Word: sovietizers
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...most contentious and important issue at Glassboro, N.J., was the same as the one at Reykjavík: Do the U.S. and the Soviet Union have a "moral" obligation to erect antimissile defenses? Or would such systems stimulate a new and dangerous arms race, in which one side's defenses would provoke the other side to proliferate offenses? In 1967 the U.S. argued that offense was "good" and defense was "bad." McNamara explained to a skeptical Kosygin that if both sides restricted their defenses, they could afford to limit their offenses; while each would need enough weapons to retaliate against...
...would render offensive nuclear forces "impotent and obsolete." He has argued that deterrence based on the threat of retaliation is immoral and a "defense that really defends" is benevolent, an eerie echo of Kosygin's rebuttal to McNamara at Glassboro. Proponents of the Strategic Defense Initiative charge that the Soviet offensive buildup proves that the U.S.S.R. never really accepted the logic of McNamara's argument and has violated the spirit (as well as the letter) of the SALT agreements...
...Soviet leadership under Mikhail Gorbachev seems to realize that unless it brakes and perhaps reverses its buildup, the result may indeed be a new round of the defensive-arms race, one in which the U.S. would, at least initially, have the advantage of superior technology. Gorbachev has been pressing for an updated version of the original SALT deal: restrictions on SDI (which is a latter-day ABM system) in exchange for significant reductions in offensive weaponry, especially the most threatening Soviet systems...
Some members of the Reagan Administration hope for a so-called grand compromise before the President leaves office. In recent months, Reagan has hinted that in exchange for the right Soviet concessions, SDI may be negotiable. One of his most conciliatory statements came on June 19 in a speech to a high school graduating class. He praised the Soviets' latest proposals in Geneva and said he was hoping that Gorbachev would "join me in taking action--action in the name of peace." The site of that speech was Glassboro...
...Soviets, who do not believe in coincidence, were struck not only by what Reagan said but by where he said it. According to a senior Soviet diplomat, Reagan's Glassboro speech contributed to Gorbachev's interest in a minisummit similar to the Glassboro meeting...