Word: gorbachevized
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Gorbachev's initiative will make it ever more difficult for Reagan to put forth a public case for pursuing his Star Wars program. Said the Soviet leader: "Instead of wasting the next ten to 15 years by developing new weapons in space, allegedly designed to make nuclear arms useless, would it not be more sensible to eliminate those arms?" Reagan is caught in a public relations bind: it will be difficult for him to explain convincingly why he is prepared to scuttle a plan to rid the world of nuclear missiles by insisting on the right to build a defensive...
...Gorbachev's third stage is the most visionary: starting no later than 1995, all nations would get rid of any remaining nuclear weapons and pledge never to build any more. "Mankind [could] approach the year 2000 under peaceful skies and with peaceful space, without fear of . . . annihilation...
...Gorbachev also advanced a host of more immediate proposals. In tacit recognition of the link between battlefield nuclear weapons and conventional arms, he called for a speeding up of the negotiations on troop reductions in Europe that have been dragging on in Vienna for twelve years, and matched a Western concession made last December with one of his own on verification. He proposed an agreement on chemical weapons that moved beyond Moscow's previous willingness to destroy only existing stockpiles and called for dismantling production facilities as well. He also extended for three months a Soviet moratorium on weapons tests...
...Gorbachev is obviously seeking to put Reagan on the defensive, which he has. The Soviet leader's proposal is deftly crafted to appeal immediately to many West Europeans who are anxious about nuclear missiles stationed on their soil or aimed at them. The President will now feel pressure to demonstrate progress toward a deal when the two meet in Washington for their second summit, possibly as early as June...
...British, French and West German governments reacted to Gorbachev's proposals about the same way Washington did, expressing both cautious interest and wary skepticism. But one British diplomat ruefully asserted, "It is so simplistic. Good Guy Mikhail offers to get rid of all nuclear missiles while Ron the Hawk lumbers on with his antimissile system. It is going to be a difficult task to explain to public opinion that in the real world it is the small print that really matters, not the grandiose initiatives...