Cuban crisis, you mean during the cold war? I can certainly see why you understand Putin and even seem to agree that he has some short of right over Ukraine - particularly the right to not let them choose. You are both thinking of a world that does no longer exist.

Practical example: I go to my neighbour and tell him that he cannot have a dog, despite there are now laws on the matter. He gets a dog. According to you, now I have the right to enter his house and kill the dog because, let's say, I am stronger and have a knife.

Putin had the occasion to be part of the world as an economic power with diplomatic links to large bits of Europe and could have become again a real powerhouse. Putin failed, this war is the tantrum of the kid that lost the game by his own incompetence to move his nation to a future of prosperity.