Download or read book Military Objectives in Soviet Foreign Policy written by Michael MccGwire and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study concentrates on the military roots of Soviet policy. It concentrates on how planning for the contingency of a world war shapes and distorts Soviet policy while producing a military posture and structure of forces that appear to the West as being far in excess of any legitimate defense needs. The focus is on the military-technical aspects of doctrine, which is the responsibility of the military to implement. The study does not dwell on the decisions that the Soviet political leaders would face in the course of a war except to note how the hierarchy of objectives would influence those decisions.