Fear and Loathing Vanish From Pentagon’s Annual Appraisal of Soviet Power

The 1991 edition of the Pentagon’s annual publication “Soviet Military Power” was released Friday, a mere shadow of its former self.

Gone are the menacing photographs of jackbooted Soviet troops parading in Red Square, the warnings about Soviet designs for world domination, the general tone of fear and loathing that pervaded earlier editions.

Even the title of the publication’s 10th edition is changed. Slimmed down and delayed by the aborted coup in August by Communist hard-liners, this year’s assessment is called “Military Forces in Transition.”

It describes a painful transition for Soviet forces, which have been affected by poor discipline and morale, riven by ethnic and national tensions and beset by demands for reform. After Moscow makes troop reductions planned even before the August coup attempt, the Soviet armed forces will reach their lowest level in 30 years, and “further cuts appear likely in the aftermath of the coup,” the report predicts.

For the political entity it calls “the former Soviet Union,” the report documents a similarly painful transition. On the report’s cover, a stark outline of the remaining union leaves off Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which were granted independence within days of the August coup’s failure.

The 1990 edition had 112 pages, but the 1991 booklet has just 60.

The first page carries a notice that states, in part: “As this report goes to press, the long-term implications of the failed coup for the military forces of the former Soviet Union are not yet clear. It seems apparent, however, that the dramatic and sudden shift of political power to the republics and the extensive personnel changes in the military high command will have a significant impact on the further development of Soviet military policy.”

Although the booklet concludes that the collapse of the Soviet political and economic systems makes the threat of a Soviet conventional attack anywhere in the world far less likely, the Pentagon warns that the Soviet conventional force “remains the largest in Europe” and Moscow’s “strategic nuclear capabilities will continue to pose a formidable threat.”

On the whole, “Military Forces In Transition” strikes a hopeful note for the military future of the Soviets, who “have moved away from the doctrinaire international policies of the past and now play a more constructive role in world politics.”

But in several places, the Bush Administration’s skepticism toward the Soviet Union--and the well-documented skepticism of Defense Secretary Dick Cheney--shows through the optimistic prose.

“Given the fluidity of the political situation, the terrible economic conditions and the lack of a democratic tradition in Soviet society, many Soviet and Western observers assess that the risk of old authoritarian ways remains,” Cheney reminds readers in his preface to the publication.

Now printed in black and white instead of the color of earlier years, the photographs of Soviet bombers, missiles and tanks remain in the publication, because, Pentagon officials said, they remain in the Soviet arsenal.

Pentagon spokesman Bob Hall said Friday that the “snapshot” of current Soviet military capabilities also includes all the Soviets’ weapons because Soviet consumers of the publication demand them.

“We’ve been hearing for years this is the most valuable thing the Soviets could get their hands on, particularly the democratic forces,” said Hall.