SOVIETS SAVOR THE FRUITS OF WORLD POWER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400360016-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 8, 2004
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: August 14, 1979
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2005/01/12 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000400360R16-5
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE-5
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
14 August 1979
Soviets? Savor the :Fruits
Of - World Power
question is whether there are any signs of So- ' The Soviet economy is in a mess. The Rus-
-: AS 'Kittery Balance-.., viet interest in genuine arms reduction, sign brand of communism no longer excite.
Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev has sug- many people inside or outside the Sovie
Shifts, ~11 S` llz ply.,: gested that the answer is yes. And maybe he Union. But a continued military buildup prom.
to ' Cur air- ppetite `ii forces actually at work in Soviet society, it is cannot be attained in any other way.
A;9Gc
t t
believe that the Kremlin has - As a well_
. : r.:
lare,d Pentagon ennrra observed
very
u
o
p
`,'..'any such present intention: "'.;- "The most credible danger is "no a deliberate
' BY ER,piEST CONINE
s~... The first thing to understand is that, while nuclear attack against the United States; it.,
'During the eight weeks that have passed , the; Soviet military establishment is subject to the political leverage that the perception o:
since the signing'of the second strategic arms ; ultimate' party control, it exercises an in- superiority gives to the Russians.
limuation agreement, the debate over Senate flue>!ice in Soviet society that goes far beyond "Even five years ago," he said, "it was un-
ratification has proceeded with all the vigor,' anything enjoyed by the "military-industrial imaginable that the Turks would have made
openness and diversity of opinion that we like complex' in the United States..., Soviet approval a condition, as they have nou
to think is characteristic of a democracy. beginning with :Stalin's five-year plans of done, for allowing American planes to use
Nosuchdebate is taking. place in the Soviet the t193Qs,. the armed forces and the ar- Turkish airspace to police SALT H.
Union t ? rnamxnts industry have had first call on man-' ,:,'Another sign of the tunes," he continued,
-1? There are no articles in Russian newspiapersr ey and skilled manpower Military needs are: Al that the Norwegians asked West Cerinai
debating , whether the SALT II agreement -the" dominant'- consideration in' allocating re- troops to stay home when the Ruslani. object
would add to Soviet security or subtract from isources among scientific research projects ed to' German participation ?' in NAT(
it. There. are 125 so-called military higher maneuvers in northern Norway,'
schools, which means that one out of.seven
There are no, citizens groups demanding to ,. Fred Ikle, former head of the arms-'contro
knowwhy new missiles are still being devel_ , college-level educational institutions is an of- agency, foresees even more serious copse
oped and deployed when, Lord knows, the So facer-commissioning school analogous to West quences stemming from the shifting powe.
viet rocket forces already have enough war Point..:: balance.
heads to destroy the United States a thousand r- According' to U.S. scholars, the defense Writing in Fortune a few months ago, hi
,, estahlishment has 45 representatives on the noted that in 1973, during the last Arab-Israel
times over. Cep al Committee of the Communist Party. war, president Nixon alerted U.S, forces as ;
And there are no RussianA George' The defense minister site on the ruling Point- signal to Moscow of American determinatioi
bicGoverns, complaining that t SALT T IIdoes; b~ and the defense sector
-yawls over
crisis: ' `
th
..
.
e
not stop the arms race at all=and that the in i. " ? - -- in
" Iide noted
S: Soviet crisis
` In another U
,
.
satiable appetite of the Soviet military-indus eight separate ministries in the governusent
trial' complex is really Tat the heart of the apparatus. PI it could well be the other way around. Thi
country's economic problems.' in short,' the military. is well-placed to ad :President might receive the chilling news tha
The absence ill the Soviet Union of open,lyance'and' protect its interests-a fact'that' the Russians had alerted their nuclear force:
'two-sided"debate on SALT or any other issue helps explain why military spending accounts first.
is hardly news, of. course: But it has .a substai3- for, about 13% of the Soviet Union's gross na-
tional product, against a 5% figure for the U.S. fear of nuclear war would suddenly dominate
Opinion polls show clearly that most Amen- defense budget. oS`~-and make it very difficult foi
an American President to call a Soviet bluff.
0: cans favor arms control.'But they also reflect There is no such thing as an a.-ms-control It is conceivable that the Russians wouk
3. ?aa unwillingness for the United States to ac- "agency, with independent access to cldssified
cept, a. position of military Inferiority to; the data, in the Soviet'power structure. Nor are settle for a genuine balance of power, wits
lower defense budgets all around, if they were
v' Soviet'?Union there any'civilian "think tanks" empowered to convinced that the alternative was a gamin(
the,
It?has become increasingly obvious that the question military assumptions about weapon arms race with an aroused America that the
Senate's way ,of reconciling these views will
requirements. Soviet Union couldn't possibly win.
be to ratify SALT. Ill. but only on the The military and the political leadership en- That day would come a lot sooner if the Sn?
that the Carter Administration commit itself ` toy a basically comfortable relationship in Viet. system provided for the sort of . spas de-
to rieressing amili,tary balance that, in Henry
which each supports the goals of the other. ; ; ;*bate on military spending plans that is routine
A. usly agar's words,."is beginning to tilt om in Western democracies. But it doesn't.'.'
inouslyagainst th e United States." `j The American CIA has warned that, SALT
.This is , a? galling. development for people;,: notwithstanding, Soviet military spending can, So why should the Soviet leaders call off s
w-This er ably feel that, a growing de=' be expected to continue increasing indefinitely game that is beginning to pay such gratifying
And why not? di
o-satisfactior
in terms of Russian e
id
nd
5
g
% a year.
v
e
s
i 4t at a rate of 3% to
fen;:`budget is-out of 6y q with what . .i and enhanced political influence? C
d
u
s
~i
l
sho
control treatie
,: As a practical:waLter; tYi~A, ~r $
t
i
S
e
ov
spending: cannot decrease as. long as
miliry outlays continue to go up. So the key
2005/01/12 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000400360016-5' ._ . ,
~` kYneaf Canine is a Tftes editorial writer.