Another Cuban Missile Crisis?

"Nuclear catastrophe was hanging by a thread ... and we weren't counting days or hours, but minutes."

-Soviet General and Army Chief of Operations, Anatoly Gribkov

As US Aircraft Carriers head for Korea you cannot help wondering if this is a repeat of the Cuban Missile Crisis that defined the Kennedy administration. Well, for what it is worth, I don't think so, if for no other reason that, as far as we know, China is not orchestrating the pin-prick offensive against South Korea.

However, the stakes are the same: Nuclear confrontation. At the time of the Kennedy crisis the advice was solemn, stark and direct:

"Essentially, Mr. President, this is a choice between limited action and unlimited action -- and most of us think it is better to start with limited action." (Roswell Gilpatric, Deputy Secretary of Defense)

The West cannot allow North Korea to believe it can kill people without there being consequences. It is as simple as that. What it will lead to is currently a moot point but I suspect that North Korea will find its putative major ally has gone a bit quiet.