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PAGE 10
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, NOVEMBER 11, 1983
is achieved in two places only: in the grave and at the type
writer. Perfect peace is the stuff of poetry and high-minded
newspaper editorials. Real peace, on the other hand, will be the
down-to-earth product of the real world, manufactured by
realistic, calculating leaders whose sense of their nations'
self-interest is diamond-hard and unflinching.
We will meet the challenge of real peace only by keeping in mind
two fundamental truths. First, conflict is a natural state of
affairs in the world. Second, nations onl�resort to aggression
when they believe they will profit from1t. Conversely, they
will shrink from aggression if it appears inthe long run it will
cost them more than it benefits them.
The stark truth is that� ideologies and the foreign policies
or
the superpowers are diametrically opposed.
The struggle
between the Soviet Union and the United States is between an
avowedly and manifestly aggressive power and an avowedly and
manifestly defensive one.
The United States wants peace; the
Soviet Union wants the world-
.--we are interested in peace as an
en� in itself; they�e interested in it only if it serves their
ends.
The Soviets pursue those ends unscrupulously, by means
short of all-out war.
They lie, cheat, subvert governments,
disrupt elections, subsidize terrorists, and wage wars by proxy.
For the Soviets, peace is� continuation of war� other means.
If our differences are so intractable, is peace possible? Our
differences make a perfect, ideal peace impossible, but our
common interests make a pragmatic, real peace achievable....
No man knows the strengths and weaknesses of the Soviet Union
better than Yuri Andropov.... But Andropov is no fool. He is
also aware of the profound weaknesses of the Soviet Union. Its
economy is in desperate shape.
Western economies have been
through some rough seas, but the Soviet economy is dead in the
water. The growth rate is plummeting. Productivity is dropping.
Absenteeism, corruption, malingering, and drunkenness are rife.
The standard of living is sinking, so much so that the life
expectancy of Russian men is actually going down....
The time is ripe for a deal. To keep the peace and defend our
freedom, we need to adopt a policy of hard-headed detente....
Hard-headed detente is a combination of detente with deterrence.
It is not an entente, which is an agreement between powers with
common interests, nor is it a synonym for appeasement. It does
not mean that the United States and the Soviet Union agree.
Rather it means that we profoundly disagree. It provides a means
of peacefully resolving those disagreements that can be resolved,
and of living with those that cannot.
Hard-headed detente must be based on a strength of arms and
strength of will sufficient to blunt the threat of Soviet black
mail.
This should be combined with a mixture of prospective
rewards for good behavior and penalties for bad behavior that
gives the Soviet Union a positive incentive to keep the peace
rather than break it•••.