Quite unimaginably the planet now sits closer than it has to World War Three than it has since the Cuban Missile Crisis, with the irony being just how similar the two situations are, although with the actors in reverse.
To read about the Cuban Missile Crisis click here.
Background to the Cuban Missile Crisis
In the 1959 the brutal and repressive US backed regime of Batsita wvas overthrown by a popular uprising led by the revolutionary M-26-7, or 26th July Movement. Its leader Fidel Castro would later declare the revolution socialist in nature and go on to sponsor numerous revolutionary groups within the region, some of whom survive to this day.
To read about the Colombian insurgency click here.
Ti sum up the missile crisis the Cubans quite understandably reached out to the revolutionary government of the USSR, who agreed to protect it, much like NATO did on the borders of the USSR.
The Soviets were to eventually place Nuclear weapons in Cuba, something the US di not exactly take too well, putting a naval blockade on Cuba and stating under no uncertain terms the nukes were to be removed.
The world then stood at a standstill with nuclear war and World War Three only narrowly avoided when the USSR agreed to take the nukes down in exchange for some “secret deals” with the US on reducing missiles based in Turkey among other things.
It would also unwittingly lead to the end of the Khrushchev era.
What many people do not realise is just how close to Armageddon we came. Had either side struck each other the protocols of the Warsaw Pact and NATO would have meant all out war, with at least one Soviet submarine that had lost contact with command very nearly launching on the assumption that war had already begun.
Another known factor is the attitude of Castro to use of nuclear weapons and escalation, something we are now seeing with Zelenskyy.
What did Castro want during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Castro was not only a firm believer in the revolution, but wanted to protect it all costs, seeing nuclear weapons, even ones controlled by Soviet command as key to this. A situation very relevant today with regards to North Korea and why they will never give up the bomb, with regards to the Libya precedent.
To read about the Capitalist War in Ukraine click here.
In fact in a latter latter released between Castro and Khrushchev the Cuban leader asked that the Soviet Union “annihilate the United States” in the event it attacked Cuba.
And it did not stop there, with Castro essentially ready for war rather than capitulation during the conflict. Essentially Castro believed in the doctrine that a world without Cuba was not a world and therefore warranted a nuclear war. Whether this was related to proletariat working class struggle is up for debate, but it is mantra sadly repeated all too often.
Zelenskyy wants to escalate the war
Zelenskyy as any president would during time of war is trying to do everything to preserve his country, He is putting Ukraine and his people over the safety of the world, with able to argue either way on how right or wrong this is.
Him and his minsters have continuously asked for NATO to get militarily involved, an action that if it did occur would trigger World War Three, but more scarily he has also allegedly attempted at least one false flag affair.
Article 5 of NATO
Article 5 quite simply is that if any member of NATO is attacked, then it is considered an attack on all members, or to give it its full quotation.
“Article 5 – The parties agree that an armed attack on any party is an attack on them all. If such armed attack does incur, following Article 51 of the UN Charter (the right to individual or collective self-defence), members will assist the party or parties under attack with action it deems necessary, including the use of armed force. Any such attack and measures taken will be reported to the UN Security Council, and will cease when the UN Security Council restore international peace and security”.
Poland was recently “attacked” by a Russian rocket, or at least that is what Ukraine said happened. The only problem is that Russia denied the incident and forensics on the ground also said that rocket was almost undoubtedly not Russian. The only problem is that Ukraine was a member of the USSR, so they shared the same technology, so creating a false flag attack is relatively easy.
For more on this angle watch Charlie Wilsons War
The problem is though that even this was not the first time something of the sort has allegedly happened, with much of the barrage of weapons on the Zaporizhzhia plant (the largest in Europe) proving to be Ukrainian rather than Russian. This may seem innocuous, but again it was another “red line” that could have potentially drawn the west into a World War Three scenario.
Why would anyone want World War Three?
And this is where the similarities with the Cuban Missile Crisis come in Castro was fearful of his revolution and indeed his nation being destroyed by an enemy he hated, namely the United States.
Zelenskyy has the exact same dilemma. Without western not only would he have been overthrown, but perhaps even the majority of Ukraine would have been eaten up, leaving a mere western rump state, largely consisting of Lviv.
This of course did not happen, with one Russian official telling us “We underestimated the level of resistance in the east”. Still though Russia is far from on the blackfoot and exclusive of Crimea has taken control of around 15 percent of Ukrainian territory. And the reality is that without western support Russia will eventually win, no matter how heroically the Ukrainians fights.
And here lay the two problems that make World War Three a stark reality, or at least something that some quarters are aiming for. Western aid will eventually dry up. Western countries simply cannot afford to write blank checks, while the oil rich Arab states have not only largely stayed out of things, but with some at least still upset over the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the perceived lack of support from the west of the war in Yemen. Others still are essentially pro-Russia.
And without money, or fearing for the loss of his country Zelenskyy will do everything, no matter what the cost to keep his country from falling and yes that includes pushing us as close to thermonuclear war as possible.
Ironically this is a mantra that also comes from President Putin himself, who has declared that “Without Russia there is no world”, or in other words he will push the button and destroy the world if the existence of Russia is in threat.
And it is all these ghastly opinions, motives, and ideology that make the perfect cocktail for World War Three. The question now is seemingly who will blink first.
Make no mistake though we are as close if not closer to World War Three as we were during the missile crisis, but 60 years later the technology available to the belligerents makes Cold War 2.0 all that more dangerous.