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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JULY 22, 1986
PAGE 19
There is probably a good reason why Mr. Gorbachev is so active in
pursuing both a new relationship with Europe and strategic weapons limits
with the United States. Here is a report which moved over our REUTERS
news wire on July 15:
·soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev must either negotiate sharp
superpower cuts in costly nuclear arms or face the collapse of
his ambitious plan for domestic economic reform, a report
released today said. The detailed study of economic data [was
produced by] PlanEcon Inc., a private firm which specializes in
computer-aided studies of the Soviet economy.·•••
In recent weeks, Moscow has proposed that the superpowers
sharply reduce missile levels and adhere for at least 15 years
to the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty, which would
bar deployment of President Reagan's "Star Wars" anti-missile
shield under most interpretations•••• If no arms deal is worked
out, the report said, Moscow would be-rorcea.-Eomount'"'a" costly
counte"r=-SDI program.
That woul� include-producing more
I missiles and warheads and expensive decoys to outwit the space
defense system.
The ensuing race "may well push the Soviet
economy perilously close to an unprecedented economic crisis,"
!
it said. Former CIA Director William Colby predicted last week
\
that Gorbachev would be ousted unless he was able to follow
through on his economic reforms.
For many years, one of the most astute journalists covering the
international scene has been the chief diplomatic correspondent of THE
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, Joseph C. Harsch. Now in his 70s, Mr. Harsch
has always had a sharply focused geopolitical outlook, honed in his
university years in England where he majored in history.
Here is Mr.
Harsch's column which appeared in the CSM's July 7-13 British edition:
In appraising current Moscow behavior, let us start with one
basic fact.
The United States today enjoys an enormous
advantage in world affairs because of its associations with
Western Europe on one side of the Soviet Union, and with Japan
and China on the other side. There are four, and only four,
.
main centers of actual or potential miITtary and"ec"onoinic power
1 \
.
in the world.- They arethe US, the USSR, Western Europe, and
tiie�-
combinatio�f--;Japanese fiige:miTty with Chinese raw
•materials. The comb-rnation of any three of these outweighs the
}
fourth, decisively. The relationships of these four centers of
i
power in the world is what power politics is all about in this
i generation.
�
The power of the world was in balance back in the days when
China was allied with the USSR and Western Europe with the U.S.
Japan at that time did not yet count in the balance. It was a
new military liability to the U.S. The Korean war was fought
primarily for the protection of Japan. Since the Korean war,
we have witnessed the economic revival of Japan.
Since U.S.
President Richard Nixon went to China in 1972 we have witnessed
the slow, gradual, and steady harnessing of Japanese technical
and manufacturing prowess with the raw materials and manpower