Gormley, Dennis M

Abstract
The United States at once seeks to achieve a nuclear-free world while it also sharpens its already robust conventional force advantages vis-à-vis peer competitors. US planners view improvements in missile defences and advanced conventional strike as reassuring to allies and friends who depend on American security guarantees. Yet, Russia and China both view the US pursuit of advanced conventional capabilities as destabilizing. This article explores Russian perceptions of strategic instability as brought about by advances in American conventional capabilities. An effort is made to stipulate which of these Russian fears are real or imagined before turning to various policy options that might allay these concerns.
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