MOSCOW TV ON 'SOVIET MILITARY POWER' PAMPHLET

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP09-00997R000100300001-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 16, 2013
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: April 4, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/07/16: CIA-RDP09-00997R000100300001-5
;I? 4 Apr 85 IA 5 USSR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES & CANADA
?SCOW TV ON 'SOVIET MILITARY POWER'_ PAMPHLET
;040914 Moscow Television Service in Russian 1700 CMT 3 Apr 85
From the "Vremva" newscast; commentary by "writer" Gcnrikh Borovik]
[Text] [Announcer] The U.S. Administration, in trying to justify its dangerous course
toward spiralling the arms race and the militarization of outer space, is resorting to
Ideliberate lie, fanning the myth of a Soviet threat. Over to the writer, Genrikh
Borovik:
[Begin Borovik recording] Hello, comrades. There was a time when the Pentagon generals
..- vainglorious people, one is bound to say -- for 10 months a year, every year, boasted
0 America and the whole world that America's military might was many times greater than
Russia's. Only 2 months a year, also every year, they would say in a panic: The
Russians are much stronger than America. Naturally, these 2 months always coincided
with the time when Congress was reviewing its new military budget.
So, our supposedly sinister threat to America was, so to speak, of a clearly expressed
seasonal nature. However, whichever way you tell a lie, it's a complicated business
and will soon get you into hot water. It was thus decided to talk about a Soviet mili?
tary threat all the year round, with certain ebbs and flows, especially when a permanent
threat meant greater profits. But this is where it gets a bit embarrassing.
About a month ago, U.S. Defense Secretary Weinberger made a speech in which he pushed
the President's star wars program. He said it was only for defense, and that, essen?
tially, it was not for the creation but the liquidation of nuclear weapons, for the
development of science and technology, and for the peace and prosperity of all peoples,
almost the basis of success for culture and the arts, and, of course, not at all a tool
of aggression, but just a shield.
Then a correspondent asked: Mr Weinberger. What would you say if someone told you that
the Russians had already created such a defensive space shield for peace and prosperity?
The defense secretary could hardly contain himself, saying: God help us, that would be
terrible! When he had gathered his thoughts it was already too late. What kind of
shield is this if it is so terrible? This is not at all a shield, but a kind of nuclear
knucklcduster, a space bludgeon; I don't know what else there is in the world of science
and the arts. In a word, he was embarrassed.
Recently, something similar happened, as ill luck would have it, round about 1 April.
To mark this date -- which, obviously, the Pentagon holds dear -- they published a
pamphlet entitled "Soviet Military Power." In the best traditions it deals with the
sinister Russian threat, the unprecedented Russian might. It is all there: The USSR
is arming itself faster than the 'United States; the Pentagon is just catching up; the
President is just coming out with his Strategic Defense Initiative while the USSR is
already developing it.
Here we must ask the question: If the system is a defensive one,, what's so bad about
she USSR developing it? Because the Soviets, in their strategic/concept, do not rule
out the use of nuclear weapons first. True, it is timely here/to ask: If the Soviet
Union has committed itself not to be the first to use nuclear/weapons, and the United
States refuses to follow our example, then which is the one that is "not ruling out"?
The picture given of armaments is a pretty terrible one all round.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/07/16: CIA-RDP09-00997R000100300001-5
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/07/16: CIA-RDP09-00997R000100300001-5
III. 4 Apr 85
A 6 USSR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES & CANADA
Over the past 10 years, the pamphlet says, the USSR has produced five times as many
ballistic missiles as the United States, three times more submarines, twice as
many aircraft, and so forth. There are 143 pages in the pamphlet -- 133 of which
are devoted to Soviet military programs and only 10 to American. This ratio should
speak for itself for ?the man in the street.
The pamphlet was brought out with a lot of pomp, being publicized at a news conference
by Lieutenant General Williams, the head of the Pentagon's intelligence department.
He painted for the appalled, ordinary American, a picture of the USSR's complete
military superiority over the United States. Then a correspondent crept up quietly
and asked, like in an old Krylov fable, so sweetly, almost gasping: What if it was
suggested that you, general, exchanged your puny military muscle for the unprece-
dented might of Russian arms? Would you agree? The general missed the opportunity.
He was startled and, unable to contain himself, croaked like a crow at the top of
his general's voice: You must be kidding!
It was too late to gather his thoughts. As they say, the cheese had formed; and it
turned out to be .a large piece of a poorly-made and foul-smelling lie.
Of course, it would have been possible to burst out laughing at the unfortunate man
from the Pentagon if it had just been an April Fool's joke, but it wasn't, and
the pamphlet, albeit ridiculously and falsely, was published, not just for fun,
but to further intimidate the man in the street, to extort more money from him for
nuclear, space bludgeons. They want, with his help, to dictate their will to the
world, to appoint governments, abrogate revolutions, proclaim colonies; that is,
to control history, as though it were a cowboy's horse, to make it halt, come back,
and do whatever they want. But this venture, aimed at controlling the world, gets
one nowhere; people never have and never will accept it. [end recording]
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