Thread by @LookNoFurther4

1 Today we learn that Putin rode a train today across a 12 mile bridge that links Russia to Crimea, the section of eastern Ukraine that Russia invaded and annexed in 2014. Russia mounted an illegal land grab. It's claim that Crimeans sought Russian annexation is bogus.

2 But many argue that Obama's response in 2014 was too weak. Many more note with despair Trump's accomodation of any and all illegal activities Putin undertakes. Russia is winning a hybrid war against the US. History shows us how they can do so despite being militarily weaker.

3 So begins the lesson.
look.substack.com/p/jack-be-nimb…

4 Russia cannot match the US in either economic or military strength. It has always been this way.But undeterred w/ expansionist objectives Russia is masterful at probing and exploiting weaknesses.Today it is cyber warfare through sophisticated disinformation ops &spycraft

5 In 1961, Russia poked and prodded at a weak spot left over from the 1945 agreements that settled the map of Europe after the war: divided Berlin. Look at the map. Berlin, divided among the 4 allied powers, was an obvious vulnerability. Khrushchev exploited it big time.

6 Berlin is located deep inside Eastern Germany, which was under Soviet occupation/control. There was a narrow road/air corridor that linked West Berlin, under allied control, with West Germany. It was an untenable situation that both Eisenhower and Kennedy tried to fix.

7 When you think about the Berlin Wall, you need to understand that the wall completely surrounded the city of West Berlin from the surrounding East German countryside. West Berlin was an island in a storm.

8 Eisenhower tried to resolve the Berlin question with Khrushchev during his term. They began negotiations. Khrushchev was under internal political pressure from rivals in Moscow to get the allies out of Berlin. But Gary Powers' U-2 shootdown put the kibosh on those talks.

9 It fell to JFK to try for an accomodation on Berlin. He met with Khrushchev in Vienna in June 1961. It didn't go well. There are reports that JFK was heavily medicated for severe back pain and came across as a young weakling. IDK. But Khrushchev saw an opening to exploit.

10 The wall went up in Berlin two months later. It happened virtually overnight. Train tracks were pulled up. Roads were obstructed with barriers topped with barbed wire. The entire city of West Berlin was surrounded with 97 miles of obstacles.

11 3 Soviet Army divisions in the Soviet sector of Germany were moved closer to Berlin.The East German authorities then increased the harassment of US personnel traveling from W.Germany through the Soviet sector of E.Germany to Berlin demanding that everyone show identity papers.

12 U.S. military and diplomatic personnel, who had been guaranteed freedom of movement within the city of Berlin, were also harassed by East German police when attempting to move across the borders of East and West Berlin.The US Chief of Mission in W. Berlin, E. Allan Lightner

13 ...was stopped at Checkpoint Charlie by East German authorities. Lightner was in his car bearing diplomatic license plates. The East German police demanded his passport for identification — a violation of the guarantees of freedom of movement for Allied personnel in Berlin.

14 Now enters a US military guy on site who wants to handle the problem:The next day, the U.S. military commander in West Berlin, Gen Lucius Clay,stationed MPs at Checkpoint Charlie. When more US diplomats got hassled by E.German police, the MPs, with fixed bayonets, responded.

15 It is not fair to call Clay a rogue.He just took matters into his own hands, w/o authorization from Washington.But his actions further escalated the tension. JFK had a crisis...and needed to look strong. Meanwhile, Khrushchev had those rivals in Moscow breathing down his neck

16 Within hours, there were US and Soviet tanks aligned on either side of Checkpoint Charlie. It was a stand-off with nuclear implications. The use of nuclear weapons had not been effectively ruled out as a weapon of war at the time. People in the US got scared.

16 Two things were subsequently revealed when people wrote their memoirs. First, the US had long given up on ever holding onto W. Berlin. Geography made its defense impossible. Second, Bobby Kennedy used a secret backchannel with a GRU officer to negotiate a peaceful resolution.

17 Two points were revealed in memoirs. First, the US had long given up the hope of hanging on to W. Berlin. Geography made it indefensible. Second, Bobby Kennedy used a secret back-channel of communication with the USSr to resolve the crisis.

18 Bolshakov was a colonel in the GRU, the Soviet military intelligence agency, and was posted in Washington. Bolshakov had first approached Robert Kennedy the previous April, representing himself as an emissary from Khrushchev.

19 Bolshakov and Robert Kennedy met to discuss the Berlin Wall stand-off on Oct 27. It is surmised that a variety of compromise proposals were discussed, but what was said in this meeting was never recorded and is presumed to have been discussed privately with President Kennedy.

20 But at 10:30 the next morning, the Soviets began to withdraw their tanks from Checkpoint Charlie. The American tanks withdrew a half hour later and the U.S. military ceased its military escorts of civilians attempting to cross checkpoints.

21 The crisis was averted, but the American acquiescence to the Berlin Wall and Soviet domination of East Berlin was nevertheless underscored. The Berlin Wall would remain the dividing line between East and West for another twenty-eight years.

22 During the next 19mos, R Kennedy & Bolshakov would meet privately on approximately 35 occassions. While virtually no contemporaneous records of any of these meetings exist, R Kennedy once said that Bolshakov had “delivered effectively when it was a matter of importance.”

23 Thus endeth the lesson.

Full report on Checkpoint Charlie is here: look.substack.com/p/jack-be-nimb…

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