The Way Out: A General Nuclear Settlement

Abstract

We must know where we are if we are to understand where we must go. We should all understand the extraordinarily dangerous situation we are now in - we and the Soviets. We have between us almost 50,000 nuclear weapons. The Soviet tank armies stand poised on the borders of Europe; we are, in return, deploying first-strike weapons in a game of nuclear "chicken." Although communications have been restored at a high level, arms control negotiations are still inadequate and the nuclear arms buildup on both sides is accelerating. After thirteen years of negotiations about cuts, the number of strategic warheads on both sides has tripled. There is generalized distrust, hostility and invective between our two countries. The political and ideological struggle between the U.S. and the USSR has a potential outcome that, while still unlikely, is intolerable - nuclear war.