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Hua SuPolitical Science 101, Section009Professor Dighton M. Fiddner24 March 2010Brief Analysis of Cuban Missile CrisisI think the people who have at least a little bit concern about the world issues should know the famous Cuban Missile Crisis. It has being discussed and studied over and over again by many scientists, scholars and experts since it happened. On October 15, 1962, United States reconnaissance discovered and had photos to prove that there were missile bases being built in Cuba. “One of the most startling of the thousands of photographs---some 30,000 feet of film in all---analyzed by the President and his advisers is this one of a fully operating medium-range missile base, manned by Russian technicians and able to shoot its missiles as far into the U.S. as Norfolk or Houston “(The Pictures That Spurred Us to Act)”. The next day, the president of United States was informed and organized a group of advisors, which is called Executive Committee of the National Security Council, short for EXCOMM, to discuss how to deal with this perilous event. In Cuba at that time, the government was led by communist Fidel Castro. He was afraid that the United States would attack Cuba again after the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion. So he agreed that Soviet Union, which was led by Nikita Khrushchev at that time, could put missiles in Cuba. Because Cuba and United States are so close to each other, the missiles in Cuba werebig threat to US. After several days of discussion, the government of Kennedy imposed a naval quarantine around Cuba and demanded that the Soviet Union removed the missiles from Cuba. After a series of negotiations between the United States, Soviet Union and Cuba, on October 28, 1962, the crisis eased after a no-invasion agreement was reached and the Soviet Union agreed to dismantle the missiles.I think it will be best for me to explain this significant event using the interstate level of analysis and the theory of realism.Interstate level of analysis contains several categories which influence the Cuban missile crisis obviously. Power is the most apparent influence. Just like Cuban, Soviet and United States all competed and threatened each other with their military power. And between Cuba and Soviet Union, they formed an alliance against United States. During the crisis, IGOs, summit meetings, each side’s diplo macy and the bargaining happening among their negotiations all had important influences which should not be forgotten.Power is the ability to get someone to do what it would not otherwise have done (or not to do what it would have done) (Goldstein et al.). United States at that time could not stand that there is a communist country located so close to it. So a CIA trained force tried to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro on April 17, 1961. But it turned out a failure. After the Bay of Pigs invasion, Cuba found out that only by increasing its own power can it prevent another United States’ invasion. And, improvement of its military power is the best way. At that time, the biggest andstrongest communist country was Soviet Union. It possessed nuclear weapons. That was also the time when the United States and the Soviet Union were the major participants of the Cold War. They competed with each other in the fields of politics, military, economy, etc. Cuba is located only several miles away from Florida. So, it would be a great threat to the United States by placing nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba and at the same time prevent the United States from starting another invasion of Cuba. Cuba agreed the nuclear missiles building is for the sake of its sovereignty, territory and organization of governing. As for the Soviet Union, the reason is its diplomatic recognition. They all did it for their own interests.During the event, in order to prevent the Soviet Union from shipping more nuclear missiles devices to Cuba, the United States blocked the sea around the island of Cuba. But, the United States actually had no right to do the quarantine. United States’ quarantine against Cuba, in my opinion, was realism. Every nation has its right to possess its weapon for defense. It is against the international law, the United Nation’s Charter and the right of passage in international waters. The United States’action had implied that there is no central organizing authority in the international politics. Every entity seeks its self-interests. The United States has reported that the nuclear missiles which were being placed in Cuba were seriously offensive (The Pictures That Spurred Us to Act).So in order to keep its national security under control, the United States chose to use quarantine. And this quarantine greatly related to the power of the United States. It had strong economic and military power so that this restrict quarantine can be forced.The United Nations had noticed the possibility that the conflict between these two super powers could lead to a nuclear war which would be a huge disaster. So the United Nations was negotiating with these three nations trying to ease the tension. “The break in the crisis came on Sunday, October 28, when the Soviet Government finally agreed to dismantle its offensive weapons in Cuba and return them to the Soviet Union subject to United Nations’ verification” ().When the United States, the Soviet Union and Cuba were negotiating with each other, there was a lot of bargaining going on between them. There were a lot of letters and communications being exchanged between Khrushchev and Kennedy:On October 23 and 24, Khrushchev sent letters to Kennedy indicatingthe deterrent nature of the missiles in Cuba and the peaceful intentions ofthe Soviet Union. On October 26, Khrushchev sent Kennedy a longrambling letter seemingly proposing that the missile installations wouldbe dismantled and personnel removed in exchange for United Statesassurances that it or its proxies would not invade Cuba. On October 27,another letter to Kennedy arrived from Khrushchev, suggesting thatmissile installations in Cuba would be dismantled if the United Statesdismantled its missile installations in Turkey (Cold War: Cuban MissileCrisis).However the United States did agree the Soviet Union to remove the Jupiter missiles in Turkey. Just at that time this agreement didn’t go public. At the same time, the United States agreed to sign an agreement that promised not to invade Cuba. Sowe can tell from the information that the Soviet Union and the United States both were bargaining about their preferred outcomes. And the Soviet Union had achieved its two main goals. Asking the United States to remove the Jupiter missile in Turkey was for the sake of its national security; and forming an agreement which the United States would not invade Cuba was for its diplomatic recognition.Because at that time, the world media did not report the news that the United States had already agreed to remove the Jupiter missile in Turkey and, which was very obvious that the Soviet Union had already removed its missile in Cuba. In public, it seemed that the Soviet Union lost and the United States won. However in reality, they both made concessions.I basically used the theory of realism and the interstate level of analysis to explain my point of view toward this event. And I pointed out a couple of key influences of the Cuban missile crisis, like the theory of power, UN’s interference, bargaining, summit meeting etc. In my point of view, these are the major factors I should think of when it comes to analyze the Cuban missile crisis.This Cuban missile crisis makes the world realize that how close we are to a nuclear war and how important the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons is for the people around the world. We cannot afford the price of starting WWIII. So the best way to avoid it is to know, learn and study the possible causes and try to predict the outcome of complicated international event.Works Cited"The Pictures That Spurred Us to Act)." Life (1962): 38-41. Print.Goldstein, Joshua S., and Jon C. Pevehouse. "Power." International Relations. 7th ed.Priscilla McGeehon, 2006. 57-58. Print."Cuban Missile Crisis." . Web. 20 Mar. 2010."Cold War: Cuban Missile Crisis." Library of Congress. Web. 20 Mar. 2010. "Vienna Summit." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 20 Mar. 2010.。