Word: reagans
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...Reagan said that late on Sunday afternoon he made "an entirely new proposal" to Gorbachev: "a ten-year delay in deployment of SDI in exchange for the complete elimination of all ballistic missiles from the respective arsenals of both nations." It was the Soviet leader, Reagan said, who balked. "The General Secretary said he would consider our offer only if we restricted all work on SDI to laboratory research, which would have killed our defensive shield...
Ever since Reagan announced his plan in 1983 for "rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete" through a space-based shield of missile-killing satellites, the Soviets have seemed almost fixated on blocking the plan. Partly, experts speculate, it is because they fear the U.S. has a strong advantage in developing new technologies. Also, the Soviets see their arsenal of missiles as fundamental to protection of their homeland and their status as a world superpower...
...agree to abide by the ABM treaty for up to 20 more years, in the hope of curtailing the development of a Star Wars system. In the past few months, he had hinted that the Soviets would be willing to accept an extension of 15 years, or even less. Reagan had offered a plan that would prohibit deployment of SDI for 7½ years. In Iceland both sides tentatively accepted a ten-year extension of the ABM treaty...
...official statement that this was the Soviets' goal came in Gorbachev's interview with TIME in August of last year, when the Soviet leader said Moscow would not object to "fundamental research" on new space weapons. In the end, his definition of permissible research could not be reconciled with Reagan's plans to push ahead with...
...outcome will inevitably intensify the controversy, raging at home as well as abroad, over Reagan's unyielding commitment to SDI. To many Americans, the entire Soviet ploy in Iceland might seem to be a setup, one that would give the Kremlin powerful propaganda ammunition in its current "peace crusade." Gorbachev was quick to blame the U.S. for the breakdown. Said he Sunday night: "Let America think. We are waiting. We are not withdrawing the proposals we have made...