Future Conditional

Abstract

That the origins and motives of the adversaries are quite different from those of the critics should by now be clear. The aims of the adversaries are fundamentally inimical to the Western purpose of maintaining peace in freedom and security under the rule of law, and their activities are directed to undermining the instrument which, with the support of all Western governments, has served this purpose since 1949, the North Atlantic Alliance. The success of the Alliance lies in its capacity to demonstrate in peacetime the determination of its members to provide collectively for their defence in support of this purpose. This lesson from the 1930s has been learned. Moreover the association of the United States with the defence of Europe is as vital to this success in 1984 as it was in 1949; in present and foreseeable circumstances, the prospect of Western Europe alone providing a viable deterrent remains illusory. No doubt many of those working with or alongside the adversaries would repudiate any intention to weaken the basis of Western defence and would deny that they were serving anything other than the cause of peace. But the question which has to be put to them is: peace on whose terms?