> Our bitch about Cuba in the 1960s was that the Soviet Union had introduced offensive nuclear missiles into Cuba <
Well, yes. Just as the United States had previously introduced offensive nuclear missiles into Turkey. Before anyone gets all worked up, I’m not saying that we were wrong to put missiles in Turkey, or that the Soviets were right to put missiles in Cuba.
We were the good guys of that era and the communists were the bad guys. Period. My point is simply that it is an error to make policy without considering how other nations might react.
That doesn’t mean we should defer to those nations! It does mean that their reactions must be part of the equation. Just like in chess.
“It does mean that their reactions must be part of the equation. Just like in chess.”
They always are. The problem is one’s prediction of another’s actions are not always what that other is actually contemplating.
“”Well, yes. Just as the United States had previously introduced offensive nuclear missiles into Turkey. Before anyone gets all worked up, I’m not saying that we were wrong to put missiles in Turkey, or that the Soviets were right to put missiles in Cuba.””
Actually, that seems to be your basic position, you keep arguing it.