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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   29600 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 6, 2023

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Couldn't they be confident that it wasn't discovered? They have considerable energy leverage over Europe now, they've got considerable media influence, there's strong anti-Russia feeling all over the place.

Besides, the US is not known for its cautious 'light touch' foreign policy. Invading Iraq and Afghanistan was an extraordinarily risky gambit! Sending special forces surreptitiously into Pakistan, a nuclear power, to have gunfights on their soil is a risky gambit. They invade countries all the time: Panama, Grenada, Syria... They've financed terrorism in Europe before via Operation Gladio. They launch various attacks on Iran, created a massive nuclear crisis over a nothingburger when the Soviets decided to base missiles in Cuba.

I was right with you until you framed nukes off the coast of the US as a nothing burger. The fact that we did it too doesn't change that.

The rest is pretty spot on though

created a massive nuclear crisis over a nothingburger when the Soviets decided to base missiles in Cuba

What an amazing reframing of the Cuban missile crisis.

It's not a reframing, it's the correct framing. The US decided to base missiles in Turkey and the Russians didn't throw a massive tantrum about it, they behaved quite reasonably. They felt threatened but they didn't try to blockade the country, botch an attempt to invade the country or threaten to invade it again, or give ultimatums. This is a mature and statesmanlike approach to a potential nuclear crisis.

Kennedy gets far too much credit, he chose to invent a crisis over something that was easily ignorable. At least he cooled the Joint Chiefs of Staff who wanted to start bombing and invade immediately.

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