Leonid Breznev was an old man and despite his own military experience in World War II, he on the other hand was not very close to the military.

What I do see, for instance, is that the French are not very happy with the ... I am happy but they are not and I understand why they are not happy. They still believe in some nuclear strategic formulas which they have inherited from General De Gaulle and they have started the process of rethinking, they haven't gone very far.

The Alliance and NATO is two different things. France is a member of the Alliance. NATO is an organization not mentioned in the North Atlantic Treaty, has been built up in the course of history, in the course of history France has left that organization. Normally the Alliance has been lead by consent, building up consensus on important issues of questions, in many instances over the last 30 years that I have followed events closely. In many, many cases was being done under the spiritual guidance of the American President, that is true, but sometimes also at the guidance of others.

Leonid Breznev was an old man and despite his own military experience in World War II, he on the other hand was not very close to the military.

Political leaders normally act by making convincing speeches.

Some of the American military obviously were thinking in terms of fighting a nuclear war. I was opposed to that.

Admirals and Generals always want more ships and more weapons and they take the arguments where they can find them.