This book explains that Moscow's weapons programs are best understood and anticipated "as an attempt to satisfy the requirements of [Soviet] doctrine and strategy," which are based on nuclear war—fighting and damage-limiting objectives and the quest for nuclear superiority over the West. Officially established USSR doctrine and strategy can be determined—have, in fact, remained remarkably stable for over a quarter-century—and "clearly state both the reasons for and the objectives of the Soviet military buildup." Kremlin decisionmakers have deliberately and systematically established their own strategic policies and objectives, which are decidedly not mere mirror images of American ones, and they follow them assiduously. Only thus can the unremitting Soviet military buildup, its nature and its objectives, be understood.
