Waning Soviet Threat: Implications for Detente

摘要

The Soviet military has experienced unprecedented turmoil since Gorbachev enteredoffice in March 1985. Indeed, it is fair to say that the High Command is facing its most profound institutional crisis in the 72 years of its existence. The indicators of this change are well known to any attentive reader of the newspaper. They include a shift to a more defensive orientation in the USSR's military doctrine; an end to the Soviet military involvement in Afghanistan; Gorbachev's announced unilateral cut of a half-million Soviet troops; associated moves to scale back weapons production and shift a sizeable portion of the defense industry to the civilian sector; and a general effort across a broad front to forge a more agreeable East-West relationship.