ABSTRACT
There now appears to be a real opportunity to build down the NATO/Warsaw Pact confrontation in Europe which is no longer functional at its present high level and high costs. Given the unexpected similarity in the starting positions of the NATO and Warsaw Pact negotiators at the new talks on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, or CFE, which opened in March 1989 in Vienna, and given the capacity of both alliances to show flexibility on details, a first complete agreement should be possible within the next 2 or 3 years, a partial agreement even sooner.
