Word: sonnenfeldt
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...said Henderson, the U.S. must explain to the world "whether it is seeking superiority over the Soviets or whether it is prepared to have balance"-a point that goes to the heart of the split between Washington and Western Europe. For the Reagan Administration and some U.S. strategists like Sonnenfeldt, the balance already has tilted "dangerously against the West." Many Europeans, and many conference participants, remain unconvinced. Said Sonnenfeldt: "This tilt [hi the military balance] does not only concern the defense of Europe but also the defense of common European and American interests in such areas as the Persian Gulf...
...quick to pick up the random follies that this Administration has perpetrated and run them up the flagpole. I have the sense that perhaps American policy is not as Dad as many of us say it sounds." Richard Perle, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security, and Helmut Sonnenfeldt, former State Department counselor, repeatedly pointed out to their West European colleagues that the U.S. was sincerely seeking an arms agreement with the Soviets under very difficult circumstances, which were being made even worse by allied skepticism about Washington's motives...
...geography does not bring us together. On the contrary, it leaves Europe in the hands of the Soviets." Foley summed up this new reality: "These issues won't be decided by an old boys' club of informed opinion. There's a whole new public out there." Sonnenfeldt rejected the image of the Reagan Administration as being ideologically opposed to dialogue and negotiation. "I find very little in your discourse about the sins of the Americans," he told the European participants, "to suggest that there is any understanding of the kinds of pressure that American Presidents and politicians...
...there is any criticism of Shultz thus far, it is that he has been perhaps overly methodical in his approach to the job. Some say that he moves too slowly on issues and is not aggressive enough. "He likes to think things through," says Sonnenfeldt, "but there is not always that luxury." Nor is he noted for any brilliance as a strategic thinker who can juggle concepts of power and alliances. He tends to come across as a good gray diplomat, measured in judgment but unexciting in approach...
...Sonnenfeldt chaired the session, which included Administration officials and about a dozen outside experts. Among those invited: Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and two of his predecessors, Harold Brown and Donald Rumsfeld; Brent Scowcroft, National Security Adviser to President Ford; and Norman Podhoretz, a neoconservative writer and Administration critic. "It's an effort to break out and listen, to avoid being caught in my cocoon," says Shultz...