Word: summit
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Arms-control Adviser Paul Nitze is the most intriguing member of the summit bullpen. Nitze, 78, a white-haired, spry member of the old postwar foreign policy establishment, has been dubbed "the Silver Fox" for his wily bureaucratic skills. If anyone can find a way to bridge the chasm between the U.S. and the Soviet arms proposals, it is Nitze. The arms-control veteran, however, has been tagged by many Reaganauts as an accommodationist for his willingness to work out a deal...
...summit, the President and his men seem caught in an awkward minuet. Unlike earlier Presidents, Reagan is oblivious to the essential details of arms control. His advisers are either unwilling or unable to make him confront the difficult practical choices. Until they do, it is hard to see how they can offer the President much more than moral support when he faces off against Gorbachev in Geneva, or begin the hard business of translating superpower proposals into progress. --By Evan Thomas. Reported by Laurence I. Barrett/Washington
Publicly, Reaganites express confidence that the President will successfully blend his procapitalist ideological toughness with an informed shrewdness about Soviet stratagems. "He's been preparing for this for 25 years," says ex-Aide Michael Deaver, who is helping with summit public relations. One prepper goes so far as to label Reagan's elaborately prepared briefing materials as mere "refresher reading." Still, sighs one Sovietologist, "let's face it. He's starting from such a low base that any knowledge would be an improvement." Reagan is so supremely confident of his ability to persuade the Soviets of the virtues...
...question on Israel during his Paris press conference, one adviser half rose, cupped a hand to his ear to hear what was said, then sat down with a satisfied look when the boss had finished. The Soviet leader will presumably use his staff in a similar way at the summit, referring to their briefing papers for guidance but summarizing the Soviet position succinctly and accurately...
Although he has not appreciably altered basic Soviet foreign policy, Gorbachev has made a key change at the top. A notable absence at the summit is apt to be Andrei Gromyko, a fixture of U.S.-Soviet negotiations for four decades, who has been eased out of the Foreign Minister's job into the largely ceremonial position of President of the U.S.S.R. Although other veterans are likely to follow Gromyko out the door, many have survived previous shifts in Soviet leadership by developing expertise that successive leaders have found invaluable...