This is an assessment of the prospects for building down the NATO/Warsaw Pact military confrontation in Europe by negotiated and unilateral measures. The situation has arisen as a result of the slow fading of the political origins of the military confrontation in Europe and the rapid rise of a new leadership in the USSR. The book argues for cutbacks that are deeper still, amounting to a reduction of 50% in the armaments and manpower of NATO forces in Europe with the Pact's forces coming down to the new NATO levels. The author describes how CFE negotiators might go about the task of making reductions in conventional and nuclear forces in Europe and how they might decide which weapons to cut back, how to dispose of the armaments they withdraw and how to establish a system of early-warning measures and verification controls that will ensure against surprise attack and preparation for mobilization. It deals with the organization of defense in Europe after an agreement or series of agreements have reduced the level of armed forces on both sides.
It suggests that NATO and Warsaw Treaty alliances may eventually be connected by some common institutions in the framework of the on-going Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe for information exchange, the management of verification and compliance and the reduction of risk. But the two alliances are likely to continue to provide much of the framework for defense, stability and political change in Europe.
- ISBN10 0312032668
- ISBN13 9780312032661
- Publish Date 12 December 1989
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 16 June 2021
- Publish Country US
- Imprint St. Martin's Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 445
- Language English