European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 1, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                June 1985 the stars and stripes Page 9 allies still debating troop strength by Clint Swift Washington Bureau Washington after nato ministers recommitted themselves to improving the alliances ability to fight with out nuclear Sam d said he wont offer another troop withdrawal amendment this but that wont end the yearlong de Bate Over whether allies Are pulling their weight in nato and the arcane algebra of defense analysis pro Vides enough complexities to keep the Dis Cussion alive As Long As the Alliance consider the defense departments fifth annual report on Allied contributions to the common released this it repeatedly says there is no universally accepted formula for calculating each country fair in the defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger concluded from an Examina Tion of two dozen indicators As a the allies Are making a significant he some countries May not be bearing their fair due to the complexity of the there will no doubt be understandable differences of opinion Over How Best to characterize the Burden sharing efforts of our Weinberger much of the 120page report is devoted to explaining How the indicators were developed and what their weaknesses a look at some of them shows How trouble some the Burden sharing Issue Weinberger said he bases his appraisal of the allies efforts mostly on a compari son of their contributions and their ability to contribution indicators in clude defense a Mored naval tonnage and Tacti Cal combat ability is measured by such indicators such As population Gross Domestic product the value of the goods and services a nation produces and what defense department economists Call a photo defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger the Prosperity to fashion the Prosperity economists consider what each nato nation represents As a percentage of the alliances total Gross Domestic product and what each members Gross Domestic product per person represents As a percentage of the highest producers the United for the report if Gross Domestic product alone were used As an no ways fair share of the total defense Burden of nato and Japan would be because nor Way ranks second Only to the United states among nato members in Gross Domestic product per its fair share rises to poorer countries such As tur key and Portugal show Prosperity Index Sam Nunn a photo shares lower than their Gross Domestic product in Brussels this nato ministers voted More Aid to if members contribute a percentage of natos manpower or equipment in proportion to their their ratio would be one to or the report says the defense spending Prosperity ration is and defense spending Gross Domestic product ratio is or some what More than its fair the other nato As a earned a defense spending Prosperity and a defense spending Gross Domestic product even a fact As apparently easy to Mea sure As a 3 percent increase in defense spending can raise Nunn claims the allies have not reached their goal of an annual 3 percent real increase in spending in any of the six years since began agreeing to while the United states has met or exceeded it each the defense report says the picture of and Allied efforts depends on which years Are it says defense spending since the Early 1970s which includes some Vietnam War years has gone Down 1 percent or 2 percent a while the allies spending during that period went up by about 2 percent a other indicators show the United states doing its share in but providing fewer armoured division equivalents and aircraft than it is theoretically Able to the poorest three members provided that kind of equipment far in excess of their computed economic the report singles out which ranks last or close to last on most of the measures surveyed and thus appears to be doing less than its fair but the report says that even such imaginative quantitative measures dont Tell the whole there also Are political european members of nato make their contributions despite historical and geographical considerations that Lead them to want an easing of tension with Warsaw pact states that might Lead to More visits Between divided families or greater East West the european except for England and Luxem have a the report the resulting lower manpower costs mean that purely quantitative measures understate their contribution in that Germany gives up rent and tax Revenue on an estimated billion Worth of land made available to Allied forces stationed it estimates that its defense spend ing total would increase by 25 percent if it were permitted to count its support of the French and garrisons in Ber and economists concerns about the effect on the comparisons of balance of Exchange rates and inflation Are not Weinberger says should set positive example by Clint Swift Washington Bureau chief Washington defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger says he believes that allies Are making More of Aco Tribu Tion to the common defense than is commonly he important differences emerge when the results for individual countries Are with some allies doing their fair share but others doing those conclusions Are contained in the defense departments fifth annual re port on Allied contributions to the com Mon released this Weinberger wrote in the report that he believes the Reagan administration and Congress have no important differences on the proposition that the allies should do he said All nato members need to do More to improve the conventional War fighting process will not be helped by Divi Sive arguments Over Burden sharing or by legislative efforts to compel a particular level or Type of Allied Weinberger the Best Way to encourage improved Allied efforts has been and will remain through our own positive example and but Sam a member of the armed services committees strategic and theater nuclear forces sub sees it it is shape up or ship out time for he wrote in a newspaper article two weeks after the unclassified version of the defense report was for the matter is not simply one of who should pick up the Check More it concerns even redoubled sacrifices to improve conventional defences and raise the nuclear threshold in Europe Are to no Avail without similar Allied he he for How the United states can plan to Send billion Worth of reinforcing Jet fighter aircraft to Europe in a crisis if the allies will not spend billion for maintenance and refuelling control towers and hardened shelters to protect he also asked Why the United states should spend billion during the next five years on nato munitions when the allies wont spend billion a year during the period to bring their munitions up to the 30day level the United states has Long citing figures Weinberger provided Congress last he noted that the United states is spending about Bil lion a year a third of the defense Bud get on Nat related forces and equip at the same the supreme Allied commander in Ber Nard has testified that the Alliance Effort has if nato were at a few Days before he would be forced to ask for permission to use nuclear if nato would be forced to choose Between surrender and using nuclear weapons Long before reinforcements could Nunn Why is the United states committed to Send six army Divi Sions and about 20 tactical fighter wings to reinforce the four divisions and seven wings it has stationed in Europe Nunn offered an amendment which failed by a narrow margin last year that would require the allies to meet their pledge of an annual 3 percent increase in inflation adjusted defense spending or to reduce the shortfall in munitions and air Craft facilities at the rate of 20 percent per if they failed to meet either the ceiling of ground troops stationed in nato countries would be reduced by a Nunn announced on the Senate floor last week that he would not pursue the amendment this year after nato min meeting in reaffirmed their commitment May 22 to the goal of 3 percent in the ministers had agreed to double to billion the funding for reinforcement facilities such As the ones Nunn has april foreign Trade deficit hit 85 Peak of billion Washington a the monthly foreign Trade deficit Rose to billion in the third largest on re the government reported the the highest yet in was due in Large part to a big jump in Petroleum imports and continued declines exports of manufactured goods and agricultural the Commerce department the april deficit compared to Bil lion in March and brought the imbalance for the first four months of the year to billion percent ahead of the Pace for the first four months of the Commerce department said the increase in the april deficit was due largely to a billion increase in Petro Leum imports Over the depart ment said in was due primarily to a Large number of March Petroleum shipments being included in the april data because of the late receipt of import documents from some the april which also featured a rebound in japanese Auto was the largest since last july the rampaging Trade deficit is being blamed As the main reason for the coun try poor Overall economic As measured by the Gross National the Economy grew Only per cent the first three months of this the Trade deficit is cutting the Gnu about in half from what it would otherwise Many analysts