European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 15, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes sunday december 15, 1985 columns Anthony Lewis superpowers need lessons on the limits of Power when we look Back at the of Nova Summit a few years from now. Will it mean anything will it have earned a Page of history not Likely. But it will if time has shown that it did one thing it taught the two principals something about the limits of their Power. The meeting was a washout in terms of substance. It missed an Opportunity the Best in memory to move toward real reductions in the bloated nuclear armoires of the superpowers. Both had called for 50 percent cuts in weapons but their leaders could not even agree on a Frame work for negotiation toward that end. What is interesting is the reaction. De spite the Lack of substance and president Reagan s care to avoid euphoria. Con Gress eagerly applauded his intimations of Hope his references to the need for peace. The american Public seems equally pleased to think that something was achieved in Geneva. The eagerness to applaud tells us two things about the feelings of americans. First How deep a desire for peace there is. What president Kennedy found when he toured the country in the last summer of his life is still True americans yearn for Concrete measures to Case the Strain Between the superpowers the War psychology. The Burden of weaponry. Second How Low our expectations have become. We arc pleased at the atmospherics in Geneva the minutes spent together the fireside the handshakes the jokes. Ves there is some value in atmospherics. And in the human Contact made. It matters that America s most doctrinaire right Wing president met a soviet Leader and concluded As Reagan said to his cab inet i have to believe that. They share with us the desire to get something done and to get things straightened  the Psid Cut spoke of Mikhail Gorba Chev with personal respect. I think i m some judge of acting the president told reporters so i Don t think he was acting. He. I believe is just As sincere As we Are in wanting an  and it is hard to Dis miss Ronald Reagan As soft on communism. But All that is ephemeral unless it affects the actual policies of the two leaders. And the Geneva meeting can have had that kind of Impact Only if each Man Decanie too Oose 70 to Brink  365n totalps5toction 3t a thank60prea6anwewttdino arms talks i know Ima opense contractor but.theva6r6eonanp 7him3as we know it Learned something of the other s reality of the other system s values and commit ments. Which is to say Learned that his own country cannot unilaterally order the world As it wishes. For Gorbachev two policy areas will crucially test whether Geneva has affected his thinking. They arc soviet repression of dissidents and jews at Home and the soviet military occupation of Afghanistan. Soviet officials always insist that their treatment of their own people is an inter Nal matter. When the human rights Issue was raised at their press conferences in Geneva soviet spokesmen stonewalled or walked out. But if Gorbachev is a realist he must know now that cruelty to dissidents and jewish would be emigrants has inescapable consequences abroad sapping support for negotiations with the soviet Union. Ditto the occupation of Afghanistan. It has to be said that the omens Are not Good on the human rights front. A few victims were let go in connection with Geneva but fewer than at the Lime of the last Summit in 1979. Persecution of such people As the Independent peace activists known As the Moscow Trust group continues. So docs the harsh policy toward jewish cultural activities As Well As Emi Gration. Gorbachev could so easily Send a signal by casing up. For Reagan the test of what he Learned at Geneva will come on military economic policy. Through five years As president he has insisted he can vastly increase spend ing on weapons launch a huge space de sense program and ignore the economic consequences. His own supporters in con Gress have ceased to believe that. Can he still believe after Geneva that limitless military spending will make Gorbachev sign on our dotted line again the omens Are not Good. Speaking on the radio after his return to Washington the president called on con Gress to support both More weapons and space defense. He showed no sign of understanding the implications of what nil own hawkish Secretary of defense reported that if the russians seemed Likely to develop a space defense we would be forced to build More offensive nuclear weapons. So will they. Barbara Tuchman. The historian put it in a sentence when asked what she wished for the Geneva meeting i would like for my compatriots to learn that there Are two superpowers in the world that Amer Ica is not destined to govern the world after its own  the russians too. New York Telmet Newt service Tom Wicker Osfar wars Withers Hopes for cuts in nuclear arms of course the Summit was worthwhile. It s Good that president Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev got to know each other and will visit each other s country. New consulates cultural exchanges possibly risk reduction centers All Are Welcome and should be useful. But one fact emerged most clearly from Geneva Reagan s strategic defense initiative is the principal Barrier to the so percent reductions in each superpower s nuclear Arsenal that the two leaders agreed in Prin Ciple to pursue. Separately and in their joint statements both said they had agreed to accelerate negotiations to achieve such deep cuts. That would t be easy in any Case Given the two sides differing emphases on land based is. Sea based weapons heavy missiles is. Smaller ones launchers is. Warheads As the unit of measurement and the like. But it should not be impossible to work out roughly equal reductions unless differences Over the sd1 prevent the negotiators from Ever getting Down to the Job. At his news conference Gorbachev insisted that the prerequisite for Radical cutbacks in offensive weapons was that the door to unleashing an arms race in outer space be firmly slammed  Reagan addressing Congress extolled the ski As a research Effort that envisions the possibility of defensive systems which could ultimately protect All nations against the danger of nuclear  leaving no doubt that he intended to proceed with space based defense he said he had argued to the soviet Leader that ski has nothing to do with offensive  Gorbachev was not convinced both he and the presi Dent made Clear. Reagan conceded that his opposite number believed we might use a strategic defense sys tem to put offensive weapons into space and establish nuclear  Gorbachev told reporters that the americans were just itching to get this world Domina Tion and look Down on the world from on  yet in five hours of on on on talks and two Days of Overall discussion the two sides were not Able or did not choose to develop instructions for their offi Cial arms negotiators on the first crucial question about ski How to distinguish Between Laboratory research sanctioned by the existing abm treaty and the further testing and development necessary before a space based defense could be deployed. Thus it s still not entirely Clear that Gorbachev de mands the immediate abandonment of what Reagan called a research Effort in order that the door. Be firmly slammed  what is Clear is that the president is determined to go ahead with ski and has not Given Gorbachev the Assurance he wants that there will be no arms race in  americans May Well think Gorbachev intransigent on this Point since ski is in an embryonic stage and could not be deployed for years. On the other hand Many Western strategists believe that the soviet Leader he compelling logic on his Side in the primary argument he makes against ski a strategic defense for either Side would stimuli top the other to develop More and better offensive we a with which to overcome the defense. Even a Weinberger the Secretary of defense despite i port for ski has reported to Reagan that a sonet defense would require us to increase the number of 0r offensive forces and their ability to penetrate  a space based defense could develop an Offe Tjw character. Some of the weapons ostensibly designed for defense might be used offensively even if not the Tjw first deploying a defense would have at least a Bow offensive advantage just As a primitive Warrior will shield and a sword had an offensive advantage Over one with a sword but no shield. Peoples of All nations Are Likely w Crew the glittering Promise thai the superpowers no Cir arsenals May be Cut in half while that would not my Estanly remove the possibility of a first strike by either Side it would be a Long step in the right direction. But merely telling the negotiators to accelerate their efforts is like urging ice to melt faster As Long As re a and Gorbachev differ so drastically about the nature and potential of the ski. New York times Newi service