ABSTRACT
Soviet strategy is driven not only by its Marxist-Leninist dogma which is at the core of the strategy, but also as much by the attitudes of some of the nineteenth century geopoliticians such as Mackinder, Mahan, and others. The most conspicuous failure is the failure of the Soviet policy of detente. The Soviet leaders have failed manifestly in suppressing the ability of the European allies to act in a concerted manner. One needs only to look at the scale of effort that the Soviet Union made to suppress the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force deployment in West Europe to appreciate how abjectly it failed in West Europe. It is difficult to understand how the Soviet leaders are likely to gain from belligerent and blackmail-oriented rhetoric, but it does underscore the frustration that they are feeling because of the failure of their strategy in East Asian region.
