ABSTRACT
The Warsaw Treaty Organization (WTO) is receiving attention as an international organization deserving analysis. In a recent volume about the WTO, for example, one of its editors noted that the Pact is now a "complex mechanism for coordinating the military and foreign policy activities of its members". The Warsaw Pact is no longer a tidy instrument for Soviet penetration and control of Eastern Europe, although those purposes are still preeminent. It is certainly not an alliance prepared today for aggressive action, although it has formidable hardware for offensive operations. It is an organization that reflects the Soviet Union's weaknesses much more than its own strengths. Eastern Europe is central to the Soviet conception of security. The Warsaw Pact is a late twentieth century vehicle for pursuing many of the same goals that occupied Czars in earlier centuries--added protection from invasion through Poland, creating a political sphere of interest, warm water ports, etc.
