Word: moratorium
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...that would threaten Star Wars. A meeting last week of midlevel arms-control advisers ended "in total disagreement," said one participant. "We are bogged down here, really stalemated." Unflagging support for SDI also dims the prospect for any agreement on nuclear testing. The Soviets have called for a total moratorium and have not detonated a nuclear device since August 1985. But some of the weapons envisioned by SDI require underground nuclear tests. The Pentagon argues that testing is needed to ensure the reliability of its arms stockpile. While continuing with tests, the U.S. has proposed that on-site monitors...
Although the Soviet moratorium on testing is due to expire next month, few observers expect the Soviets to resume nuclear tests immediately, which leaves the U.S. scientists with little to monitor. Moreover, the U.S. already has in place a worldwide network of stations that accurately monitor Soviet tests. Even so, the American observers should collect invaluable data on the seismological characteristics of the Soviet Union and on the Soviets' ability to read tremors from U.S. nuclear tests. The project's primary goal, said Archambeau, is to "demonstrate that on-site inspection is feasible and should be no obstacle...
...area of proven vulnerability is finance. Last year, after several American and European banks demanded immediate payment on short-term loans to South Africa because of the deteriorating situation, the country virtually panicked. The level of the national currency, the rand, plummeted, and in September the government declared a moratorium on repaying its $14 billion in short-term bank loans. Says Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga: "If Pretoria will not listen to arguments based on rights, it will listen to arguments based on rands." But no one expects measures against South African trade to be nearly as effective...
...dangers of atomic power with the threat of nuclear weapons, noting that "inherent in the nuclear arsenals stockpiled are thousands upon thousands of disasters far more horrible than the Chernobyl one." Gorbachev then disingenuously invited President Reagan to meet in Europe "or, say, in Hiroshima" to negotiate a test moratorium. He pointedly extended the Soviet Union's own ten-month test ban until Aug. 6, which marks the 41st anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. In Geneva, meanwhile, Soviet negotiators offered a plan for removing medium-range nuclear missiles from Europe...
Another possible impediment to a productive Reagan-Gorbachev meeting was the Administration's decision to go ahead with an underground nuclear test in Nevada last week after a two-day delay that had been caused by bad weather. The Soviet Union, which had adopted a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear testing last August, denounced the U.S. action and said that the U.S.S.R. too would resume testing. The Soviet news agency TASS described the U.S. test, which was code-named Mighty Oak, as a "dangerous destabilizing step" and an indication that the Reagan Administration "is still chasing the will...