I lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Trust me . . . we don’t want another one.

For 13 days in October, 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and U.S. President John F. Kennedy stood toe to toe, the world on the brink of a nuclear holocaust, while we all held our collective breath. The details of events leading up to that crisis are long and complex; but no one who lived through those two weeks will ever forget the unremitting feeling of dread that permeated our days and invaded what little sleep we were able to steal.

We knew the missiles were there; we saw them. We knew they were Russia’s response to the earlier, failed American operation — known as the “Bay of Pigs” invasion — that had been designed to overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

And we knew that those missiles could take out a sizable chunk of the Eastern seaboard of the United States in — quite literally — a flash.

Fortunately for history, President Kennedy stood his ground; Premier Khrushchev finally “blinked”; and the Eastern seaboard remains today a beautiful stretch of beachfront playgrounds, historic cities, and U.S. military bases.

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But Vladimir Putin is not Nikita Khrushchev. And Joe Biden — or whoever succeeds him in the White House in November — is not Jack Kennedy. And this is not 1962.

And we sure as hell do not need a repeat of those 13 days.

But the U.S. and Germany have decided to begin adding long-range missiles to their existing Multi-Domain Task Force in Germany beginning in 2026. And Vladimir Putin is not happy. Speaking at Russia’s annual Navy Day in St. Petersburg on July 28th, Putin said:

“If the United States of America implements such plans, we will consider ourselves free from the unilateral moratorium on the deployment of medium and shorter-range strike weapons, including increasing the capabilities of the coastal forces of our Navy.”

And he added: “This situation is reminiscent of the events of the Cold War related to the deployment of Pershing medium-range missiles in Europe.” [Darya Tarasova and Benjamin Brown, CNN, July 28, 2024.]

It’s not Cuba; it’s on someone else’s doorstep this time. But in 2024, distance is no guarantee of safety. One nervous finger on the red button at the wrong instant, and Elon Musk’s dream of populating Mars would go up in smoke . . . along with everything and everyone else on planet Earth.

This is really nothing new. It’s been a scary world for a long time now. What I don’t understand — will never understand — is why we are incapable of learning from past lessons. What in the name of God is wrong with us?

I don’t know . . . Maybe we deserve to be blown to smithereens.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/7/24