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Final Thoughts on Cuba and Ukraine

“Never in history has Russia made such stupid decisions.” — Russian General Leonid Ivashov What can we learn from the Cuban Missile Crisis way back in 1962 that might be useful in navigating Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats today? Here are some thoughts. Previously in this series: Too Who Blinked, Pt VI Don’t panic Although the …

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Who Blinked?

As we noted last week, several days into the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy began to receive almost bizarre letters from Nikita Khrushchev – long, disjointed missives that seemed to be almost steam-of-conscious ramblings. One letter offered to remove the missiles if the US would promise publicly not to invade Cuba. But very shortly after …

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The Khrushchev Conundrum

“President Kennedy will] make a fuss, make more of a fuss, and then agree.” — Nikita Khrushchev, predicting how JFK would respond to the Soviet missiles in Cuba. Previously in this series:Too Close For Comfort, Pt IV We’ve walked through the actual events of the Cuban Missile Crisis, so let’s now look at the negotiations …

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Too Close for Comfort

“This was not only the most dangerous moment of the Cold War, it was the most dangerous moment in human history.” — Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Last week we watched as the captain and political officer of a Soviet B-59 submarine agreed to launch a nuclear-tipped torpedo at the US Navy ships that had located it. …

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The Blackest Day

“It isn’t the first step that concerns me, but both sides escalating to the fourth or fifth step and we don’t go to the sixth because there is no one around to do so.” JFK to EXCOMM Previously in this series: DEFCON 3, Pt II On October 25, 1962, the world was very close to …

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DEFCON 3

We are examining the nuclear threats propounded by Vladimir Putin during the Ukraine conflict through the lens of the nuclear threats propounded by his predecessor, Nikita Khrushchev, during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Previously in this series: Ukraine through the Lens of Cuba, Pt I Last week we looked at the events that led …

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Ukraine through the Lens of Cuba

“I’m looking forward to being an old man. I have to, you can’t look back on it.” — Jerry Seinfeld One of the good things about being an Old Coot – maybe the only good thing about being an Old Coot – is that you can vividly remember events other people only know about if they’ve studied …

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Beating Long COVID

Vitamins. Okay, I know you are disappointed, you were expecting more. Maybe the rediscovery of a century-old drug everyone had forgotten about but that had magical properties when it came to over-active immune systems. Maybe a new concoction made up of equal parts lithium and kryptonite. Previously in this series: Poor, poor Pitiful Me, Beating …

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Poor, Poor Pitiful Me

On December 28, 2021, despite being double vaxxed and boosted, I tested positive for COVID. So much for the vaccine’s 96 percent success rate. Over the following week my symptoms got worse and worse – basically, the flu-from-hell – and eventually I called my doctor. Previously in this series: Beating Long COVID, Part I He …

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Beating Long COVID

Among the many things medical science didn’t anticipate about the pandemic was the phenomenon of so-called “long COVID.” People, many of whom who were double vaxxed and boosted, got sick and never got completely better. Symptoms vary, but may include serious fatigue, fever, cough, “brain fog,” vertigo, digestive troubles, loss of smell and/or taste, depression, …

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A Letter from Philadelphia

by Robert Dickey IV

When I grew up in Pittsburgh in the 1960s and ‘70s, for a time it had the third-largest concentration of corporate headquarters in the U.S. with US Steel, Mellon Bank, Alcoa, H.J. Heinz, Koppers, Rockwell, Dravo, Westinghouse, and others. Since then, Pittsburgh has seen many changes, some anticipated, others completely new and unexpected. But I …

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The Conclusion: Lessons to Remember for Next Time

Norwegians, including those serving on the Koronakommisjonen, are so polite and self-effacing that one has to read between the lines to understand just how remarkable the country’s pandemic response was. It turns out it was that very modesty, that national humility, that was at the core of what made them successful. Previously in this series: …

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The Lessons of Norway

I want to bring this series to a close by comparing what happened in the U.S. with what happened in – Norway. Previously in this series: The Problem with Overselling Vaccines Why, you may be thinking, Norway? It is, after all, a tiny, homogenous country about the size of Phoenix, but far less diverse. The …

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The Problem with Overselling the Vaccines

I’m claiming that the final group of vaccine-hesitant people – anti-vaxxers, if you prefer – was “nearly all of us.” The reason is that the vaccines, which were actually a wonderful advance, were oversold to us, and as we gradually found that out, our faith in the vaccines – and in medical science itself – …

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The Real Numbers Behind the Vaccines

Let’s look at two more vaccine-hesitant groups of people: People who live in rural areas Previously in this series: Panic is a Virus Part VIII: Looking at Vaccine-hesitant People I live within walking distance of two of the best hospitals in the world, but many people are not as lucky. Almost three-quarters of the counties …

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Looking at Vaccine-hesitant People

I want to bring this series to an end with a couple of essays on a delicate subject. Vaccine hesitancy, or what some prefer to call the “anti-vaxxers,” has been a seriously divisive issue during the pandemic. I can’t tell you how many times people said to me (Blue people, that is), “It’s those stupid …

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Listing the CDC’s Failures

Last week we discussed the bad science at the WHO and CDC, which ignored asymptomatic spread of COVID – the primary transmission mechanism. The CDC should have recommended that all Americans get tested regularly, whether we had symptoms or not, but they didn’t. So we didn’t – we were following the science. Previously in this series: Panic …

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Asymptomatic Spread

We’re going over examples that demonstrate how difficult it is to “follow the science,” especially in the early months and years of something as novel and complex as COVID. Let’s take a look at the phenomenon of: Asymptomatic spread Previously in this series: Panic is a Virus Part V: Bad COVID Science When we say …

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Bad COVID Science

Last week I reported on the World Health Organization’s pigheaded approach to how COVID is transmitted – by droplets, they said, so we all needed to wash our hands constantly and sanitize all surfaces. Handwashing and sanitizing didn’t kill us – it was hygiene theater – but the panic engendered by WHO’s bad science did kill us. Previously in …

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Follow the Science?

I said, ‘Mr. Purple people eater what’s your line?’/He said, ‘Eating Purple people and it sure is fine!’ Sheb Wooley, 1958 Thanks to Sheb Wooley, we know why there are no Purple people in America. Unfortunately, that leaves only Blue people and Red people, and among the (many) things we all got wrong during the pandemic …

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The Mask Fiasco

The mask controversy got off to a bad start when, early in the pandemic, the nation’s highest-ranking health officials flip-flopped on the issue. Here is Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams in February 2020: “Seriously people – STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing the general public from catching #Coronavirus!” Previously in this series:The …

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The Lesson of Japan

“Call it the Zen art of lockdowns.” — Alistair Gale and Miho Inada While we’re on the subject of lockdowns, let’s briefly take a look at the experience of the “Zen art of lockdowns” in: Japan Previously in this series: Panic is a Virus: Part I When the pandemic hit Japan, the country had fewer …

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