Estimates of the Situation

Over the weekend of June 4-6 I took part in a conference of about 35 persons that met in London under the sponsorship of the Institute for the Study of Conflict. The announced topic was “Communicating the Soviet Threat.” Among the participants there were several members of Parliament; Brian Beedham, foreign editor of The Economist; Robert Moss, editor of the special bulletin, Foreign Report, published by The Economist; Sir Robert Thompson, perhaps the best-known expert on unconventional warfare; Vice Admiral Sir Louis Le Bailly, Director General of British military intelligence 1972-75; Arnaud de Borch-grave, Newsweek’s chief European correspondent; Frank Barnett, President of the National Strategy Information Center (New York) Jon Vondracek of Georgetown University’s Center for Strategic and International Studies; Iain Elliot, editor of Soviet Analyst; and associates of the sponsoring Institute, including its chairman, the noted Russian historian Leonard Schapiro; its director, Brian Crozier; the defense correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, Brigadier W. F. K. Thompson; and Major General Fergus Ling.

I shall here summarize key features of what in retrospect is my impression of the group’s collective “estimate of the situation.”

JB

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James Burnham

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Over the weekend of June 4-6 I took part in a conference of about 35 persons that met in London under the sponsorship of the Institute for the Study of Conflict. The announced topic was “Communicating the Soviet Threat.” Among the participants there were several members of Parliament; Brian Beedham, foreign editor of The Economist; Robert Moss, editor of the special bulletin, Foreign Report, published by The Economist; Sir Robert Thompson, perhaps the best-known expert on unconventional warfare; Vice Admiral Sir Louis Le Bailly, Director General of British military intelligence 1972-75; Arnaud de Borch-grave, Newsweek’s chief European correspondent; Frank Barnett, President of the National Strategy Information Center (New York) Jon Vondracek of Georgetown University’s Center for Strategic and International Studies; Iain Elliot, editor of Soviet Analyst; and associates of the sponsoring Institute, including its chairman, the noted Russian historian Leonard Schapiro; its director, Brian Crozier; the defense correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, Brigadier W. F. K. Thompson; and Major General Fergus Ling.

I shall here summarize key features of what in retrospect is my impression of the group’s collective “estimate of the situation.”