General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs the Ukraine Invasion worse than the Cuban Missile Crisis?
I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis very well but I was only beginning high school when it happened.
But, maybe because I was so young and hopeful, I never thought the "missile crisis" was ever as bad as the present invasion of Ukraine. Even though they were threatening nuclear weapons only 90 miles from our shore. JFK called Krushchev's bluff and they withdrew the missiles.
Now, we are being threatened with nuclear weapons again. This time the Russians are using it to blackmail other countries from reacting to their aggression. Putin believes he can take whatever he wants and nobody will dare to try and stop him.
Perhaps the best the world can hope for is that the Russian people and the Russian military will take care of their problem with Mr Putin? If not, the world will have no choice but to contain him within the boundaries of Ukraine, It is no small country. It is almost the size of Texas.
The best hope for America and the world may be to defeat Putin where he is now, rather than waiting for Act II? Keep the battle in the Ukraine. The tyrant must be stopped now, not after he invades the Balkan states. Europe and America must be united on stopping him here.
agingdem
(7,759 posts)Cuba is 330 miles from Miami, Florida..Castro had Russian missiles pointed at the United States ..Ukraine is in Europe...and no this isn't WWIII...this a megalomaniac's last hurrah...he's fighting a WWII war in a cyber age...24/7 video eye witnesses worldwide...
CanonRay
(14,038 posts)multigraincracker
(32,531 posts)Damn those little 3 letter words.
hedda_foil
(16,368 posts)Turbineguy
(37,212 posts)We were looking at moving into the cellar at my Grandmother's house. This cellar had been used as a coal bunker for years, and to the mind of an 11 year-old was the darkest place in the Universe.
dweller
(23,562 posts)Is not dry in here ?
🤔
✌🏻
Gore1FL
(21,034 posts)I am not saying the U.S. is beyond reproach nor I am I trying to imply justifications, either. My point is the Ukraine comparison is notably different in the goals of the aggressor.
EX500rider
(10,532 posts)And some of those were UN sponsored with partners like Korea & Kuwait.
qazplm135
(7,447 posts)sovereign?
Well, except for Yugoslavia with the breakup and the others that broke up in some way or the other unrelated to us.
Some of those are pretty sketchy...Korea? Really?
Brazil 2016?
Poland?
Some license being taken with some of those nations.
We've done some fucked up stuff, no doubt, but we didn't attack an entire country with the intent of annexing them.
Even at our worst, we still never intended to keep control or wipe the country from existence.
And even if one wants to believe we are the worst country on the planet, so what? The question now is, is what Russia is doing right or wrong and should we try to stop it? Not, sorry US you suck so sit down and shut up. If we suck, then the first thing to do to get out of that is to do good, is it not?
Stuff like this is just virtue signalling nonsense.
BannonsLiver
(16,162 posts)Gore1FL
(21,034 posts)Putin is being defeated where he is now.
Act I is interesting. Let's let the character of this engagement develop a bit and maybe have a few song and dance numbers before we Force Act II.
Runningdawg
(4,496 posts)We of course, discussed the subject since we were both alive then, students of history and had very different perspectives.
Hubby said they knew their dad was going to be gone a while, that happened often, but then a few day later his mom gets a call and before she could hang up the phone she passed out. He ran next door to get his friends mom and she was crying hysterically.
When everyone calmed down, the message had been - The fleet has been called out. Meaning every ship, sub and plane in the Navy were leaving port or in the sky, so they couldn't be hit on the ground. Imagine getting THAT call.
If we get any warning it will look like that. When you see no commercial planes but all military in the air - it's time to take cover.
2naSalit
(86,061 posts)I was in Key West during the Cuban missile crisis, I remember it well. I was young but aware as my parents openly discussed such matters in our presence, since my dad was in a military group who followed those missiles from point A to point B, I knew about them long before most did. Dad was gone on missions a lot during that time.
It as tense and there was a general tension (the only way I can describe it) within the community, like people in the hours following the collapse of the Twin Towers who were watching from afar were stunned.
BannonsLiver
(16,162 posts)And nobody knew they were happening at the time.