If Kennedy and Khrushchev had refused to negotiate, the Cuban Missile Crisis could have escalated to a dangerous level; however, Khrushchev's decision to take the missiles away from Cuba and ship them back home ended a threat of nuclear war, and Kennedy agreed to remove missiles placed in Turkey and southern Italy, which targeted Soviet territory.
The Russian requests
"Imagine that Ukraine is a NATO member and a military operation [to regain Crimea] begins," President Vladimir Putin said. "What - are we going to fight with NATO? Has anyone thought about this? It seems like they haven't."
Moscow seeks legally binding security guarantees, including a block on NATO's further expansion to the east, which is seen as a security threat. Russia has asked for the removal of NATO offensive weapons and personnel from Ukraine and the cessation of military activities in Eastern Europe, the Southern Caucasus, and Central Asia.
Central Asia is near Russia, and in Uzbekistan, there was a bloody uprising instigated by the Muslim Brotherhood, in an attempt to overthrow the government not long ago. After arrests were made, it was revealed that President Erdogan of Turkey, a NATO member, was involved. Erdogan's AKP party follows the Muslim Brotherhood ideology.
NATO is a US-led western security apparatus that was founded to curb the USSR's influence in Europe but remains active even though the Iron Curtain has long ago fallen.
For Russia, Ukraine's interest in joining NATO amounts to a red line. Ukraine accuses Russia of backing a bloody rebellion in the eastern Donbas region, and Moscow accuses Ukraine of failing to implement an international deal to restore peace to the east while death and injuries continue there.
Putin has accused the US of trying to draw his country into a war in Ukraine, in a pretext to impose more sanctions on Russia, while ignoring Russian security concerns about NATO forces in Europe.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has been called the greatest diplomatic of his time, and not surprisingly he seems to believe that a diplomatic solution is possible. In his opinion, the US and NATO will realize that maintaining good relations with Russia is more important than Ukraine becoming a NATO member.
The US response
The US continues to accuse Russia of planning to invade Ukraine, but Russia repeatedly denies that. A few of the European nations have come out with less than supportive comments of the US rhetoric, which some see as exaggerations or hysteria. Trump had wanted to get out of NATO, and he still has
The Biden administration faces tough domestic challenges, one of which is Biden's plummeting approval rating. The American people are deeply divided about many issues and some experts wonder if a war over Ukraine might be a chance to unify the country. However, not all Americans are supportive of yet another war abroad, especially one which could turn nuclear.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Moscow said: "It seems to me that the United States is not so much concerned about the security of Ukraine... but its main task is to contain Russia's development. In this sense, Ukraine itself is just a tool to reach this goal."
There is no European or EU stability without Russia, said Croatian President Zoran Milanovic, adding that "Russia is a factor in that equation, and we should have an agreement with Russia." Milanovic accused the UK of "inciting" and believes that pushing Ukraine towards the confrontation with Russia is "irresponsible".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Tuesday that a Russian invasion would "not be a war between Ukraine and Russia - this would be a war in Europe, a full-scale one". In the end, what happens between the US and Russia will have its greatest effect on the civilians in Ukraine.
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