Languages of arms control
The author points out that the distinction between a component and subcomponent and a matter of Russian-English translation must be resolved if the Reagan-Gorbachev talks were to progress. The Reagan Administration did not create the problem of what is a component and what is a subcomponent; that was left unresolved in 1972. But the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization approach surely exacerbates it at a most inopportune time for arms control. US protestations that SDI does nothing to undermine the ABM Treaty ring hollow indeed when the professed aim of developing and testing various subcomponents is to arrive at a point of full systems development. If the Soviets were taking this same approach, no US arms control expert, in or out of government, would condone it once the activity had been identified by national technical means as probably ABM-related. The US would place the burden on the Soviets to explain, if they could, why it was not. The scope of the SDI program throws an entirely new factor into the equation. The price for pursuing SDI will be a stalemate in arms control negotiations for an indefinite future, increasing charges of cheating by both sides, and continuation of the chill in US-Soviet relations. Unless this prospect is reversed, good intentions and hopes for peace will be illusory. 7 references.
- OSTI ID:
- 6400648
- Journal Information:
- Bull. At. Sci.; (United States), Journal Name: Bull. At. Sci.; (United States) Vol. 41:10; ISSN BASIA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
290600* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Nuclear Energy
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
450202 -- Explosions & Explosives-- Nuclear-- Weaponry-- (-1989)
ARMS CONTROL
BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE
CONSTRAINTS
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
NATIONAL DEFENSE
NON-PROLIFERATION POLICY
POLITICAL ASPECTS