Dr. Prather wrote a good article except for overlooking one little detail-The Cuban Missle Crisis. USSR had indeed placed tactical and strategic nuclear missles outside their own country. As for their not being placed in E.Europe, I would speculate that was a political decision(those darn little countries are always revolting so lets not leave the gift of nuclear weapons laying around).
But even that is a lie. The Soviets most assuredly deployed SRBMs and IRBMs, nukes and all, in E. Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia. Where does Mr. Prather get his info and why is he making such a big deal about this right now? What's in it for him, and whose bidding is he doing?