Reply #1: Good discussion. I will only not that Cuban Nuclear missile crisis was not provocative

[SergeyDovlatov]

It was just a negotiation strategy.

US deployed nuclear missiles in Turkey.
Russia responded by moving nukes to Cuba.

Agreement was reached.
US (silently) removed missile from Turkey and (publicly) declared they brow beat the russians in removing missile from Cuba.

Everybody is happy. US got the myth of a tough JFK standing up to Russians, Russians got US nukes out of Turkey.

Win-Win.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis

Ending the crisis of 1962
After much deliberation between the Soviet Union and Kennedy's cabinet, Kennedy agreed to remove all missiles set in Turkey on the border of the Soviet Union in exchange for Khrushchev removing all missiles in Cuba.