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Cuban missile crisis: The other, secret one

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  • Cuban missile crisis: The other, secret one

    Cuban missile crisis: The other, secret one

    By Joe Matthews
    Journalist

    BBC New Magazine
    12 October 2012 Last updated at 21:18 ET

    How the second missile crisis unfolded

    Contrary to popular belief, the Cuban missile crisis did not end with
    the agreement between the US and Soviet Union in October, 1962. Unknown
    to the US at the time, there were 100 other nuclear weapons also in the
    hands of Cuba, sparking a frantic - and ingenious - Russian mission to
    recover them.

    In November 2011, aware that the 50th anniversary of the most dangerous
    few weeks in history was less than a year away, my Russian colleague
    Pasha Shilov and I came across several new accounts that changed our
    perspective on the Cuban missile crisis and how much we thought we knew
    about it.

    Growing up in Berkshire, England, through the nuclear paranoia of the
    1980s, with Ronald Reagan's Cruise and Pershing missiles stationed only
    30 miles away from my family home, I was inculcated with a keen
    awareness of Cold War brinkmanship.

    Pasha grew up in Moscow and described how it was from the Soviet point
    of view - equally frightening by his account.

    But what we've now learned about the chilling events of October and
    November 1962 has put our own experiences into perspective - and maybe
    given rise to a few more grey hairs along the way.

    Our investigations took us to St Petersburg and the Soviet Submariners
    Veterans' Society via the National Security Archive in Washington DC,
    where Svetlana Savranskaya, the director of the Russian archives, told
    us an incredible story.

    There had been a second secret missile crisis that continued the danger
    of a catastrophic nuclear war until the end of November 1962.

    This extended the known missile crisis well beyond the weekend of 27-28
    October, the time that had always been thought of as the moment the
    danger finally lifted with the deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev to
    withdraw the Soviet missiles in exchange for a US promise not to invade
    Cuba.

    The secret missile crisis came about through an unnerving mix of Soviet
    duplicity, American intelligence failures and the mercurial temperament
    of Fidel Castro.

    The Cuban leader, cut out of the main negotiations between the
    superpowers over the fate of the long range Soviet missiles stationed in
    Cuba, began to cease cooperation with Moscow.

    Fearing that Castro's hurt pride and widespread Cuban indignation over
    the concessions Khrushchev had made to Kennedy, might lead to a
    breakdown of the agreement between the superpowers, the Soviet leader
    concocted a plan to give Castro a consolation prize.

    The prize was an offer to give Cuba more than 100 tactical nuclear
    weapons that had been shipped to Cuba along with the long-range
    missiles, but which crucially had passed completely under the radar of
    US intelligence.

    Khrushchev concluded that because the Americans hadn't listed the
    missiles on their list of demands, the Soviet Union's interests would be
    well served by keeping them in Cuba.

    Kremlin number two, Anastas Mikoyan, was charged with making the trip to
    Havana, principally to calm Castro down and make him what seemed like an
    offer he couldn't refuse.

    Mikoyan, whose wife was seriously ill, took the assignment knowing that
    the future of relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union were on the
    line. Shortly after arriving in Cuba, Mikoyan received word that his
    wife had died, but despite this, he pledged to stay in Cuba and complete
    negotiations with Castro.

    In the weeks that followed, Mikoyan kept the detail of the missile
    transfer to himself while he witnessed the mood swings and paranoia of
    the Cuban leader convinced that Moscow had sold Cuba's defence down the
    river.

    Castro particularly objected to the constant flights over Cuba by
    American surveillance aircraft and, as Mikoyan learned to his horror,
    ordered Cuban anti-aircraft gunners to fire on them.

    Knowing how delicate the state of relations were between the US and
    Russia after the worst crisis since World War II, US forces around the
    world remained on Defcon 2, one short of global nuclear war until 20
    November.

    Mikoyan came to a personal decision that under no circumstances should
    Castro and his military be given control of weapons with an explosive
    force equal to 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs.

    He then extricated Moscow from a seemingly intractable situation which
    risked blowing the entire crisis back up in the faces of Kennedy and
    Khrushchev.

    On 22 November 1962, during a tense, four-hour meeting, Mikoyan was
    forced to use the dark arts of diplomacy to convince Castro that despite
    Moscow's best intentions, it would be in breach of an unpublished Soviet
    law (which didn't actually exist) to transfer the missiles permanently
    into Cuban hands and provide them with an independent nuclear deterrent.

    Finally after Mikoyan's trump card, Castro was forced to give way and -
    much to the relief of Khrushchev and the whole Soviet government - the
    tactical nuclear weapons were finally crated and returned by sea back to
    the Soviet Union during December 1962.

    This story has illuminated a chapter in history that has been partially
    closed for the past 50 years.

    But it leaves us with a great respect for Mikoyan and his ability to
    judge and eventually contain an extremely dangerous situation which
    could have affected many millions of people.

    Joe Matthews is a producer for Wild Iris TV, which has made a short
    film about the "secret" Cuban missile crisis


    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19930260/



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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