13 days -- and what was learned - As the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis approaches

[bananas]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by XemaSab (a host of the Environment & Energy group).

http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/columnists/kingston-reif/13-days-and-what-was-learned

13 days -- and what was learned
By Kingston Reif | 22 June 2012

The most dangerous moment of the nuclear age -- and likely any age -- unfolded 50 years ago as the world waited and trembled. For 13 harrowing days, the leaders of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba brought the planet within a hair's breadth of nuclear catastrophe. Despite the seemingly halcyon stability of deterrence throughout the Cold War, there were numerous moments during the Cuban Missile Crisis that could have escalated into full-blown nuclear war. As then-Defense Secretary Robert McNamara put it some years later, "We're damn lucky to be here." As the 50th anniversary of the crisis approaches, the implications of this near miss with disaster still resonate. As long as nuclear weapons exist -- and right now approximately 22,000 of them can be found in nine countries -- the risk of cataclysm remains. We lucked out in 1962. We may not be so lucky next time.

<snip>

While the threat of global nuclear war is significantly less than during the Cold War, the risk of catastrophe has not disappeared. Given today's United States and Russia, the threat of deliberate nuclear attack seems unthinkable, but the danger of accidental or miscalculated deployment is disconcertingly plausible -- especially as thousands of US and Russian weapons remain ready to launch within minutes of a decision to do so. In South Asia, India and Pakistan have already fought two conventional conflicts since acquiring nuclear weapons. In North Korea, an unpredictable and cryptic danger looms. The threat of brazen terrorists wielding nuclear arms is chilling. And the impasse over Iran's nuclear program only heightens tensions. This all increases the complexity and probability of the risk.

The Cuban Missile Crisis has taught us that the threat of nuclear calamity is only an error or misperception away; but the historic crisis is also instructive in other ways: Delaying disaster or making distasteful compromises may be preferable to scare tactics or an outright attack. Take Iran's nuclear program. In a provocative Washington Post article, Harvard's Graham Allison compares the US-Iran standoff to a Cuban Missile Crisis in slow motion. Instead of choosing between attacking Iran's nuclear facilities or acquiescing to a nuclear-armed Iran, Allison argues that President Obama ought to follow in Kennedy's footsteps and "explore alternatives that, however unacceptable, are less catastrophic." (In a nutshell, Allison proposes Iran permanently and verifiably abandon enrichment beyond 5 percent in return for US acceptance of Iran's continued enrichment up to that level.)

The only permanent exit ramp from the specter of nuclear annihilation is the abolition of nuclear weapons. Nuclear disarmament is daunting and not risk-free itself, but there are steps that can be taken now to tackle that challenge and to reduce the chances of a nuclear nightmare. The onus is on the world's two largest nuclear powers -- the United States and Russia -- to continue to lead the charge. The two nations must abandon nuclear postures premised on nuclear war-fighting, pursue more arms control agreements to verifiably eliminate excess weapons, and strive to ensure that policy disagreements do not grow into dangerous crises.

<snip>

[longship]

1. A good flick, too.

Bruce Greenwood does a credible JFK. Bobby, also portrayed well by Stephen Culp. The only thing that spoils it is Kevin Costner's hopeless New England accent, as Kenny O'Donnell, and the idiotic back story fiction surrounding his family. (Why does Hollywood always do this fucking idiocy with non-fiction?)

Also Kevin Conway is fucking chilling as SAC commander Curtis LeMay who, if we had gotten into WW III that October would have been solely his doing.

Based on declassified documents from the former Soviet Union.

I recommend it.

[FogerRox]

2. Theres a reunion group

Military folk who took part on both sides.

Its amazing that some of the best info has come out only recently.


Like the USSR had 4 subs off the coast of FLA with Nuclear armed torpedoes, probably suicide missions. And how the US Navy dealt with them. One USN Destroyer tracked its sub for days, the US told the USSR to tell the subs to surface and to head east... or else..... This Destroyer CO wanted to make it clear to the Soviet sub he knew exactly where the sub was......

SO he ordered that hand grenades be shoved into the tube part of a roll of toilet paper, and to pull the pin & throw it overboard. The toilet paper dissolves at about 200-259 ft, allowing the grenade handle to cock open, and then boom. They made a few passes bracketing the Soviet sub with hand grenades, the Bogie surfaces and made headway east....

The Destroyer CO had recently used the same trick in Chesapeake bay during exercises vs a US sub, just to be sure no one would say he hadnt really located the US sub. The Sub CO was livid....

In fact some of the best books on the Pacific theater of WW2 have come out in the last 20 years. Like Shattered Sword, on Midway.