Word: sdi
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...keep a lid on expectations for the meeting, the President last week seemed to drop a strong hint that it would be the ideologue. At his first formal press conference since undergoing surgery for cancer last July, Reagan declared that he would not abandon his cherished Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), better known as Star Wars, in exchange for cuts, however large, in the Soviet nuclear arsenal...
...more tantalizing, Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev told visiting U.S. Senators that Moscow was willing to make "radical proposals" for cutting back offensive weapons if the U.S. would restrict its Star Wars program to "fundamental research." For the first time, Gorbachev moved away from a demand that the U.S. drop SDI altogether. Many American experts noted with cautious interest the signs of flexibility. "The Soviets are now laying out the terms of a deal," said John Steinbruner, foreign policy director of the Brookings Institution in Washington...
...reduction and six different ways to enlist their interest in negotiating with us in a reduction of warheads. They have come back with nothing." Before returning to Geneva, the U.S. delegation, led by Max Kampelman, was summoned to the White House to hear Reagan deliver an impassioned defense of SDI. "Their instructions were to stand pat," said a top official. "It's time for the Soviets to play their stake...
None of Reagan's advisers appear willing to try to persuade him to put SDI on the bargaining table. In his first term, the U.S. arms-control apparatus was nearly paralyzed by an intramural struggle between advocates of a negotiated agreement, led by former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Burt, and opponents of arms control, led by Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle. Burt has since departed to become Ambassador to West Germany, leaving no one to push hard for arms control. The Pentagon under Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger is unalterably opposed to abandoning SDI (see box). Publicly, Shultz always...
...public opinion will respond in Western Europe. If the U.S. is ultimately viewed as an obstacle to nuclear sanity, the result could be disarray in the alliance and strong pressure to make concessions. The Administration is trying to keep the Allies in line by dangling lucrative defense contracts for SDI research. Last week the U.S. appeared to be close to signing agreements with the British and West Germans to clear the way for such research...