Editorials
commonweal SLOUCHING TOWARD SUPERIORITY OF ALL THE POLITICAL judgments American citizens are called upon to make, few are as important as those having to do with our government's stance toward...
...A familiar turn of logic: test, though the stated goal is to ban...
...In compliance with congressional requirements, notification of the forthcoming test asserts, among several debatable points, that the ASAT test would not interfere with negotiations on banning ASAT systems...
...It is an issue of no small consequence...
...Yes and no...
...And whether or not the administration is wise enough to backtrack on that first test, it should resist the mirage of "a little more than balance" — and go to Geneva ready to negotiate a separate ASAT treaty...
...Take the issue of anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) testing...
...They are controlled by a very peculiar logic...
...Instead, having overcome previous congressional opposition, the administration has moved swiftly to begin a crucial series of tests, using a target in space, for our own anti-satellite system...
...But compare Mr...
...Those who don't want to live with the remaining degree of ambiguity should ask themselves whether they prefer living with the Soviets' next anti-satellite system — the one they will develop to "catch up" to our imminent "advantage...
...ten times faster...
...A tested Soviet anti-satellite weapon which is primitive versus an incompletely tested U.S...
...That goes for ABM systems...
...By pushing to complete an initial test before the Geneva meeting, isn't the administration simply making sure the Soviets get serious...
...Because testing ASAT, for example, is not specifically prohibited by the existing ABM treaty, it provides a way of advancing Star Wars which, done more directly, would violate that agreement...
...The administration should forego the ASAT test now scheduled...
...says it won't discuss the Soviet offer until next November's Geneva summit...
...That goes for anti-satellite weaponry...
...But the real anti-satellite system test is the test of whether our government is willing to try...
...Unfortunately, that argument not only collides with the ASAT system's link-to Star Wars, which remains, to date, non-negotiable by Mr...
...That goes for Star Wars...
...That slouch toward superiority seems to be practically built into the arms negotiations processes as currently practiced...
...one which is sophisticated — this is as close to real balance as can be expected...
...The only way out of this gridlock is for someone to make a move, and there is scarcely a safer one than in the area of ASATs...
...The U.S...
...although recognized as ' 'crude'' by scientists, failed its latest test in June...
...Speakes's words to the descriptions offered by scientists, as reported in the New York Times, who said a fully developed U.S...
...appropriate funds, though the goal is to "bargain away" and dismantle...
...Then, too, there are plenty of interested parties reluctant to admit "balance" when just one more step may provide some marginal advantage...
...The president certified that testing a weapon would not interfere with banning it...
...To the extent that the deterrence systems of both superpowers rely on satellites, a breakthrough in anti-satellite weaponry could very well be a breakthrough to chaos...
...Finally, if "balance" is the stated goal, then why not use the prospect of "a little more than balance" as an incentive and bargaining ploy in negotiations...
...He calls for "a balance," and for the means "to provide an incentive" for the Soviets to negotiate...
...commonweal SLOUCHING TOWARD SUPERIORITY OF ALL THE POLITICAL judgments American citizens are called upon to make, few are as important as those having to do with our government's stance toward arms control...
...It is a pattern regularly followed — with the MX, with Euromissiles, most recently with nerve gas...
...Speakes...
...potentially ten times as many.'' If these scientists are correct and if the U.S...
...And few are as frustrating...
...At least as much as the United States, the Soviet Union also appears caught in the peculiar logic which makes arms negotiations only a superficial adjunct to the underlying actionreaction spiral of the arms race...
...For one thing, if negotiations fail, then no time has been lost in testing or developing a weapon...
...Is there a contradiction in the house...
...Sorry, that won't do either...
...In the ASAT case, Larry Speakes asserts that there is a "growing threat" from Soviet satellites...
...tests prove successful, then the administration's plan resembles a slouch toward superiority rather than the "balance," "catch up," or "equivalent capability" announced by Mr...
...Yes, you read it correctly...
...it also stumbles on the present plan to conduct further tests every four months...
...Moscow has offered a moratorium on nuclear testing which Washington has found unacceptable...
...Of course, the administration might argue (if it were being candid) that there's nothing wrong with going beyond "balance" when the weapons systems at issue are essentially defensive...
...Not only are arms negotiations conducted behind the screen of secrecy...
...Both superpowers theoretically deny seeking strategic superiority and demand nothing but balance...
...system of anti-satellite weapons would be "vastly more advanced than the Soviet one...
...In arms proposals, if either side breaks the pattern, there is no guarantee the other will follow...
...This summer the Soviet Union proposed a moratorium on such testing after its own ASAT system, considered "operative" by the U.S...
...The truth is that between the superpowers, technology promises us no defensive systems which do not also pose offensive threats...
...and that stability via "equivalent capability" is essential...
...Finally, rather than using anti-satellite tests as a way around the ABM treaty or as a tit-for-tat tactic to counter possible Soviet violation of that agreement, the administration should reaffirm that treaty, aiming to modify and reinforce it, removing ambiguities and clarifying key terms to deal with the latest technology...
...It is as though two evenly matched gunfighters, neither willing to draw first, were suddenly plunged into darkness...
...Reagan's decree...
...For another thing, there is the 6 September 1985: 451 difficulty of defining "balance" when the weapons of both sides are so complex and do not easily bear correlation...
Vol. 112 • September 1985 • No. 15
