Gorbachev's arms control moves
Soviet concessions to the US position are unparalleled in the postwar history of US-Soviet arms control negotiations. They document a compelling Soviet desire to conclude arms control agreements with the Reagan administration and have brought an agreement on reducing intermediate-range missiles, and possibly an agreement in principle on strategic reductions, in range this year. So far, the Reagan administration, divided within itself over arms control, has been consistent only in its intransigence. In the face of Soviet moratoriums on testing of nuclear warheads and antisatellite weapons, the US has tested both. It has renounced and exceeded the SALT II ceilings on strategic delivery systems. It seems intent on dismantling the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty through the testing in space of ballistic missile defense weapons on the basis of an arbitrary reinterpretation of the treaty. A Soviet regime of past temper would probably have responded in kind to such actions, bringing anarchic, unregulated competition in weapons of offense and defense. But Gorbachev's moves toward the US position have continued. The author explores the question of whether a deliberately unyielding Reagan administration strategy has elicited this flow of Soviet concessions or whether they are generated mainly by policy change in the Soviet Union itself after looking at the actual record of Soviet arms control moves of the last two years.
- Research Organization:
- Union of Concerned Scientists, Washington, DC
- OSTI ID:
- 6200718
- Journal Information:
- Bull. At. Sci.; (United States), Journal Name: Bull. At. Sci.; (United States) Vol. 43:5; ISSN BASIA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
Negotiations
& Legislation-- (1987-)
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
AGREEMENTS
ARMS CONTROL
ASIA
BILATERAL AGREEMENTS
EASTERN EUROPE
EUROPE
INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
RECOMMENDATIONS
SALT TALKS
TREATIES
USA
USSR
WEAPONS