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very much responsible for pushing Cuba into the socialist camp, where
Soviet involvement in Cuba would gradually increase, leading up to the
outbreak of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Even though Castros aggressive actions provoked harsh US policies which in
turn called for military assistance, it was still insufficient to justify the
placement of missiles, the quintessential component that transformed the
conflict into a Crisis by USSR, the superpower. While the Cubans only asked
for conventional weapons for additional deterrent, USSR decided to place
missiles in Cuba. Given that there were already substantial amount of
military aid in Cuba, such as the IL-28 light jet bombers and the Komar petrol
boats, there was no need for USSR to place missiles in Cuba as additional
deterrent. Moreover, the fact that the missiles require 8hours to fuel and was
armed with a nuclear warhead made it indisputable that the missiles could
not have been for defensive purpose because they would have been virtually
useless in response to an invasion. The offensive nature of the missiles made
them likely to draw an attack instead of deterring one. Therefore, ultimately,
the Soviets were still most responsible for the outbreak of the Crisis, because
it was out of their own Cold War concerns that had nothing to do with the
conflict in Cuba, that they manipulated the missiles in Cuba into existence,
thereby giving rise to the Crisis.
Even though Castros aggressive actions provoked harsh US policies which in
turn called for military assistance, it was not in the power of Castro to decline
the overly incendiary aid of missile after USSR, the superpower, had
conceived the idea. With or without Castro asking, Khrushchev would have
placed the missiles in Cuba anyway. Castros request was merely a bonus
that was in line with his intention. The idea of deploying missiles in Cuba was
conceived by Khrushchev while he was holidaying at his dacha and thinking
about the Jupiter missiles across the Black Sea in Turkey. Not only will the
missiles compensate for and close up the missile gap which USSR was
lagging behind in the arms race, it will strengthen their bargaining position in
Berlin and at the same time extend communist influence in the Western
Hemisphere, thereby further undermining US prestige by continuing to
violate the Rio Pact and the Organisation of American States (OAS) formed in
1947 and 1948 respectively to exclude communism in the US backyard. Even
if a settlement on the removal of missiles was to be made eventually, the US
was be compelled to negotiate with the Soviets where they would be in a
more favourable position. With the power to materialize the idea firmly in the
hands of Khrushchev as the Cuban economy was heavily dependent on USSR
having fell out with the US, after the conceptual phase, the fate of the
missiles to be implemented in Cuba was almost sealed. In May 1962, USSR
proposed the initiative to the Cubans, an offer they could not decline. As
such, in the very same month, the Cuban accepted the missiles as an act of
socialist solidarity and a means to reinforce socialism at an international
scale. The almost immediate decision of the Cubans on an issue that is so