Opening Rounds

the long version

It may at present be of mutual interest to East and West to reduce their military capabilities. The persistent economic difficulties of the Soviet Union have impelled it to negotiate for disarmament on a more realistic basis. But the members of the Atlantic Alliance should heed the lessons implicit in their memorials to those lost in two world wars, and in the Korean War. As the following pages manifest, disarmament which changes the balance of forces adversely for those dedicated to defence does not reduce the risk of war but enhances it. If this is a statement of the obvious, it was not obvious in Washington, Paris or London between the two world wars. Lest we forget.