Word: mx
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
That is a hotly debated argument. The Reagan Administration carefully refrained from calling the MX a bargaining "chip," which would imply a willingness to trade the system away. Even if the MX were used in the talks, moreover, that would provide no guarantee that its status would remain permanently negotiable. The Ford Administration conceived of the cruise missile largely as a bargaining item, for example, but the U.S. has since been reluctant to place cruise missiles, especially the sea-launched variety, on the table. The only major weapons system ever to serve as true trade-off material was the antiballistic...
Another pro-MX argument was introduced into the debate at the last minute, thanks to the timely Pentagon release to Congress of information, including glossy four-color sketches, about the U.S.S.R.'s latest missile hardware. Actually, most of the data have been known for some time. While the Soviets have so far stored their SS-X-24s in "garages" easily detectable by U.S. spy satellites, they are experimenting with a mobile version that can be raised and fired from a railway launcher disguised to look like part of an ordinary freight train. The smaller SS-X-25, which...
Under the rules of the 1979 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, which both superpowers are observing even though it was never ratified by the Senate, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. are allowed to deploy one new missile system each. Moscow claims the SS-X-24 as its entry, Washington the MX. The Soviets, who now have six types of missiles in their ICBM arsenal, insist that the SS-X-25 is merely an updated version of the SS-13 and thus does not qualify as a new weapon or as a SALT violation. The Reagan Administration has disputed that point several...
Though Reagan blithely disavowed his aides' warnings about political retaliation, the final vote bore the marks of tough party discipline. Only eight of the Senate's 53 Republicans voted against the MX measure. The G.O.P. defections were more than offset by ten Democratic votes for the MX, including that of Minority Leader Robert Byrd, a longtime MX supporter. Said Democrat Christopher Dodd: "The negotiations in Geneva are what put this over the top. I'll bet Reagan got ten votes on that basis alone...
Moscow's reaction to the Senate vote was reasonably muted. Soviet media continued to describe the MX as a "first-strike missile." Not surprisingly, the official Soviet news agency TASS accused the Senate of "bowing to unprecedented pressure from the Reagan Administration and the U.S. military- industrial complex." The MX vote had no immediately discernible effect on the talks in Geneva. U.S. and Soviet spokesmen announced that they had reached agreement, as planned, on dividing into three negotiation groups, one each to consider strategic weapons, Euromissiles and space arms...