ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the possible policy implications of the moral argument. The imbalance certainly looks worse if attention is concentrated on in-place forces in the European theatre rather than on global comparisons. But to say this is not to deny the imbalance but rather to place it in its geographical perspective. A more fruitful solution might therefore appear to be, not to seek to build up to equality, but to build down to it by negotiating a reduced common ceiling of in-place forces in Europe. This has been the aim of the Mutual Balanced Force Reduction negotiations in Vienna since their inception in 1973. The technological innovativeness of the West is one of its strengths but the Soviet Union has shown itself well able to amend its own tactics to counter such changes and — sooner or later — to catch up the technological lead.
