Review: USSR vs USA
| Author | Colin S. Gray |
| Date | 01 June 1972 |
| Published date | 01 June 1972 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070207202700216 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
REVIEWS
317
USSR
VS
USA
The
ABM
and
the
Changed
Strategic
Military
Balance
Washington,
Dc:
Acropolis,
1969,
7
1pp,
$3.95
This
is
a
thoroughly
"bad"
book.
However,
unlike
many
"bad"
books,
we
are
offered
a
work
that
is
of
considerable
utility
to
a
university
teach.
er,
because
it
is
so
biased
that
it
is
almost
self-parody.
In
the
mercifully
brief
space
of
71
pages,
a
"special
American
Security
Council
Committee
of
31
experts" (the
list
of
so-called
experts would
provide
an admirable
board
of
directors for
a
Cold
War,
Inc.
-
eg,
General
Twining,
Admiral
Felt,
Dr
Teller,
etc) makes
a statement
of
classic
simplicity
in
favour
of
the deployment
of
ABM.
The
Safeguard
system
is
strongly
advocated
not
essentially
on
prudential
grounds
relating
to the
possible
vulnerability
of
Minuteman
silos
after
1974
(nor
for any
other
combination
of
limited
strategic
reasons),
but
rather
because
Safeguard
is
an
important
feature
upon
a strategic
canvas
dominated
by
a life-and-death struggle
between
two
incompatible
philosophies of
life
and
government.
We
are
told
(p
1o)
that
the
Soviet
Union
is
determined
to
attain
strategic
superiority
(they
claim
that
capability
of
development
already
proves
this)
in
order
to
pursue
victory
in
the
"world
struggle"
(p
11).
The
book
does
have
one considerable
redeeming
feature
-
unlike
so
much
arms
control
analysis,
it
does view
strategic
weaponry
as
political instruments.
The
authors
will
have
no
truck
with "parity"
(pp
37, 46,
62,
64-5)
or
self.
restraint
in
the
arms
race
(pp
66-7).
In
the
words
of
Dr
Libby,
Dr
Thaler,
General
Twining et
al:
"Avoidance of
war
requires
[emphasis
is
in the
text]
that
the
United
States
maintain
overall
military
superiority,
rather
than
acceptance
of
any
kind
of
'parity'
which
can
only
be
ephemeral
and
inherently
unstable"
(p
65).
Colin
S.
Gray/Canadian
Institute
of
International
Affairs
INTERVENTION
AND
NEGOTIATION
The
United
States
and
the Dominican
Revolution
Jerome
Slater
New
York:
Toronto:
Harper
gc
Row,
1970,
xx,
254pp,
$7.95
The
late
H~ctor
Garcia-Godoy
is
revealed
as
the
hero
of
the
1965
crisis
in
the
Dominican
Republic.
A
member
of
one
of
that
nation's
leading
To continue reading
Request your trial