Russia: The Adventurer

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No sooner had he signaled his retreat than the Soviet propaganda machine began to project the image of Nikita Khrushchev as the savior of peace. "All progressive mankind is hailing the peaceful actions of the Soviet Union," proclaimed Pravda. Many a neutralist country bought that line, at least in public. Nevertheless, some facts were inescapable:

> While crying peace. Khrushchev, by his own admission, had built aggressive missile bases on the U.S.'s doorstep. His Foreign Minister and ambassadors in capitals throughout the world had told lie after lie for weeks to conceal the purpose of the Cuban project.

> By accepting Soviet arms aid, Havana's own revolutionary government had made itself a virtual puppet of Moscow, for throughout the crisis Khrushchev was publicly negotiating Cuban policy without even a nod to Fidel Castro.

Soviet Munich? One result of the Cuban affair has been to give new spirit to the Western alliance. NATO members were heartened by Kennedy's strong stand against Russia, though there were some minor complaints about lack of advance consultation. "It used to be said," grumbled Britain's Liberal Party Leader Jo Grimond, "that without the nuclear deterrent we would have to go naked into the conference chamber. With it, we never even got into the chamber at all." The Guardian added huffily that the U.S. might have involved Britain in "annihilation without representation." The lesson of Cuba was clear: as leader of the alliance, the U.S. is prepared to act without its Allies when necessary. Many saw in this a powerful reason for European political unity. Commented France's Le Monde: "Only a united Europe, of which England should be a part, will be in a position effectively to influence events."

In contrast, the Cuban affair was quite a blow to a lot of Nikita's old friends, and to many who were not quite friends, but almost. One of Brazil's leading leftists, Leonel Brizola, President João Goulart's Yankee-baiting brother-in-law, called U.S. officials liars when the first missile base charges were made. Later, stunned by Khrushchev's own admission, Brizola said bitterly: "From now on, we must view with the greatest skepticism all Soviet offers to help nations trying to achieve independence." In Africa, Guinea's President Sékou Touré, a onetime pal of the Russians, refused to grant transit landing rights to Russian planes en route to Cuba.

Russia's embarrassment among the non-aligned nations was compounded by Red China's invasion of India, the oldest neutralist country of them all. Despite the Moscow-Peking rift, Russia obviously had to side with China rather than with India. Nevertheless, Red China's militant leaders were clearly appalled by Moscow's missile backdown in Cuba. Western reporters in Peking sent out astonishingly frank stories, quoting high Red Chinese officials as calling Cuba "a Soviet Munich." Day after day, Peking urged Castro to stand fast.