ABSTRACT

This chapter outlines the development of the MBFR negotiations over the years, why they have failed thus far to produce an agreement, and what can be done to overcome this failure. It offers some considerations on the current background of the MBFR talks. In some ways the present situation resembles that at the beginning of 1979, when the Soviet Union took the initiative in Washington to press for an agreement in MBFR to be concluded at the then forthcoming SALT II summit. For successive United States administrations the Vienna talks have been seen as a main concern of Europeans rather than the Americans. The NATO coalition made a classic arms control mistake in attempting to use arms control to resolve its military problems through larger Pact reductions. The Soviet Union, which refuses to implement verification measures until there have been reductions, agree to exchange detailed information on Soviet and American forces remaining in Central Europe.