ABSTRACT
One of the dangers with limited US troop reductions is that they could develop a logic and momentum of their own. American troop reductions could even encourage a reappraisal of Britain's own continental commitment. As Senator Mansfied argued, if American troops in Europe are intended simply to link the fate of Europe to the American nuclear guarantee, then this could be accomplished at much lower force levels than currently exist. Probably the only circumstances in which there would be moves towards political unification and sufficient rearmament to compensate for American troop reductions are those in which the United States appeared to be going and the Soviet Union to be coming. Nevertheless, it merely suggests that the military balance in Central Europe is only one element in the security arrangements in Europe, and that as soon as political considerations are introduced into the equation, there is far greater stability, and greater freedom of manoeuvre, than is usually assumed. .
