Word: sdi
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...American side, initial optimism is mixed with some wariness. The Soviets have dangled the prospect before of a separate medium-range reduction pact, only to then demand that the agreement be linked to SDI concessions. Cautions former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger: "The Soviets are serious, but whether they're serious about negotiation or propaganda remains to be seen...
Sakharov voices deep skepticism about Ronald Reagan's proposed Strategic Defense Initiative. Yet he does not favor the Soviet negotiating position that makes an arms-agreement "package" dependent on what amounts to U.S. abandonment of sdi. Mikhail Gorbachev's latest proposal of a separate agreement on intermediate-range nuclear forces appears to approach this position...
...authors reach the heart of their argument and the most interesting material in their book. The Strategic Defense Initiative, they assert, is an impractical, useless project. Only its usefulness to various special interest groups keeps it alive: the Europeans crave the billion dollar high-tech defense contracts SDI will bring them; arms-controllers such as Paul Nitze want a billion dollar bargaining chip; and right-wingers led by Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle see it as a billion dollar way to violate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and jettison the SALT agreements, and sabotage arms control. A useless Star...
Despite its validity, this analysis of SDI is unusually one-sided. Mandelbaum and Talbott ignore all arguments in favor of Star Wars. A defense system is conceivable, for instance, that would not constitute an impregnable "Astrodome"--to use the authors' inapt analogy--but might be capable of destroying a limited number of missiles launched accidentally by the Soviets or irresponsibly by a third power...
THOUGH TITLED Reagan and Gorbachev and boasting a picture on the cover of the two leaders discussing the fate of the world next to a cozy fireplace, the book lacks discussion of the 1985 Geneva summit and the 1986 Reykjek superpower get-together. It is ultimately about SDI. Mandelbaum and Talbott are guilty of trying to mask a one-sided condemnation of Star Wars in an even-handed discussion of Reagan and Gorbachev...