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The Daniloff Case: A Timely Reminder of the Nature of the Soviet System
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11378 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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11 / 1986 |
2,391 Words |
| Author
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Allan C. Brownfeld
Allan C. Brownfeld is a Washington-based journalist and the
author of five books, the latest of which is The Revolution
Lobby (with J. Michael Waller). He is also associate editor
of The Lincoln Review. |
The Soviets' arrest of U.S. News & World Report correspondent Nicholas Daniloff in Moscow came at a time when the Reagan administration had lowered its voice concerning what President Reagan once called an "evil empire."
Clearly, the administration - and Reagan himself - was eager for a second summit meeting and for a new arms control agreement, perhaps because the president now felt that it was possible for him to enter the history books as a "peacemaker," rather than as one who had presided over an escalation of the arms race and a heating up of the Cold War.
Officials at the White House have pointed out that Reagan's understanding of Soviet behavior changed since his meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev in Geneva in November 1985. After consulting writer Suzanne Massie, a student of the Soviet Union, Reagan, it was reported, had come to realize the depth of Soviet mistrust of the United States. He also came to appreciate, the reports said, that Gorbachev does not wield absolute power but must contend with differing factions.
Even in the days of his vigorously anti-communist rhetoric, Reagan acted cautiously with regard to the Soviet Union. When he campaigned for the presidency in 1980, he declared that the United States would not sit at the table for arms talks with Moscow as long as Soviet troops remained in Afghanistan, but he slowly altered that view. Now, of course, the United States participates in arms negotiations while Moscow continues to pursue its often-brutal policy of control and repression in Afghanistan.
Jimmy Carter, suddenly
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