Introduction

In one sense, the countries along the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea constitute the Southern Flank of the NATO Alliance, but in another sense, this sea is, as it has always been, the center of innumerable political and strategic cross currents. The Soviet threat can be viewed through two basic scenarios involving Warsaw Pact military action against the Southern Flank: an all-out attack against the Central Front supported by action against the Southern Flank; or a separate attack against Turkey in an offensive with limited objectives outside the NATO area. The Southern Flank's complexities-the size of the region and its division into separate land areas-have some disadvantages for a potential Soviet offensive that should be exploitable by NATO. At the Western end of the Mediterranean the Soviets are dependent on transits through the Strait of Gibraltar.