Agenda Wars

Haggling over space talks

For more than a month, the U.S. and the Soviet Union have been sending signals back and forth about the need for high-level talks this fall on limiting space weapons. Last week, when Washington again indicated it would prefer not to restrict the discussions to limits on such weapons, the Kremlin declared ominously: "The position of the United States has made impossible negotiations as proposed by the Soviet government." The chilly abruptness of that statement was unexpected. Nonetheless, the Reagan Administration politely but firmly continued to call for talks on intermediate-range and intercontinental missiles, as well as space weapons. "If the Soviets don't wish to listen, they don't have to," said White House Spokesman Larry Speakes, "but our goal is to restore some dialogue on the subject."

This latest diplomatic crisis began when the Soviet news agency TASS said that Moscow had proposed a joint statement that would commit the superpowers to negotiate on "the prevention of militarization of space." TASS also said the Soviets wanted to introduce a moratorium on the testing and deployment of antisatellite weapons and space-based missiles when proposed negotiations are scheduled to begin on Sept. 18 in Vienna. The Administration, however, also wants to look at "offensive" weapons, namely intermediate and intercontinental missiles, and it opposes the suggested moratorium since the U.S. has no operating antisatellite system and the Soviet Union does.

Complicating matters further is a policy squabble among top Administration officials. Secretary of State George Shultz indicated, "There is no question about the fact that the President is ready to have these talks, and has said yes unconditionally." But Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, in a Washington Post interview took a harder line, saying that any talks must include the discussion of offensive nuclear missiles. "I very much hope we will go to Vienna," he said, "but there's no point in going... and just talking about one thing."

At week's end TASS, clearly preferring public pressure to private diplomatic contacts, insisted again that the Vienna talks can begin only if the Administration agrees in advance to discuss a possible ban on space weapons.

There are too many political incentives in this election year for the Administration to give up any prospective dialogue with the Soviets. Some U.S. officials remain cautiously hopeful despite Moscow's near nyet. Said a senior U.S. diplomat: "It was tactical, not decisive. No one here has concluded that the Soviets have decided they do not want to go to Vienna." Nevertheless, said a White House official, "people here are less optimistic than they were before."