ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines general Soviet attitudes and orientations, the Soviets' preferred operating style for pursuing their goals, the types of concerns that could trigger more extreme or militant Soviet options, and the character and shape these options could potentially take in the Gulf. It focuses on some of the options the United States may have to counter the Soviets in the area. Some people see all Soviet moves around the globe as fitting neatly into a master plan for world domination calibrated according to time and place. Decisionmaking in the highest councils of the Soviet system has in” creasingly become based on elite consensus. At any time, but particularly during periods of succession, the perceived high cost of failure probably also reduces the willingness of Soviet leaders to run serious risks. Soviet leaders are not blind to the strategic payoffs of gaining some leverage over or becoming an arbiter of oil flows.
