A New Cuban Missile Crisis?

County Officials Discuss War in Ukraine By Gordon HopkinsWhile the war between Russia and Ukraine is occurring on the other side of the world, Jefferson County Commissioner Mark Schoenrock noted that what happens there can have a major impact even in Jefferson County, Nebraska.Schoenrock discussed the matter with his fellow commissioners at a meeting Tuesday morning, November 19, 2024.“I don't know how many of you are aware of what's going on in Ukraine,” said Schoenrock. “This is a very serious moment right now.”“I would feel remiss if I didn't share this information with each of you while we were here together this morning, if the worst comes to worse, we have emergency plans. We have an emergency operations book. We would work very closely with our emergency manager, but it would impact all of us depending on what happened,” said Schoenrock. “What happens on the other side of the world with the capacity of intercontinental systems that can hit us within minutes? What goes on on the other side of the world can impact us right here in southeast Nebraska.” U.S. Policy ShiftIn a major policy shift for his administration, President Joe Biden has opted to allow the Ukraine military to use the U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to strike within the borders of Russia.The United States have provided Ukraine with a considerable number of weapons but also attached certain conditions. Ukrainian leaders have lobbied the U.S and other allies to allow them to use advanced weapons to strike key targets within Russia's borders. Until last week, the Biden Administration had opposed loosening those restrictions.Schoenrock explained his concern, “The problem is, if the Ukrainians take these launchers and they put it close to the border between them and Russia, it's about 300 miles to Moscow, and the range of the missiles is 200 so it comes very close to Moscow.” Russia's Response“Vladimir Putin lowered Russia's threshold for a nuclear strike Tuesday,” Schoenrock. “This marks a major shift from Putin's old policy, which was that he would only use his nuclear weapons in response to an enemy's nuclear attack or a conventional attack that threatened the existence of the state and, furthermore, Russia now considers aggression against the Russian Federation or its allies on the part of any non nuclear state, with the participation or support of a nuclear state.”According to a report published by Reuters on September 25, “President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it was struck with conventional missiles, and that Moscow would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack.” Remembering the Cuban Missile CrisisSchoenrock drew parallels between current crisis and another that occurred 62 years ago, “Ted Sorensen was a good friend of mine. Ted Sorensen was John F Kennedy's policy advisor from Nebraska. The night that Ted was honored at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln as a distinguished alumnus, he invited me to come back to be with him that night. I flew in from Denver. He flew in from New York City, and we were talking about the Cuban Missile Crisis. He said, 'Mark, that Saturday afternoon in the White House, when I was drafting the memo to Nikita Khrushchev that John F. Kennedy would sign, we weren't sure that we would see the sunrise the next morning.'”“We right now have that moment,” said Schoenrock.

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