INDIAN OCEAN 37 "threat". As a matter of fact Australia is the only continent where the United States has not yet actually used its armed forces. Moreover, the United States' presence, direct (bases and stationing of troops) or indirect (military pacts and alliances), has covered most of the regions, excluding, of course, socialist and a large majority of non-aligned countries.1 Besides, the United States fleets are deployed in all major oceans with bases and facilities very often under direct United States control (for example, Dcigo Garcia). The latest addition is the Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) of 100,000 troops for induction into the Gulf within 10 weeks. It is interesting to note that although the United States troops arc stationed in Western Europe and the United Kingdom ever since the allied landing during the Second World War, the United States has never used force directly in that continent after the Greek civil war (1946-1949); the repeated use of force was largely concentrated in Asia, including two full-scale wars in Korea and Vietnam. Such a massive display and recurrent use of force far beyond the borders of a country have never been witnessed before in history. During the Second World War pcilod, successive United States Presidents and their Secretaries of State and advisers on national security consistently reiterated Washington's determination to use force as an instrument of its policies. The latest rcaffirmation of this came from President Reagan's new Defence Secretary within a week of his inauguration. He is reported to have told the Senate Armed Service Committee: The international political climate continues to deteriorate and the prospects of our having to employ military force directly or indirectly to safeguard our interests cannot be dismissed.3 Any lingering doubt about this was set at rest by the sharp rise in the defence outlay of the Reagan administration^ new budget and its hawkish policy statements.3 The United States leadership justifies its record and overt readiness to use force on the pica of supporting such noble causes as the defence of human rights. At the same time. Western leaders and media, including some of our own in India, are never tired of reminding the world of the growing "Soviet military menace^. The Anglo-Americans have created a near war psychosis over the Soviet Union's action in Afghanistan. A spectre of "Soviet military menace" is thus currently haunting the West and it is considered to be more fearsome than the proverbial spectre of communism.