And thereby, when you have problems in a region of the world that produces oil, you are -- theeffect on your own production -- your own dependence on that -- the reduction in your dependence on that insulates you from some of that shock.
While such agreements are commonly viewed as part of a process of "normalizing" the Soviet Union in its relations to the West, they also have the inevitable effect of reducing the West's defenses and risking the West's increasing dependence on future Soviet stability and good will.