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Developments in the Soviet Union necessitate a radical restructuring of U.S.-Soviet relations and the security system that underpins them. Marshall Brement succinctly and masterfully chronicles the history of this relationship and offers a prescription for change in this important book. The United States can influence the power struggle within the USSR by holding out the prospect of going beyond the wary cooperation that our government espouses, to a relationship that embodies comprehensive partnership. It is only through such a relationship that we can achieve a genuine new world order guaranteeing security for decades to come and at the same time sloughing off the burden of excessive defense costs that this nation can no longer afford. The new grand strategy outlined here would demand much of the Soviets, but also offers much. It has a nuclear component, a conventional arms component, an economic component, a Third World component, and a Western Europe component. It sets out clear benchmarks and a method for moving ahead.
Past Soviet and American security policies are so interrelated that they must be changed together, not separately or in sequence. To accomplish this change, the fear doctrine of nuclear deterrence that underlies our entire defense philosophy must be abandoned. The sophistication and power of modern conventional weapons makes it possible for both sides to reduce, even eliminate, nuclear weapons. While establishing a program to eliminate nuclear weapons, we must concurrently lay down benchmarks as to what exactly will be required from both Moscow and Washington to make such a transformation possible, restructure our armed forces to make them less threatening to each other, and engage in a broad-ranging program of economic investment and cooperation in solving critical global problems. These proposals are radical, even visionary. Nevertheless, only through a comprehensive program can a fundamentally different U.S.-Soviet relationship be achieved. This book is addressed not only to the specialist in Soviet and security affairs, but also to a general audience of informed citizens.
List of contents
The ChallengeThe Four-Stranded Rope
The Soviet Quest for Perfect Security
The New Thinking
The Case for Caution
The Need for Action
Meeting the ChallengeTesting the USSR--The Seventeen Points
Testing the United States--The Nuclear Con Game
Restructuring Conventional Forces
The European Dimension
The Open-End Game--Superpower Cooperation in a Post-Perestroika World
The Economic Dimension
The United States Government--A Mystery Wrapped in a Riddle Wrapped in an Enigma
The Common European Home
Bibliography
Index
About the author
MARSHALL BREMENT is currently Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the National Defense University. He also is a Resident Consultant to the Center for Naval Analyses and a member of the Department of Defense's Special Operations Policy Advisory Group. Fluent in Russian and seven other languages, Brement has served two tours in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and has been the President's Senior Advisor on Soviet Affairs on the National Security Council Staff. He is the author of a study for the Rand Corporation,
Organizing Ourselves to Deal with the Soviets, A former Ambassador to Iceland, Brement is the translator and editor of two books of modern Icelandic poetry.
