ABSTRACT
An historical review shows convincingly that political change in the East—West relationship in central Europe necessitates a parallel change in the military East—West confrontation in the region. And because of the overriding importance of nuclear weapons both as military means and as political instruments of control, it follows from this that political change away from the status quo requires a nuclear great power disengagement, first and foremost in central Europe. The Eastern proposals show some differences among themselves as to the approach envisaged to achieve nuclear disengagement and nuclear-weapon-free zones in Europe. The differences between Soviet, Polish and East German proposals might be regarded as due to a concerted distribution of roles. But they also broadened the range of options presented to the West with regard to the question on negotiations procedure. The USA gave priority to negotiated reductions of Soviet and US conventional troops, not presupposing any change either in the political status quo or in the nuclear postures.
