The Cuban Missile Crisis

[Diablo]

That's certainly a good argument. But was that a big miscalculation on K's part? Would any US president have tolerated Soviet missiles in Cuba?

[Minimalist]

Not in the early '60's.

[vorlon13]

We (the US) considered the missiles obsolete as the Soviets could take them out in less time than it took to launch them. The Soviets, on the other hand, if given a 15 minutes 'heads up' they are going to be launched could not have stuck in time (back then) to have destroyed them on the ground just prior to launch.

It depends on who is doing the 'first strike' as to just how dangerous those missiles actually were. Our brass would hate to wake up some morning and have those missiles burning on the ground. The Soviet brass probably had a headache every night as to whether or not a 'Brig General Jack Ripper' somewhere in the chain of command (right up to the oval office) might have decided the time was ripe.

[Ryantology]

I guess I should have made it clear that the US considered the weapons obsolete, and that was their rationale for making the concession. As to whether that's true, or even relevant, I sure don't know.

[vorlon13]

The entire gestalt of nuclear weapons is weird.

Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove have essentially the same plot elements. They are 2 of the most totally different movies possible.

[CapnAwesome]

I always think it's funny when people use Atheism forums to find out stuff like this. Have you ever heard of https://www.google.com/ ?

[Minimalist]

The entire gestalt of nuclear weapons is weird.

Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove have essentially the same plot elements. They are 2 of the most totally different movies possible.

I saw a quote recently that said "nuclear weapons keep the peace because the rich cannot hide from them."

Much truth in that, I think.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

Did someone say missile crisis?

[Diablo]

I always think it's funny when people use Atheism forums to find out stuff like this. Have you ever heard of https://www.google.com/ ?

The whole intent is to make you laugh.....

[Anomalocaris]

That's certainly a good argument. But was that a big miscalculation on K's part? Would any US president have tolerated Soviet missiles in Cuba?

I think once one sees past customary American triumphalism and examine what each side really sought to gain and put on the table, and what the real gains and losses each side came away with, you would see Krushechev didn't miscalculate. He took a big calculated gamble for big stakes, which is the instantaneous reversal of the huge strategic nuclear advantage the US enjoyed over the USSR at the time. Even though he didn't win the hand, he managed to came out with his butt intact, with Soviet Union retaining a strategic position marginally better then what it had at the start. Normally if you take big risks for big rewards and then lose, you expect to lose much of what you started with. So Khrushchev calculated well.

No US president could have knowingly allowed the USSR set up intermediate range nuclear weapons in Cuba. In the early 1960s, the US enjoyed overwhelming nuclear superiority over the USSR. The US could level the Soviet Union with a massive fleet of manned nuclear bombers. Soviet Union had only a handful of intercontinental ballistic missiles, around 10, that could credibly get past American defences and reach American home land. At the same time, Soviet Union had crushing conventional superiority in Europe. If Soviet Union attacked Western Europe, nothing could keep soviet army from rolling over Germany and France. Only the understanding America could wipe out soviet homeland, and would do so because Soviet Union can't retaliate in kind, kept soviets out of Western Europe.

If soviet medium and intermediate range missiles were to be deployed to Cuba, suddenly Soviet Union acquires the ability to do to US homeland what US had been able to do to USSR. Suddenly the balance between American nuclear superiority and soviet conventional superiority would be shattered. Soviets would think they could invade Western Europe with impunity because America would not dare to attack the USSR with nuclear weapons, because USSR could launch crippling attacks on the US from Cuba.