Word: pullbacks
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Some believe that a U.S. force re duction in Europe would improve the climate of detente with the Soviet Un ion. The Communists themselves have at times suggested various forms of a Western troop "thinout." But this is certainly not what Ike and others have in mind; a pullback offered as a concession to the Russians might be near-suicidal...
...Elusive Trip Wires. The most serious argument for a troop pullback is the "trip wire" theory, advanced by Eisenhower, among others. The notion is that if the Russians were to attack Berlin or West Germany, for example, this would lead to a nuclear war anyway; thus even a handful of U.S. soldiers on the scene would be enough to engage America and to invite immediate nuclear retribution...
That is precisely why the U.S. has been pressing its allies for more conventional forces. A sizable U.S. pullback would undercut that argument-and would greatly strengthen the Gaullist demand for an independent, national nuclear deterrent...
Without Meaning. Even if Nehru were prepared to give away Ladakh in return for a Chinese pullback elsewhere...
Until recently, it could be said of Moscow and China, as German Field Marshal Moltke said of his own armies, that they marched separately but hit together. They no longer do. Moscow's Cuban pullback and China's invasion of India almost certainly happened without consultation. They may be stuck with each other's actions, but they no longer seem to coordinate them in advance. In the future, it will be up to Western strategists to take advantage of the fact that, while Russia and China can do immense harm separately, they are as of now neither...