ABSTRACT
NATO's southern flank presents a range of political, economic, and strategic difficulties unique within the Alliance's structure. NATO's "central front bias" is not the only factor contributing to the West's lack of appreciation for the strategic value of the southern region. While the Alliance has modernized its nuclear delivery capability in the central region, it has allowed nuclear assets in the south to erode because at one time US IRBMs in Italy and Turkey formed a critical component of the US strategic retaliatory capability. NATO did not deploy a new generation of land-based nuclear weapons in Italy until 1983 as part of the NATO INF deployment. In Turkey the political damage of the Jupiter withdrawal has never been repaired. The NATO council had an opportunity to offer cruise missiles to Turkey as a replacement for the Dutch deployment but chose not to do so.
