A letter that the Morning Star did not publish .

Dear comrades ,

 With reference to Julienne Ford’s letter attacking me ( Morning Star 1.11.2022 ) No matter how much history is reinterpreted  or reworked or rewritten, the basic fact the USSR’s actions during the Cuban missile crisis represented a disastrous and humiliating climbdown cannot be obliterated .Indeed ‘s Khruschov’s capitulationist stance may have been a factor contributing to his removal from office by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union  2 years later . In opinion polls in contemporary Russia , Khruschov scores badly along with Gorbachov with both being seen as weak leaders or traitors .

  Most accounts I have read of the Cuban missile crisis ( I was only 1 year old at the time ) state that Fidel Castro was angered by the Soviet decision and had not been consulted . One thing is for certain is that Fidel rejected UN inspections of Cuba which were in the small print of the US -USSR deal . People who defend Khruschov conveniently ignore the issue of UN inspections of Cuba , a violation of its sovereignty which Khruschov tried to foist on the Cubans . The fact that Fidel rejected such inspections and instead put forward the five point demands, which included the closure of Guantanamo  , implies that Cuba was not consulted . Indeed most evidence points to the USSR and Cuba as having positions at variance with each other on key points .

As to the DPRK’s nuclear deterrent , those countries which did not have nukes or gave them up such as Yugoslavia , Iraq , Afghanistan and Libya were invaded by the US but to date the DPRK has not . Colonel Gadhafi of Libya, an independent anti-imperialist country , foolishly gave up Libya’s nuclear programme , even handing it over to the US literally . He ended up dead with a knife in his back . The DPRK will not follow that example !