ABSTRACT
Soviet military activism in the Third World since the early 1970s has become a cause of growing concern to Western policy-makers. Soviet and Cuban involvement in Third World conflicts was a significant factor in the slowing and reversal of the process of détente. It affected not only the general atmosphere of East-West relations, but also the progress of arms control negotiations. Soviet activity in the Horn of Africa, for example, delayed the conclusion of the SALT II treaty. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan led the American government to withdraw the treaty from Senate ratification proceedings. In the current phase of tension between the superpowers, one of the more credible avenues to major war is that of escalation from confrontation in areas of the Third World where major interests of the U.S. and the USSR overlap.
