We did/do the same thing to them I believe. There’s no one side playing nice in this, but hopefully everyone behaves in a way where a Nash equilibrium is the best outcome.

> We did/do the same thing to them I believe.

Absolutely. One of the contributing decision factor in the shot down of the Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was just that.

"Aircraft from USS Midway and USS Enterprise repeatedly overflew Soviet military installations in the Kuril Islands during FleetEx '83, resulting in the dismissal or reprimanding of Soviet military officials who had been unable to shoot them down."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Lines_Flight_007

It's not about playing nice. It's about keeping the peace by demonstrating strength and willingness to fight. And it worked, the peace held. Showing weakness gets you killed.

It's not about warm and cuddly. It's about everyone understanding the ground rules. When there were incidents like the Cuban missile crisis it was because the ground rules weren't clear to all the players. The Soviets didn't think the US would react the way it did. In the Able Archer crisis we didn't understand the Soviets would react to NATO exercises as if it was preparation for nuclear war. I think we exist today is mainly down to the fact that for most of the Cold War, everyone understood what was in bounds and what wasn't.

I give Kennedy credit for being the 2nd greatest American President because he averted nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Definitely lucky that there was someone like Kennedy in charge instead of someone like Nixon. I think the scariest part of the crisis, is neither the Soviet or the US leadership knew how close we were to going over the edge. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/10/27/23426482/cuban...

"The end in this case meant not just the fate of the submarine and its crew, but potentially the entire world. Cut off from outside contact, buffeted by depth charges, its air conditioning broken, and temperatures and carbon dioxide levels rising in the sub, the most obvious conclusion for the officers of B-59 was that global war had already begun. But the sub had a weapon at its disposal that US officers didn’t know about: a 10-kiloton nuclear torpedo. And its officers had permission from their superiors to launch it without confirmation from Moscow.

Two of the sub’s senior officers wanted to launch the nuclear torpedo. That included its captain, Valentin Savitsky, who according to a report from the US National Security Archive, exclaimed: “We’re gonna blast them now! We will die, but we will sink them all — we will not become the shame of the fleet.”"

lol, nixon? the guy who withdrew from vietnam? did you mean johnson?

While Kennedy had certain patriotism about him and cared for the country despite some questionable stuff (like his dad's business and appointing his brother as AG) he did have some medical conditions which necessitated some significant medications which affected his mood, thinking and judgement. It's no wonder the deep state disliked him so much.

I talking about the guy who told his aides to tell world leaders he was mentally unstable and might nuke someone for fun. The guy who put staying in office over the health of the country until there was no option for him.

yes, if there's one thing richard nixon was known for it was radically disproportionate military response, such as the time he nuked china

Nixon had many incidents where he got very drunk and would get on the phone to important people and tell them to nuke, like, whoever he felt like at the time.

All while hopped up and with the distrust of the certain segments of the state. He was a patriot and wish we had more like him today.

(I'm not sure that's not a joke.)

It seems the credit actually should go to Vasili Arkhipov.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Arkhipov

That's the point of the cold war: management through deterrence, stated retaliatory policies, and diplomacy.

Cold wars are GOOD.

Cold wars are how you prevent hot wars, and also how you prevent powerful aggressive countries from annexing and colonizing people at will.

Exactly, deterrence is a guardrail preventing conflict. It's the most important buffer. The last thing you want is for one side to try their luck on an offensive move.

> When there were incidents like the Cuban missile crisis it was because the ground rules weren't clear to all the players. The Soviets didn't think the US would react the way it did

Missiles in Cuba were a USSRs response to US nukes in Turkey, so I am not sure I understand your point.