“The Americans have surrounded us with bases on all sides… and created an intolerable provocation.” These are not the words of an Iranian official in 2021, but those of the then Soviet premier, Nikita Khrushchev, in May 1962, justifying the deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.
In the midst of a nuclear weapons standoff, these are the sentiments expressed by the national leader of an avowed enemy of the United States, who is observing the Americans use their military superiority to encircle his country, isolate it diplomatically, and seek to economically cripple its economy with harsh sanctions and undermine its entire system of government.
In this scenario between the United States and an adversary, each side accuses the other of breaching international protocol – if not outright violating international law — culminating in a showdown whereby both parties must step back from the brink. The problem, however, is this: each side insists that the other must take the first step — and neither is willing to initiate.
