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Doing the Détente Hustle
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10040 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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4 / 1986 |
2,703 Words |
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Yossef Bodansky
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As relations begin to thaw between Washington and Moscow, and détente becomes a born-again word in the dictionaries of analysts, renewed attention must be focused on the manner in which each country acts in the political arena.
During the 1970s, the Soviets defined détente as a period in which the unceasing war between two opposing systems --socialism and capitalism--continues as fiercely as ever before, but within more constrained modes of behavior agreed upon by both sides. Thus, according to Soviet policy, the existence of détente--whose restrictions were intended to prevent a rapidly intensifying clash between the antagonists from escalating out of control--is merely a stepping stone in the right direction in the pursuit of their ultimate goal--eradication of capitalism from the face of the earth, in accordance with the tenets of Marxism-Leninism.
Conversely, the West considers the mere attainment of an era of détente to be a goal in its own right, under a period of détente, the West lets down its guards against the Soviet Union and starts to examine pieces of information, such as Soviet military moves, not in relation to American security in general, but in terms of their impact on the coveted state of détente.
By viewing the political world in this light, the West deprives itself of the capability to establish a clear intelligence picture of an accumulating threat. With their commitment to the détente, which they created and have presented to their citizens as one of their prime achievements, Western leaders are also constrained to acknowledge the reality of the failure of détente, as demonstrated by Soviet aggression in Afghanistan and Angola.
Thus it can be ascertained--and the Soviets openly admit it--that détente is a period in which the goals of the socialist world are attained through low-key actions and with a decreased risk of the West's initiating any countermeasures or escalations.
Desensitizing the enemy
One method by which they accomplish this is by conditioning Western leaders to ignore the accumulation of warnings of aggressive Soviet actions and intentions. This has a long-lasting impact on the global correlation of forces. Discussing emerging trends in warfare, the Soviets point out that it is virtually impossible to attain strategic surprise through strictly military means.
The Soviets believe that it is impossible to completely prevent the Western technological intelligence-collecting systems from detecting some of the Soviet military preparations for an attack. Therefore, the key to the success of surprise is in conditioning Western leaders to ignore the accumulating warnings. The Soviets intend to attain surprise through the neutralization of the decision-making process of the West, and therefore, consider the "numbing" of Western leaders to be a great and lasting achievement.
The successful introduction of the artificial and illogical notion that the mere existence of military arsenals--particularly those of the Western democracies--has a direct impact on the overall political environment was a significant first step in the Soviet campaign to numb Western
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