Russian warships–plus a nuclear sub–participated in military exercises in the Caribbean and came within 30 miles of Florida on their way to Cuba. No, it wasn’t footage from October 1962—but a 21st century reminder of geopolitical reality in the age of Vladimir Putin.
The Russian autocrat–and former KGB agent–is the embodiment of Soviet humiliation and revenge. The Soviets, under Nikita Khrushchev, were forced to withdraw their Cuba-based missiles—despite Fidel Castro’s disagreement and outrage—in the context of face-saving negotiations. Khrushchev would soon leave office.
Less than a generation later, the Soviet Union imploded. Then NATO and the European Union moved east. Further humiliation and ire—and personified by the authoritarian-for-life Putin, who gives punk a bad name.
Now it’s the war in Ukraine, which used to be part of the USSR, with the U.S. acting as the lead military surrogate.
With a problematic economy and alienation from the West, Putin needs more than oligarch swagger; he has to signal proactive strength–domestically and globally. Defiantly revisiting the missiles of October checks a foreign ego-box for him.