Word: minisummit
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...speeches were the highlights of a week of intense jockeying by both the White House and the Kremlin to bolster their positions in advance of the summit. Shortly after his talk, Reagan convened a minisummit in New York with U.S. allies. He met for two hours after lunch, and again for two hours at dinner, with the government leaders of Canada, Britain, West Germany, Italy and Japan. He also held bilateral sessions with each of these leaders. (French President François Mitterrand boycotted the proceedings out of pique that he had not been consulted before the meetings were scheduled...
Gorbachev meanwhile journeyed to Sofia, Bulgaria, for a minisummit of his own with the U.S.S.R.'s six Warsaw Pact allies. Though there are serious continuing strains within that alliance (see WORLD), the Soviet chief had no difficulty pulling the East European leaders into line behind Moscow's effort to keep the summit pinpointed on arms control, and in particular on the Soviet attempt at a diplomatic zapping of Star Wars...
...Helmut Kohl was impressed by Reagan's private notes, which he showed the allies, detailing various arms-control scenarios that might be played out at the summit. But Thatcher, supported by Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, thought more was required. A spokesman quoted her as telling Reagan at the minisummit that "you have to re-present or reformulate your arms-control position before Geneva or there will be trouble." Reagan could not give her a clear answer because, as Shultz put it the next day, "the President has made no decision yet on just what is an appropriate response...
...though more focused than ever in the face of a common recognized foe, remains an entirely national prerogative. But why rub it in? More than once since Sept. 11, European leaders have seemed eager to do just that. Jacques Chirac, Gerhard Schröder and Tony Blair held a minisummit to discuss Afghanistan last month in Ghent, just before a full E.U. summit, but pointedly excluded other member states...
Despite the slow unraveling of the C.I.S., there was welcome news last week on the post-Soviet issue that matters most to the West: nuclear weapons. After a minisummit in Washington, President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced that Kazakhstan would adhere to the START treaty, which slashes long-range arsenals. In a country where isolated ethnic conflicts are turning into regional confrontations, nuclear proliferation is the greatest threat...