ABSTRACT
The conservative position sees a clear threat emanating from the Soviet offensive military strategy, and believes that Moscow uses economic and political East-West cooperation to gain unilateral military advantages. The conservative position reflects a consistent anti-communism, which is openly presented in the form of anti-Sovietism. There is a long historical tradition of Western perceptions of a threat from the East. These conceptions play an important role in the assessment of Soviet policy and in the planning of Western strategies. In the image the conservative position conveys of the Soviet regime, the name of former dictator Stalin repeatedly arises. By characterizing the actions of Soviet officials as "stalinist" a historical continuity of political tyranny and repression is presented and set against the political and military resistance of the "free West." In discussions initiated by either the conservative or the leftist viewpoints, the fundamental problems of Marxism/socialism play a relatively major role, but from opposite premises.
