Word: nuclear
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...ROCKETS. As bands played at the railroad station in the garrison town of Wittenberg, 1,000 local citizens, plus Western newsmen bused in for the occasion, gathered to witness the latest episode in the propaganda blitz that Moscow is waging against the Western nations' plan to strengthen their nuclear forces in Europe. With fanfare, the Soviets began carrying out an unexpected pledge made by Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev in October to withdraw some forces from East Germany...
...show was carefully timed. This week the foreign and defense ministers of the 15 NATO countries are due to gather in Brussels to adopt formally a U.S. proposal to begin deploying 572 new intermediate-range nuclear weapons, including Pershing II and ground-launched cruise missiles, in Western Europe by 1983. These missiles, unlike those now in the NATO inventory, can hit targets within the U.S.S.R.; they are intended to counterbalance the SS-20 missiles and Backfire bombers the Soviets have positioned against NATO in the past two years...
...Soviet campaign against the nuclear-force improvement got a lift last week. The Dutch parliament adopted a motion forbidding Premier Andries van Agt's government to approve the NATO plan. Joined by top officials from Norway and Denmark, which also have misgivings, Van Agt flew to Washington. He sought a delay in the NATO decision and a U.S. commitment to negotiate with the Warsaw Pact countries on reduction of nuclear arms in Europe. American officials gave assurances that the U.S. wanted to discuss a cutback of nuclear missiles with the Soviets, but insisted that the NATO partners should approve...
NATO's deployment of theater nuclear forces is thus viewed as a means of closing a dangerous gap in the West's deterrence. Says a leading British official: "The reason for NATO modernizing its nuclear forces is that we have to fill a position between the tactical Lance missile [a short-range mobile missile] and the big bang. We cannot make counterthreats credible without theater nuclear weapons." Notes American Defense Analyst Gregory Treverton of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies: "It is important to remember that deterrence is a combination of will and weaponry. Weapons...
...decision to deploy theater nuclear forces has been two years in the making. British officials claim to be the first to have noticed the growing military imbalance in Europe; they sent a note about it to Washington in early 1977. Several months later, West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt raised the issue in a London speech. He deplored the fact that the "Euro-strategic balance" was shifting against the West and urged that it be restored. Soon thereafter, NATO created a High-Level Group, chaired by the U.S., to study the matter...