Nixon, Kissinger View on Arms
Nixon and Kissinger show need for psychiatric evaluation. They’re just plain envious of what they call “President Reagan’s historic opportunity to take a major step forward in Soviet-American relations.†They insist on loading down the IMF zero-option proposal with so many demands that the Soviets will slam the door.
When Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev offers to give up 922 medium-range warheads for our 316 and to give up 142 short-range warheads for our NONE, how can Nixon and Kissinger insist on adding conditions as radical as (1) “no missiles in Asia†and ‘(2) “linkage to conventional balance?â€
Nixon and Kissinger say, “No deal is better than a bad deal.†How is giving up 316 warheads for the Soviets’ 1,064 (total) a bad deal? To demand the whole pie at once is a sign of megalomania.
HAROLD WATERHOUSE
Pacific Palisades
More to Read
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.