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‘Historic’ agreement on INF

U.S. changed
by meeting

BY BRUCE YORKE
Bruce Yorke was in Washington, D.C. last
week observing the events surrounding the
U.S.-Soviet summit on behalf of the Cana-
dian Peace Congress. He wrote these com-
ments following his return.

It was truly. an historic week as Soviet
leader Mikhail Gorbachev landed in
Washington for the summit meeting with
US. President Ronald Reagan and exten-
sive meetings with congressional leaders,
prominent businessmen and outstanding
personalities.

The U.S. will never be the same again. A
new mood of hope has replaced the atmos-
phere of despair and pessimism that has
dominated much of the post-war period.

The historic meeting has put the question
of an era of sustained peaceful co-existence
on the political agenda. The period of
intense cold war confrontation is dying and
the potential is there to put it permanently
to rest, in spite of the powerful forces that
oppose it and still occupy key positions.

The centrepiece of the visit was the sign-
ing by the two leaders of the disarmament
agreement on intermediate nuclear forces
(INF) which eliminates short and medium
range nuclear weapons — 1,600 on the
Soviet side and 400 on the U.S. side, includ-
ing the Pershings and cruise missiles.

Although these missiles constitute only
four per cent of the entire nuclear arsenal,
their complete elimination not only signifi-
cantly reduce the tension in Europe but also
sets a precedent in that nuclear arms have

actually been scrapped. The arms race has

been checked and the process of disarma-
ment has begun. :

In the course of establishing the agree-
ment, important on-site inspection and veri-
fication regulations were negotiated. This
will serve as a model for all subsequent
disarmament measures that need to follow
this hopeful beginning.

Gorbachev told reporters during a press
conference: “It is more of a constructive
approach and I will even venture to say that
I think we trust each other more.”

see SUMMIT page 20

Santa: ‘no war toys’

PHOTO — LESLIE PICTON

Santa doesn’t like war toys, says a costumed Mark Beeching to a potential
customer outside a department store in downtown New Westminster. Beeching
and other members of the New Westminster Peace Council got lots of media
attention and the support of the majority of Christmas shoppers with that mes-
sage during four weekends of leaflet and button distributing to call attention to the
sale of toys promoting violence and glorifying war. Peace council president Bev
Mill reports that several people have since joined the council and orders for the
distinctive button bearing the message “Santa doesn’t like war toys” sold out of
the initial printing, with orders going out to several other peace groups around
B.C.

‘opens door to disarmament

Pact signed
at summit

‘History has charged the governments of
our countries and the two of us, Mr. Presi-
dent, with a solemn duty to justify the hopes
of the American and Soviet people, and of
people the world over to undo the logic of
the arms race by working together in good
faith.”

With those words from Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev, U.S. President Ronald
Reagan and Gorbachev stepped into the
White House to put their names on the
historic agreement eliminating intermediate
nuclear forces (INF) — the world’s first
ever treaty to scrap nuclear weapons.

“The importance of this treaty goes far
beyond the limits of its concrete contents,”
Gorbachev told his audience at a state
department dinner the day following the
signing.

“We assess it as the beginning of the
implementation of a program to construct a
world without nuclear arms which I pro-
posed on behalf of the Soviet leadership and
the Soviet people nearly two years ago, on
Jan. 15, 1986,” he said.

Moments before signing the treaty which,
he said, “‘protects the interests of the U.S.
and its allies,” Reagan spoke of the need for
glasnost and a greater openness in military
programs and forces.

see 2,611 page 21

Gee

With this special enlarged edition
of the Tribune, we conclude publica-
tion for 1987 and extend to all our
readers and supporters our hope for
peace — a hope made more realiza-
ble by the historic INF agreement
signed this month in Washington.

Our first issue of the new year will
be out Jan. 13, 1988.

SS