Word: rearmament
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...determine American military actions. How far can we let European fears push us? The answer, alas, is quite far indeed when the weapons in question are to be installed on European real estate. Chancellor Helmut Kohl has been admirably stalwart in his support of U.S. arms-control policy and rearmament efforts alike. If some further adjustment of the U.S. negotiating position would help him keep his domestic opposition at bay, then it makes sense to give...
...most daunting task facing Nakasone is not so much improving the military as altering postwar Japanese perceptions about defense. The Prime Minister will have little success in bolstering forces until he convinces his people that rearmament will not lead to a fresh wave of militarism. Anyone who doubts that the Japanese are still distrustful of their soldiers need only go by the defense agency's headquarters in downtown Tokyo. Most officers travel to work in civilian clothes and change into uniforms in rented rooms near the compound. "The people have yet to accept us fully," explains an officer. "Memories...
Much more important, they gradually set forth a compelling alternative--moderate in its means and moral in its goals--to the unpalatable extremes of disarmament and massive rearmament that have dominated the public "debate" thus far. The argument goes something like this: The Jonathan Schells of the Left err in presuming an absolute choice between global peace and disarmament on the one hand, and global nuclear holocaust on the other. With the nuclear genie out of the bottle, it is all but impossible to put it back. Mankind cannot hope to "reinvent politics: to reinvent the world," as Schell proposed...
With the wisdom of hindsight, particularly now that the deadline for deployment is near, the alliance's decision in 1979 to pursue simultaneously disarmament and rearmament looks too clever by half. The leverage of the U.S. in the talks would always depend on the credibility of a threat that could be carried out only with the continued support of perishable governments and volatile public opinion in the five West European countries where the new missiles were supposed to be based...
...Because the U.S. is behind, and because arms control is partly to blame, the best course would be to suspend bilateral bargaining and concentrate on a unilateral American rearmament. Once the U.S. has re-established equality or, better yet, a "margin of safety, "it can resume talks and negotiate from strength...