Tag Archives: max hastings

Paul Walter

The chilling parallels between the 1962 Cuban crisis and today in Ukraine

By Paul Walter | Tue 8th November 2022 - 9:55 am

Embed from Getty Images

Historian Max Hastings’ latest book is “Abyss: The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962” (William Collins, £30 557pp).

I was fortunate to attend a talk by Hastings on the book, at the recent Wantage Literary Festival. To a packed house, he gave a compelling narrative about the events.

His conclusion was that we (the world) were very lucky to John F Kennedy as President during the Cuban crisis. He brought a high intelligence to bear on the issue, and, in particular, faced down his military advisers who were “gung ho” for war. This is summed up by this excerpt from the book’s description on Max Hastings’ website:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 4 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Tim Rogers
    Xi has a poker face that is hard to read. He always looks slightly bored and wishing he was somewhere else. But like Putin I don't expect very much from the sum...
  • Kevin Hawkins
    Here is my usual monthly summary of the last fifty local by-elections. Percentage Vote Share: Reform 25.00%, Labour 20.58%, Conservatives 19.48%, Liberal ...
  • David Blake
    Interesting Town Council result from Chesham, where the Liberal Democrats won every seat at the last elections. One Liberal Democrat councillor for Vale ward b...
  • Christopher Burden
    All this is very interesting. I have dipped in, remotely, but found it rather boring. Now I know why....
  • Graham Evans
    Adam is right. These international comparisons need treating with great care. This is exemplified by the debate regarding the standards of living in North Irela...