Publisher's Synopsis
Examining the Soviet-West German relationship, this book assesses the context within which Moscow has crafted its policy toward the FRG, identifies key elements of Soviet policy and assesses emerging trends. Robbin Laird begins by outlining the classical approach the Soviets have taken toward Western Europe and explaining how that approach has been re-thought, given the trends toward European military integration in the early 1980s and Gorbachev's sweeping transformation of Soviet policy.;The author examines Soviet assessments of basic West German security trends and traces the USSR's activity in West Germany since 1987, with a focus on its public diplomacy efforts. Laird ties in the East German dimension by weighing Moscow's reaction to the fall of Honecker and the issue of reunification. He concludes with an assessment of the possible paths for Soviet-German policy and the impact and interaction of those paths on alternative security paradigms.
