Word: summit
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...advisers have been doing for weeks, Reagan played down hopes that the summit would produce a major breakthrough in arms control. Now that summits are media extravaganzas, somewhat like presidential primaries, manipulating expectations is part of the walk-up. The Reagan Administration's official line was one of "tactical pessimism." The idea was to explain away in advance any failure to reach substantive accords as the fault of a new Soviet leader who, for all his pretense to the role of Great Communicator, is in fact just another dogmatic Kremlin apparatchik. For their part, the Soviets engaged in similar...
...desire for summit deals is hedged by considerable doubt about their feasibility. The survey of 1,020 registered voters,[*] taken Nov. 5 through Nov. 7 by Yankelovich, Skelly & White, Inc., found that while 82% of respondents believed the first summit in six years was a good idea, only 7% expected significant forward movement from the talks, and 16% forecast no progress at all. The Administration's attempts in recent weeks to dampen expectations about summit accomplishments were clearly successful. For example, 86% of those surveyed considered a mutual reduction in nuclear arms a "very important" summit goal, but only...
...depth of public commitment to SDI is also suspect. Among possible goals for the summit, the survey listed, "Reaching an arms-control agreement in which the U.S. stops building the Star Wars defense system and the Soviet Union makes similar cutbacks in its military systems." A commanding 74% thought that idea to be a "very important" goal, while only 18% labeled it "not very important." If the President continues to insist that SDI offers more security than a missile cut, he will have to persuade the U.S. public as well as the Soviets of his views...
...think their economic situation has deteriorated. Concern over the swollen federal deficit and U.S. economic health continue to rank first and second among problems facing the country, well ahead of the arms race and the threat of nuclear war. Yet, despite their reservations about the President's hawkish summit stance, many voters claim they feel more comfortable after five years of Reagan's defense and foreign policies. Only 16% consider themselves in greater danger militarily because of Reagan's policies, while a full 36% believe they are safer. Perceptions of the legacy from Geneva will doubtless affect those numbers...
...Kremlin has peppered the U.S. with scattered human rights charges ever since the Sacco and Vanzetti case of 1920. But in the maneuvering leading up to this week's summit, the denunciations have reached new heights. The campaign represents a tactical shift by Moscow; while the Soviets still maintain their traditional stony attitude about Western interference in their own "internal affairs," they are now going on the counterattack. In reply to the continued U.S. criticism of Soviet emigration policies and Reagan's recent rebukes of the oppressive nature of Soviet society, the Kremlin under Mikhail Gorbachev has taken the offensive...