ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a setting to assess the consequences for European security of the superpowers’ rival entanglements in the Third World. It analyses those arenas where the two nations are most likely to clash, particularly the Persian Gulf and the western Indian Ocean (PG/WIO) and the eastern Mediterranean, and to a lesser extent, east Asia and the Pacific as well as the Caribbean Basin. The emphasis on the PG/WIO springs from its newly emerging importance to United States (US)–Soviet rivalry. The eastern Mediterranean is a highly volatile area too, though this has been apparent for several decades. The likelihood and location of superpower regional conflicts are only a part of the relevant context and at least two other kinds of consideration should be kept in mind. One is the nature of the mutual obligations between bloc leaders and their allies. The other is the overall tone of US–Soviet relations.
