There are few at the Western Standard who would remember the Cuban Missile Crisis that took the world to the brink of nuclear war 60 years ago this month. Even our esteemed opinion editor might not recall it clearly. But it was a defining moment in history and probably the nexus of the Cold War when U.S. President John Kennedy had to decide what to do when the Soviet Union intended to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba, literally a short cruise from the banks of Florida. .Although his military chiefs of staff urged an immediate and decisive air strike against Cuba, wiping out the missile sites, Kennedy actually thought about what he was going to do next. This, after all, was a potential global nuclear war and the end of the world as we knew it, so maybe the situation warranted sagacious meditation. .His response, putting a quarantine around Cuba in order to keep the missiles out, was what I have termed passive containment. It was a brilliant solution that gave both the United States and the Soviet Union the time to talk and find a way out of what many would have termed an impossible situation. Kennedy — an anti-communist hawk for his entire political career — found he was also a someone who had mastered the art of the possible. It is sadly unfortunate that we do not have his like in power — anywhere — today. That is precisely what is lacking today as we edge closer to nuclear war every day over Ukraine. The recent annexation by Russia of eastern Ukrainian territories may have been a violation of international law but it could also have been an opportunity to end the war. We keep hearing how the referendum to join or not join Russia was a sham but of course, how do we really know to what degree this is true when the Ukrainians are lying about the war as much as the Russians are? .Ukrainian oligarchs are being enriched by this war as much as Russian oligarchs — or the U.S. military industrial complex for that matter. Ukraine’s response was to request fast-tracked membership in NATO — which of course was an underlying reason for this war. That request cannot be accepted if there are any sane minds left in the alliance, because it would literally mean Russia would be at war with a NATO member and therefore at war with all its member states. .It really doesn’t matter at this point where Russian President Vladimir Putin is a madman or has a shred of legitimacy. He has the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet and seems ready to use some or all of it in at least a tactical manner. But none of this has stopped the vast majority of politicians, pundits and journalists in Canada and the U.S. from suggesting the war be escalated. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — a former actor — has never enjoyed himself so much as he has in the last eight months, parading around the world in his combat pants and army shirt, delivering stirring speeches and collecting billions of dollars from the U.S. and other NATO nations like Canada to continue the war. .But it is important to remember that all this spending is not going to change the outcome of the war; it is merely going to indefinitely prolong that outcome. Putin will not leave this war without some spoils of victory. The use of nuclear weapons by Russia will almost certainly result in the same response from NATO and the war can be expected to escalate to Armageddon from there. .It’s blithely easy to start a war but damned difficult to end one. The experienced diplomats and military advisors who started the First World War would have told you that. When that inferno was over, three crowned heads of Europe were either dead or in exile, a Bolshevik regime was in power in Russia and millions of dead and billions of dollars spending were gone forever. I spent much of my career in the military, as did my father before me. In the 60 years since the Cuba crisis, so did hundreds of thousands of other Canadians. Now, because our politicians are too stupid to assess the risk and act accordingly, we face the real possibility of a nuclear war in Europe. This, even more than the parade of procurement fiascos, is the ultimate betrayal of the men and women who have stood on guard for Canada all those years. You may think Putin is mad but U.S. President Joe Biden is clearly also unable to navigate with any mental clarity. This therefore is the moment for a Canadian prime minister to get very, very serious, move to the right side of history and call for an end to the war in Ukraine through negotiation, and not to support continued escalation into oblivion. .Why did we understand this throughout the Cold War but now somehow think that in 2022 a nuclear war sounds like an interesting challenge and not the end of humanity? .It is deep insanity.
