisfy both parties, even as both parties postured with military forces on high alert and inflammatory speeches.
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