Richard Sakwa is professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis. Just 90 miles from the American mainland, the attempt by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to place missiles on the island represented a fundamental threat to US security. He was responding to the US placement of Jupiter nuclear missiles in Turkey, which was seen as
Around 100,000 Russian troops are currently massed on the Ukrainian border. Talk of an invasion fills the air. British intelligence claims President Putin is planning to install a Kremlin-friendly leader in Kiev. For the first time in at least a generation, there is the real prospect of war in Europe. It is easy for politicians
