@tangs ,
That is my point,
"no-one was invaded back then", because of the diplomacy and the pragmatic president at the time, who
did not proceed to invade Cuba, because of the serious consequences. The US and NATO has been preparing for this since 1949, and it finally arrived.
"NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, was formed in 1949 with the aim,
first and foremost, of acting as a deterrent to the threat of Soviet expansion in Europe after World War II. Beyond that, the United States saw it as a tool to prevent the resurgence of nationalist tendencies in Europe and to foster political integration on the continent".
NATO could have intervened in 1991, but they decided to sit out and wait for Russia to disintegrate and become insignificant. They did not count on the rise of Putin and an extraordinary reform of the country he had led.
"We have every reason to assume that the infamous policy of containment, conducted in the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries, continues today. They are constantly trying to sweep us into a corner because we have an independent position," said Putin in his speech last week announcing the annexation of Crimea, a speech that repeated all his points from 1999, but with 15 years worth of additional resentment.
"If you compress the spring all the way to its limit, it will snap back hard. You must always remember this".
It snapped back hard. No winners here.
