WORLD Star Peace, not Star Wars the USSR offer to Reagan There was a dramatic moment of hope in the pre- Summit process last week as the USSR tabled radical new arms reduction proposals at the Geneva talks. The offer, which would cut existing nuclear arsenals by up to 0 per cent crowns a series of stunning Soviet arms control initiatives in recent months. Taken as a whole, they present the first opportunity for a break in the nuclear arms race since SALT collapsed five years ago. The Soviet plan calls for slashing up to half of the 12,000 U.S., and 9,900 Soviet strategic nuclear warheads currently deployed. Specifically which warheads are to be removed is expected to be a major bone of contention. U.S. secretary of Defence, Caspar Weinberger, has already been fighting a vicious rearguard action in the media and on Capitol Hill against any sort of reduction agreement whatsoever. Other Pentagon and White House sources have been more tactful, but have made it plain that they will not countenance any cuts in the newest, first-strike capable American weapons systems, such as the MX missile, the Pershing II, and the yet to be deployed Trident II D-5 submarine-launched first-strike missile. On the other hand, U.S. negotiators have always insisted that the USSR must begin by making deep re- ductions in the most modern and potent land-based mis- Siles, such as the SS-18 and SS-19, which make up the backbone of the Soviet deterrent. These differences pale to insignificance beside the Problem of Star Wars. It is clear that the Soviets are offering — not for the first time — to sacrifice a good part of their nuclear deterrent in exchange for security based upon reliable international agreements. It is equally clear, however, that they will never consent to any sort of deal which leaves in place the potential for a U.S. first-strike against the USSR, while depriving them- Selves of the means to retaliate. Continued U.S. development of Star Wars threatens just that possibility, hence it threatens the chances for agreement at the Summit, and beyond. This point was sharply underscored last week when the U.S. Congress’ Office of Technology Assessment Issued a 324-page report which concluded the Reagan administration’ s efforts to build a Star Wars shield “greatly increase the risk of nuclear war’’, and “‘jeopar- dize the entire arms control process’. Former president Jimmy Carter also spoke out, de-. Scribing Star Wars as ‘‘the key obstacle to success”’ at the upcoming Summit meeting. Carter added that the So-called Strategic Defence Initiative is “‘ill-conceived, a total waste of money, and counterproductive’’. News Analysis w : Fred Weir President Reagan, however, has consistently reiter- ated his position that Star Wars will not be a bargaining . chip in any negotiations with the USSR. Following his meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Shevardnadze Sept. 27 — where he received an extensive preview of Soviet arms reduction proposals — the President once again declared that ‘“‘we are determined to go forward with (Star Wars) research’’. Perhaps an even clearer indication of the Reagan administration’s intentions is contained in the news that at the exact moment the President was meeting with Shevardnadze in Washington, the Pentagon was con- ducting yet another underground nuclear test in Nevada. That is the eleventh such test this year, and the second since the USSR declared a unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing last August. This event can only have _been acalculated pre-Summit message and, coming as it does on the heels of earlier U.S. trials of an anti-satellite missile and a Star Wars laser weapon, it bodes very ill for the chances of significant agreement in November. Some big media commentators have offered a neat explanation for Reagan’s intransigence on Star Wars, and for his brutal pre-Summit messages: they suggest that the President is merely playing the role of a tough, shrewd negotiator in order to drive the best bargain possible with the Soviets at Geneva. Something of that sort is, of course, to be fervently hoped for. But it must be noted that these pundits have deluded themselves — and their audiences — many times before about the intentions of-the Reagan administration. Reagan has virtually destroyed the legacy of arms control and détente which he inherited from his pre- decessors. He has undermined every serious attempt at negotiations during his tenure of office, and he has launched the biggest arms buildup in peacetime history — with a $2.6-trillion price tag that the American people can hardly afford. : In recent months, Reagan has rejected — or just plain snubbed— an unprecedented number of significant arms powers could get caught in what is known as an offense- Soviet Foreign Minister Shevardnadze to the United Na- tions Sept. 25: To counter Star Wars plans, the USSR is placing before the world the concept of Star Peace. control initiatives put forward by the USSR. These in- clude an offer to freeze intermediate-range nuclear mis- siles in Europe; a proposal to ban chemical weapons, and turn Europe into a Chemical Weapons Free Zone; a unilateral Soviet moratorium on the testing of anti-satel- lite weapons; a unilateral Soviet moratorium on under- ground nuclear testing; and a bold and highly detailed Soviet proposal tabled at the UN to ban militarization and promote international co-operation in space — dub- bed ‘‘Star Peace’’ by Foreign Minister Shevardnadze. Even the big media seems aware that an historic mo- ment of truth has arrived. Either Reagan will find a way to put aside his grandiose visions of military supremacy and come to terms with Mikhail Gorbachev in November, or the world will suffer grievous consequences. As Time magazine’s resident defence expert, Strobe Talbott, has accurately abserved, if Reagan fails to make significant concessions, “‘if he now totally refuses to budge on Star Wars, the President runs the risk of touch- ing off the costliest surge yet in the arms race. Without some accord on space weapons, the super- defence spiral: each side proliferates offenses to pene- trate the other’s new or improved defences, and adds defences to protect itself against the other’s increasingly sophisticated offenses. That is the classic formula for Strategic instability and nuclear brinkmanship. For a President hoping to go down in history as a peacemaker, it would be a bitter legacy indeed.”’ — International Focus Tom Morris Millions die needlessly To most Canadian families, measles ranks far down the ladder as a childhood illness of great concern. Incidence of the disease dropped almost out of Sight in this country since Introduction of vaccine almost three decades ago. That’s why a recent press report that 1.5-million children in underdeveloped countries die annually from measles Strikes a Canadian reader as another criminal outcome of world poverty. I don’t have data on esti- Mated costs involved to pro- vide every child with readily- available vaccine to eradicate measles, although figures are Surely published by such agen- cies as the World Health Organization. But it doesn’t take much im- agination to wonder what small Part of monies wasted daily Could provide this need. For example, the U.S. scrapping last month of its useless “Sergeant York’’ mobile gun into which $1.8-billion was poured would put one massive dent into the project. Brian Mulroney’s new $6-million mailing system would purch- ase vaccine by the crate, so would the millions slotted for Toronto’s dome stadium. Reagan’s $21-billion Star Wars scheme, if diverted to disease eradication, would probably wipe out measles everywhere along with answering other crying needs in the Third World. Coincidental with the dismal figure of 1.5-million needless deaths each year, comes a re- port from Nicaragua s fledgling health service. That country reported 4,000 cases of measles in 1980, one year after its revolution. By 1982 the figure dropped to 226. By 1984 there wasn’t a single confirmed case reported. The difference, of course, isn’t Divine Intervention. It’s a health service which changed from Somoza’s days when one-fourth of the people re- ceived public health care to now, when 80 per cent do. It also reflects the government’s priorities — despite waging a war of survival against heavy odds. And so measles no longer claims the lives of Nicaragua’s youth, Reagan’s contras no’ fill that role. — Star Wars and Star Bucks Elsewhere in this column we speak about the criminal, need- less deaths of 1.5-million chil- dren annually from_pre- ventable measles. Add the mil- lions more who perish each year in the underdeveloped world from poverty-related diseases and outright starva- tion, and the outrage grows. Compare this picture with a rosy report in this week’s Time magazine on the Star Wars bonanza for U.S. business. It’s titled: ‘‘Star Wars Sweep- stakes’’ and tells us: e The current $2.75-billion budget will soar to $21-billion in the next four years, ~ e The ultimate cost is esti- mated at from $400-billion to $1.2-trillion, e The hogs at the trough al- ready are familiar — Boeing, TRW, Lockheed, Rockwell, and institutes such as Carnegie-Mellon, Cal-tech, MIT, Stanford. In typical style, Time writes that ‘‘the companies and uni- versities competing to work on the project could easily rename it “Star Bucks.’’ Gloats one analyst, “‘SDI is the future of the defence industry.” But there is some sanity in all this madness. Anti-Star Wars petitions are circulating on some 50 U.S. campuses, led by professors and undergrads who argue that Reagan’s pro- gram is ‘‘deeply misguided, dangerous and enormously expensive.’” On some cam- puses a majority of professors in physics departments have pledged not to work on SDI. Again, in a turn of phrase, SDI is called, *‘A pie in the sky and a pork barrel on the ground.” PACIFIC TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 9, 1985e 9 Unworkable, dangerous, expensive — all true. But Star Wars, if we remember back to the dying children, is also immoral. The Big Mac counter-attack Time was when you ate a Big Mac, part of your money went to support founder Ray Kroc’s right wing causes. Kroc backed things like the Republi- can Party and Reagan and the anti-abortion crusade. -Ray Kroc died in 1984 and would probably turn over in his grave to discover his widow, | Joan Kroc, has become just as socially committed — but to the cause of world peace. She has contributed funds to the Washington-based Centre for Defence Information and to Dr. Helen Caldicott’s book “*Missile Envy”’ as well as pay- ing for large ads in U.S. news- papers calling for a verifiable nuclear arms freeze agreement with the USSR. It’s almost enough to make a Big Mac taste like a ham- burger.