Ethnic attacks in Georgia

[JohnFKennedy]

It's not 1963 anymore (and thank God it's not, we'd still have nukes pointed at us in Cuba if you pansies were in charge then).

The Cuban Missile Crisis ended with the removal of American missiles from Turkey as well as Soviet missiles from Cuba. It also led to a US statement to the effect that it would recognise Cuba's sovereignty and not interfere in her internal affairs. Not really very 'hawkish' is it?

That being said, I do think it is imperative that the US - along with the rest of the world - speak out against Russia's atrocious behaviour. I would prefer it to be done multilaterally via the UN, but I respect that that probably isn't possible given Russia's Security Council Membership. If anything, I think that one of the nations that could come out of this best internationally is China. It is widely known that Russia and China aren't exactly the best of friends so for China to side with the USA, the EU et al in a condemnation of Russian behaviour could do its international standing no harm.

[JohnFKennedy]

It's not 1963 anymore (and thank God it's not, we'd still have nukes pointed at us in Cuba if you pansies were in charge then).

The Cuban Missile Crisis ended with the removal of American missiles from Turkey as well as Soviet missiles from Cuba. It also led to a US statement to the effect that it would recognise Cuba's sovereignty and not interfere in her internal affairs. Not really very 'hawkish' is it?

You don't think JFK's actions that October were "hawkish"?  I'll admit they could have been more hawkish, but he could have been a lot bigger pussy too.  JFK stood up to the Soviets, he didn't wring his hands in the corner saying "we don't want to mess with the Russians, they have nukes" like some people here have said.

I would agree he could have been a lot less forceful in his response but I still don't think that he was that 'hawkish' really. I think the response was actually fairly restrained. For instance, they had previously said that if their U-2 had been shot down that they would attack but changed their mind once it was. The removal of missiles from Turkey was also more than a bit of a snub to NATO in my opinion. I suppose I could call it a policy of cautious realism although the propaganda victory was all his of course.