“John and Robert Kennedy knew what they were doing.  They waged a vicious war against Fidel Castro—a war someone had to lose.”

And the loser turned out to be John F. Kennedy.

So writes investigative reporter Gus Russo in Live By the Sword: The Secret War Against Castro and the Death of JFK, published in 1998.

In what is almost certainly the definitive account of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Russo reaches some startling—but highly documented—conclusions:

• Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated Kennedy.
• He did it alone.
• Oswald, a former Marine, was a committed Marxist–whose hero was Castro.
• The CIA’s ongoing campaign to overthrow and/or assassinate Castro was an open secret throughout the Gulf.
• Oswald visited New Orleans in the spring of 1963.
• There he learned that Castro was in the crosshairs of the CIA.
• Oswald told his Russian-born wife, Marina: “Fidel Castro needs defenders. I’m going to join his army of volunteers.”
• Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner, murdered Oswald because he was distraught over Kennedy’s death.
• Ruby was not part of a Mafia conspiracy to silence Oswald.
• Skeptics of the Warren Commission—which concluded that Oswald had acted alone—asked the wrong question: “Who killed Kennedy?”
• They should have asked: “Why was he killed?”
• The answer–according to Russo: “The Kennedys’ relentless pursuit of Castro and Cuba backfired in tragedy on that terrible day in November, 1963.”

Another book well worth reading about America’s Cuban obsession during the early 1960s is American Tabloid, by James Ellroy.

Although a novel, it vividly captures the atmosphere of intrigue, danger and sleaziness that permeated that era in a way that dry, historical documents never can.

“The 50’s are finished,” reads its paperback dust jacket. “Zealous young lawyer Robert Kennedy has a red-hot jones to nail Jimmy Hoffa. JFK has his eyes on the Oval Office.

“J. Edgar Hoover is swooping down on the Red Menace. Howard Hughes is dodging subpoenas and digging up Kennedy dirt. And Castro is mopping up the bloody aftermath of his new Communist nation….

“Mob bosses, politicos, snitches, psychos, fall guys and femmes fatale. They’re mixing up a Molotov cocktail guaranteed to end the country’s innocence with a bang.”

Among the legacies of America’s twisted romance with anti-Castro Cubans:

• Following the JFK assassination, there was a coverup.
• Its purposes: To protect the reputation of the United States government–and that of its newly-martyred President.
• Thus, the CIA and FBI concealed the CIA-Mafia assassination plots from the Warren Commission assigned to investigate Kennedy’s murder.
• Other government officials participating in the coverup included Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson.
• Ironically, this secrecy ignited the widespread—and false—belief that the President had died at the hands of a government conspiracy.
• Robert Kennedy feared that his relentless pursuit of Castro might have led Castro to “take out” JFK first.
• Fearing his own assassination if he continued Kennedy’s efforts to murder Castro, President Johnson ordered the CIA to halt its campaign to overthrow and/or assassinate the Cuban leader.
• The huge Cuban community throughout Florida—and especially Miami—continues to exert a blackmailing influence on American politics.
• Right-wing politicians from Richard Nixon to Donald Trump have reaped electoral rewards by catering to the demands of this hate-obsessed voting block.
• These Cuban ex-patriots hope that the United States will launch a full-scale military invasion of the island to remove Castro.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the deadliest moment of the Cold War, when the world stood only minutes away from nuclear Armageddon.

That crisis stemmed from America’s twisted obsession with Cuba, an obsession that continues today.

Sixty years after that crisis, the world wonders: Is nuclear war about to erupt? 

And, once again, that decision lies in the hands of two men—Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden—out of a world population of more than seven billion. 

Since launching a war on Ukraine on February 24, Putin has seen his initial victories turn sour.

By July, after five months of fierce Ukrainian resistance, the Russians were stymied as they tried to conquer the remainder of Donbas. In late August, Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in the southern region of Kherson.

By September, Ukrainian forces recaptured much of the northeastern Kharkiv region, including the city of Izium, which  the Russians had been using as a logistics hub.

On September 21, Putin announced the partial mobilization of 300,000 military reservists. All male citizens below 60 are now eligible to be drafted. This led at least 194,000 Russian men to seek refuge in such neighboring countries as Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

That same day, Putin warned that Russia commands a nuclear arsenal. He did not say whether he would turn it against Ukraine or NATO countries, including the United States.

Even if nukes were used only against Ukraine, the final result could be a full-scale nuclear war.

Interviewed on CNN, President Joe Biden described Putin thus: “I think he is a rational actor who has miscalculated significantly.” 

Nikita Khrushchev, facing a choice of humiliation or Armageddon during the Cuban Missile Crisis, chose humiliation—so his country could live another day. 

It remains to be seen if Vladimir Putin is willing to make the same decision.