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+ "It's in control of the state, " - actually, it's in control of the Army directly. + The US sprayed 'agent orange' on trees near their firebases, and the va

+ "It's in control of the state, " - actually, it's in control of the Army directly. + The US sprayed 'agent orange' on trees near their firebases, and the vast majority of the 'victims' were American soldiers, not Vietnamese. Obviously, they didn't know what it would do. + The 'embargo' is 100% the fault of Fidel. He put nuclear weapons 40 miles away from florida, from those who backed by the credible threat of using them, thereby putting hundreds of millions of lives at risk. That's why the embargo started - he had ample time to wind it down. Jimmy Carter, Clinton, Obama - and even Bush Sr. would have made a deal of Fidel agreed to have elections.

goatsi 10y ago
What do you think about the wisdom of putting nuclear weapons 160 miles away from the USSR in Turkey? The Cuban deployment was a direct response to American provocation.
- notahacker 10y ago
  What's notable about Castro's conduct during the missile crisis is that whilst it was actually Khrushchev that made the decision about locating the missiles in Cuba as an arguably proportionate response to America's own missile locations, it was Castro's private correspondence that urged Khrushchev to be prepared to actually use them. (Khrushchev, not known as one of the Cold War's more pacifistic figures, responded that he found Castro's suggestion quite disturbing)
justicezyx 10y ago
Could you add references? Not accusing any credibility, I'd just want to learn more details.
chinhodado 10y ago
> the vast majority of the 'victims' were American soldiers, not Vietnamese. That's straight up false. Between 3-4 millions Vietnamese suffered from it[1], and its devastating effects are still very relevant today. Concerning US soldiers, "By April 1993, the Department of Veterans Affairs had compensated only 486 victims, although it had received disability claims from 39,419 soldiers who had been exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam." [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange#Effects_on_the_Vietnamese_people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange#Effects_on_the_Vi...
kuschku 10y ago
> He put nuclear weapons 40 miles away from florida And the US isn’t putting nukes into NATO states? Italy and Turkey already have had some before Cuba got some, so what’s next? Estonia?
- edblarney 10y ago
  No, the US is definitely not putting nukes in Estonia.
- macobo 10y ago
  Original comment was: > And the US isn’t putting nukes into Estonia? Honest question: Where is this coming from? I'd hate to call this war-mongering and spreading misinformation, but this is a great way to polarize a conversation in one fell scoop.
  - kuschku 10y ago
    The problem is just that you have to see it a lot more nuanced. It was the cold war, and the US had already put nukes into Italy and Turkey, well within range of Moscow. In such a game-theoretical standoff, the USSR had had to react – to keep the balance of power. It’s a completely crazy situation, and I’d consider both sides of the conflict as Evil, but I’m not sure why so many people try to claim the US was Good, while the USSR was Evil. Both stood for some good, and some very bad principles. I edited the comment to reduce the conflict potential, but keep the general idea of it.
    - macobo 10y ago
      Please keep in mind I was responding only to the original comment, which I quoted in its full glory. It had nothing to do with what you assert above, just a mistaken assertion that US is keeping (now was implicit in what you said) nukes in the Baltic States. Given Russias interest in toying and more with its neighbors, misinformation like this goes a long way of "normalizing" those conflicts. It prepares whomever is reading your comment to say, "huh, the both sides here are shades of gray" and just accept that conflict as normal. So yeah. There are no US nukes in Estonia. If there are, please back up your sources.

goatsi 10y ago

What do you think about the wisdom of putting nuclear weapons 160 miles away from the USSR in Turkey? The Cuban deployment was a direct response to American provocation.

notahacker 10y ago
What's notable about Castro's conduct during the missile crisis is that whilst it was actually Khrushchev that made the decision about locating the missiles in Cuba as an arguably proportionate response to America's own missile locations, it was Castro's private correspondence that urged Khrushchev to be prepared to actually use them. (Khrushchev, not known as one of the Cold War's more pacifistic figures, responded that he found Castro's suggestion quite disturbing)

justicezyx 10y ago

Could you add references? Not accusing any credibility, I'd just want to learn more details.

chinhodado 10y ago

> the vast majority of the 'victims' were American soldiers, not Vietnamese. That's straight up false. Between 3-4 millions Vietnamese suffered from it[1], and its devastating effects are still very relevant today. Concerning US soldiers, "By April 1993, the Department of Veterans Affairs had compensated only 486 victims, although it had received disability claims from 39,419 soldiers who had been exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam." [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange#Effects_on_the_Vietnamese_people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange#Effects_on_the_Vi...

kuschku 10y ago

> He put nuclear weapons 40 miles away from florida And the US isn’t putting nukes into NATO states? Italy and Turkey already have had some before Cuba got some, so what’s next? Estonia?

edblarney 10y ago
No, the US is definitely not putting nukes in Estonia.
macobo 10y ago
Original comment was: > And the US isn’t putting nukes into Estonia? Honest question: Where is this coming from? I'd hate to call this war-mongering and spreading misinformation, but this is a great way to polarize a conversation in one fell scoop.
- kuschku 10y ago
  The problem is just that you have to see it a lot more nuanced. It was the cold war, and the US had already put nukes into Italy and Turkey, well within range of Moscow. In such a game-theoretical standoff, the USSR had had to react – to keep the balance of power. It’s a completely crazy situation, and I’d consider both sides of the conflict as Evil, but I’m not sure why so many people try to claim the US was Good, while the USSR was Evil. Both stood for some good, and some very bad principles. I edited the comment to reduce the conflict potential, but keep the general idea of it.
  - macobo 10y ago
    Please keep in mind I was responding only to the original comment, which I quoted in its full glory. It had nothing to do with what you assert above, just a mistaken assertion that US is keeping (now was implicit in what you said) nukes in the Baltic States. Given Russias interest in toying and more with its neighbors, misinformation like this goes a long way of "normalizing" those conflicts. It prepares whomever is reading your comment to say, "huh, the both sides here are shades of gray" and just accept that conflict as normal. So yeah. There are no US nukes in Estonia. If there are, please back up your sources.