Conventional Forces

In your editorial (Sept. 23), "No Sudden Moves," on the East-West security agreement on conventional arms adopted in Stockholm, you observed that "Potentially most important of all, agreement to the verification provisions may signal a Soviet willingness to accept reasonable on-site inspection demands in other areas of arms control, including possible bans on chemical arms and nuclear testing." I believe that this agreement also sets a precedent that can lead to the removal of all conventional forces from Europe, followed by the removal of nuclear weapons as well.

A senior U.S. official expressed optimism Wednesday that negotiations on a treaty to reduce conventional forces in Europe will move speedily toward completion this fall as a result of the surprisingly quick Soviet-German agreement on the future size of an all-German army.

Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday that it is vital to follow up an expected U.S.-Soviet arms agreement by improving the balance of conventional forces in Europe and restoring the ceiling on long-range strategic nuclear weapons. Addressing an arms control meeting of the American Assn.

Most of the time, Western Europe's conventional armies are a background issue, overshadowed by debate about nuclear missiles. The troops and tanks and generals go about their business of practicing for battle while disarmament negotiators refine the definitions of missile range and warhead yield. The priorities are evident in the various East-West disarmament talks. There seems to be almost daily progress toward reduction of nuclear missiles (intermediate- and shorter-range).

Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the man of continuity in surprises, has pulled off another one with his New York speech. By announcing unilateral cuts in the Soviet armed forces, Gorbachev has demonstrated both weakness and strength--the weakness of a Soviet economy that makes rapid cuts in defense expenditures imperative, and the strength of his own authority. Out of economic necessity, Gorbachev has made a diplomatic virtue. One can only hope that the West might take a leaf out of his book.

George Kennan comes closer than any other American to reading Moscow's mind and knowing how Washington should react. His most recent reading is that for all of Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's domestic disasters, America is better off with him in charge than anyone else. Kennan outlined for a Senate committee last week two ways that Washington can help Gorbachev keep his balance despite armed insurrection in the Soviet south and political insurrection in the north.

East-West negotiations have been reinvigorated by President Bush's address at Texas A & M University on Friday and by Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's initiatives in Moscow on Thursday. They alone cannot settle matters but their leadership is essential. The most important development is the agreement, reached in Moscow by Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, to resume negotiations in mid-June on Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START)

Secretary of State James A. Baker III declared Monday that the landmark U.S.-Soviet agreement on troop ceilings in Europe, reached only seven months ago, has been "overtaken by events" and that the future level of U.S. forces on the Continent is "very much in the air." Baker's statement confirmed that the issue of East-West forces levels was not resolved at the Helsinki summit Sunday. It will be taken up by Baker, who was in Brussels on Monday, during a visit to Moscow this week.

President Bush and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl held a telephone conversation today but failed to resolve their differences over East-West negotiations on short-range nuclear forces, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said. "It does not appear that a basis for agreement is there, but we'll continue to discuss it and see," Fitzwater said. He described the 20-minute conversation, initiated by Kohl, as "productive, cordial, but also direct," using diplomatic language implying that differences remain.

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev today welcomed U.S. proposals to cut military manpower in Europe and said they could accelerate an East-West agreement on reducing conventional arms. In prepared remarks from a speech on the first day of a landmark visit to West Germany, Gorbachev gave his first response to a May 29 proposal by President Bush to cut American and Soviet troops in Europe to equal levels. "There is more reason to believe now that agreement in Vienna may be reached much earlier than previously thought," Gorbachev said, referring to East-West talks in the Austrian capital on conventional forces.