This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis. Just 90 miles from the American mainland, the attempt by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to place missiles on the island represented a fundamental threat to US security. He was responding to the US placement of Jupiter nuclear missiles in Turkey, which was seen as a fundamental threat to Soviet security.
Today, Russian forces on Ukraine’s border are responding to what the Kremlin sees as a similar existential menace. In both cases, genuine concerns have been mixed with posturing and ill-advised escalation. We find ourselves in a new Cold War and a slow-motion escalation comparable to the Cuban missile crisis.
Then, the threat of global annihilation forced the two sides into adroit diplomacy which allowed both sides to retreat with dignity. The Soviet Union removed its missiles, Washington promised not to invade Cuba and a few months later discreetly removed the Jupiter missiles.
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