Whew! Finally caught up on this story and waiting with baited breath on the conclusion of the Cuban "intervention." I'm a bit surprised the European Syndicalists haven't offered a more forceful condemnation - is it really just due to "the enemy of my enemy (i.e. the USSR)" or is there something else at work?
Welcome back, Kienzle! I too am very eager to see how the Cuban debacle continues. (I know where we’re ending up, of course, but quite how we get there is a mystery still.)
On Eurosyn condemnation, there are a few things in play. The biggest factor is that the ES have adopted a “mediator” role, which is sort of an extension of the policy of "moral isolation" formulated in the wake of the Syndicalist–Soviet nuclear agreement. Recognising the fact that the Syndicate can't compete with the US militarily in the Western Hemisphere (the USSR probably could, but it would mean the end of the world), in the absence of any supranational organisations to do the traditional liberal-democratic 'statesman' thing, the ES's gambit is to set itself as a moderating force to check the threat of nuclear armageddon. It's a massive gamble of course, and it's not particularly forceful, but with Bevan's nuclear policy in mind (ie efforts to disarmament) anything aggravating would be an embarrassing volte face domestically, at a critical time for the heath of the regime.
From Washington's perspective, the Eastern Hemisphere powers have very publicly put themselves on the path to a non-nuclear future, so the Cuban "intervention" is Kennedy calling the bluff. The unknown quantity is Castro, who is an unwilling Soviet protege at the best of times. London's strategy is to leverage its influence in the West Indies (which remains fairly considerable) to contain the conflict to Cuba, and more broadly the ES are looking to pull strings in the rest of the world to cement opinion against America and Cuba. (Not a particularly difficult task.)
The ES–USSR relationship is in a warmer patch going into the crisis, probably at its best since 1940, but obviously the Soviets being the Soviets there isn't really anything like
trust between the two powers yet. So the challenge for the Syndicalists in Lyon is to keep the Soviets happy while not antagonising Washington to the point that mediation becomes impossible.
Or something like that, anyway. The alternative answer is very simple, which is that everyone in the Eurosyn is a wet blanket and there are no Cold Warriors in the world outside of Washington and Moscow.