Review of "NATO: Task of Adaptation," by Robert Strausz-Hupe

Review of

NATO: Task of Adaptation, by Robert Strausz-Hupe


Four out of five stars

 Published in 1978, this short book opens with the sentence. “NATO is a surprisingly long-lived institution, having survived longer than most institutions of its kind known to history.” This was fifty years ago and there have been enormous changes in the geopolitical landscape. China has risen to the level of a global economic superpower and the Soviet Union has been in the dustbin of history for thirty years.

 Yet, there is much that the modern scholar can glean from the writings of Professor Strausz-Hupe. Especially when one transfers his writings about Soviet aims to the Russia of Vladimir Putin. There is no passage more relevant to what Russian President Putin is trying to do than what appears on page 10. “On the record, it seems that the Soviet Union has succeeded in converting military power into political influence in various places on the globe and has done so without firing one authentic Soviet shot.” Replace Soviet by Russian in that sentence and we have the current geopolitical situation.