Word: western
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...basic decision was to develop and deploy 572 U.S.-made Pershing II and cruise missiles in at least three and possibly five countries of Western Europe. The scheme is designed as a counterforce to the Soviet Union's 50 Back-fire bombers and as many as 150 medium-range SS-20 missiles facing Western Europe. The NATO missiles, to be built over the next three years at a cost of $5 billion to the U.S., will be based in Western Europe but manned by American servicemen, thereby tying the U.S. inextricably to Western Europe's defense, but also...
...allies, TASS declared that the plan was "dangerous to the cause of peace and to international detente." NATO planners paid little attention, convinced as they are that the present strategic balance in Europe favors the Warsaw Pact to a greater extent than ever before. They believe the new Western missiles will significantly strengthen the alliance and will, at the least, give it an important new bargaining chip in any fu ture arms negotiations with the Soviets...
...broader sense, the new missiles are designed to fill a political as well as a strategic gap in the Western deterrent by warning Moscow that it could not escape unscathed from nuclear threats aimed at dominating Western Europe. In 1977, both Britain and West Germany called Washington's attention to the fact that the alliance, if it should suddenly become the target of a Soviet attack in Europe, could easily find itself in a nuclear dilemma: its response might be either too modest (perhaps with the use of battlefield nuclear artillery) or too devastating (an intercontinental ballistic missile strike...
...excluded, and Europeans felt that their own security was being settled over their heads and perhaps even bargained away. This time the U.S. will still do the bargaining, but will share the decision making with its European allies for the first time. For the U.S. as well as for Western Europe, this change will intro duce a whole new era of strategic and political cooperation...
Just as a homeowner struggling with heating bills may turn to his bank for help, the have-not nations are hefty borrowers. Their loans from Western banks and international aid authorities have surged to a dangerously high $300 billion, and are expected to rise some $60 billion next year. The LDCs may be about to run out of credit to cover their bare requirements. Bankers are becoming increasingly cautious now that payments on their Iranian loans are in question, and they are under pressure to diversify their lending...