ABSTRACT
This chapter offers some general observations on the serious internal and external problems facing the Soviets. Although Europe remains the critical region of superpower rivalry and the Middle East the most dangerous, as John Erickson does, that "the Soviet leadership sees the strategic center of gravity moving slowly but inexorably in the direction of East Asia, the source of a potentially critical challenge to Soviet power and prestige." Geographically speaking, the Soviet Union, though generally regarded as a European power, is actually the second largest Asian power. One-third of its vast territory lies east of Irkutsk in East Asian Siberia. Geopolitics is another critical factor in shaping Soviet policy in East Asia. By and large, Soviet policy in East Asia has been a spectacular failure. Some have to do with the success of US policies; others with the heavy-handedness of Soviet diplomacy; and others with the extraordinary economic dynamism of the region itself.
