All week long the Kremlin put on a spectacular display of diplomatic pinwheeling which included a little bit of everything: threats, retreats, explosions, entreaties and insults. Some of it was planned confusion. But for the first time in living memory, Western observers also detected signs of frantic disorder in the Kremlin. On two occasions, the terrible-tempered Nikita Khrushchev shouted such insults at Western diplomats that they turned on their heels and left (see below).
Only in the Middle East did the Russians' bewildering profusion of moves seem astute and controlled. The Kremlin began the week counting out loud the number...