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Show ! 'No nation great without military power' Although many civilizations were great because of other means, it is known that "no nation was ever great unless it had ( a great military- power," said Dr. S. Grover Rich, professor of ! Political Science at the University. Dr. Rich told the few hundred ROTC cadets in the Orson !' Spencer Hall Auditorium that "we 1 are entering a period of military : cutback..! agree to some extent..., ex-tent..., but prudence dictates we move in that direction with more : caution." Concerning Vietnair, Dr. Rich mentioned his visit to the Indo-China Indo-China country. He said "much of what was reported to us in the last two or three months is true." He -also said that in South Vietnam, "the war is over" militarily mili-tarily speaking, "but the country is in a mess economically and socially." Dr. Rich explained that if the Communists take over in South Vietnam "it would not be by overt Communist aggression..." ag-gression..." His forecast for Vietnam is much like the prob- lems the United States had after the ceasefire in Korea. He predicted pre-dicted "we will be there in another 10 to 20 years" as "we will be subsidizing the country." But Dr. Rich also noted Korea was in the same predicament at the end of its war and was able to recover, with the help of the U.S., to become one of the economic and political showcases in Asia. The future of Japan and of Europe will be very important in the future balance of power, said Dr. Rich. Japan will be the second most powerful country industrially indus-trially in 1974 and if its present pace is continued, it will surpass the U.S. at the turn of the century. cen-tury. Europe, on the other hand, as it becomes more united, will become a power to reckon with as it will have 400 million of the best educated and most skilled people on the face of the earth, Dr. Rich said. The changing balance of power between the U.S. and the USSR is very evident today, said Dr. Rich. A few years ago we were talking about superiority in nuclear missiles, "now we are talking about parity" said Dr. Rich. Soviet power is becoming more apparent around the world and U.S. withdrawal from military commitments is becoming clear also. "The balance of power is shifting shift-ing against us," said Dr. Rich, "as we enter a period of isolationism." isolation-ism." As Europe and Japan become superstates, and the U.S. has cut down its military power, who will defend the soft spots on earth?" asked Dr. Rich. "We have a tremendous backlog of military needs," he said. "For the first time since World War II that we have spent more on domestic spending than on the military." |