East and west

Press, 30 September 1986, Page 16

East and west

Sir, — We may greet the success of the European security conference and President Reagan’s recent speech to the United Nations with qualified optimism. Mr Reagan’s offer to lessen East-West tension by deferring the S.D.I. programme and adhering to the 1972 A.B.M. treaty until 1991 is a sign of a slight relaxation in the hard United States line. Our Government should do all it can to encourage the Americans and Russians to continue the conciliatory trend. Of course a very long bout of patient diplomacy is required before the world is out of danger. The nuclear warheads must be reduced to fewer then 95 per cent of their present numbers before the risk of

nuclear winter is over. A further 20 years of negotiation might be required to achieve that. It is much more important to make real progress in this direction than to introduce new and potentially destabilising technology such as S.D.I. — Yours, etc., COLIN BURROWS. September 24, 1986.

Sir,—An appeal to be fair comes ill from K. White (September 26), whose blaming the Soviet Government for the evils of United States policies in Nicaragua and Afghanistan lacks any semblance of fairness. Let us be fair and tell the truth that the United States has an equally mighty war machine which is, in fact, the pacesetter in the arms race, both nuclear and conventional. The United States is the chief obstacle to disarmament and the greatest danger to peace as it continues to explode nuclear devices to further its “star wars” programme, while the Soviet Government patiently extends its nuclear-testing moratorium, waiting for the United States Government to join it. As the instruments of United States destabilising policies in Nicaragua and Afghanistan, the “contras” and the Mujahideen are precisely as I have described them — counter-revolutionary, mercenary thugs.—Yours, etc.,

M. CREEL. September 26, 1986.

Sir, — Signs of desperation seem to be appearing in the Reagan Administration’s foreign policy. The arrest of an alleged Soviet spy and a high-handed demand that the Soviet reduce its United Nations delegation just before the Gorbachev-Reagan summit meeting were so illtimed that they could represent a desire to provoke the Soviets into an alleged retaliatory arrest of the American press correspondent and thus give the Administration an excuse to sabotage the summit if it suited. After all, Mr Gorbachev might upstage Mr Reagan in the search for peace,

which would never do. Next, two conspicuous “hawks,” Messrs Weinberger and Perle, infringed all diplomatic protocol by an unprecedented attack on British Labour’s non-nuclear defence policy — a familiar story to New Zealanders. Are these signs that the Administration senses that its foreign policy is getting out of step with the expectations of the rest of the world — and even those of its own electors? — Yours, etc., ” VERNON WILKINSON. September 26, 1986.