-. 110i lag ant

TRIBUNE SUPPLEMENT

BEGINNING IN 1995

e All nuclear weapons eliminated —
world-wide
e Universal treaty prohibits all
nuclear weapons.
e International verification
measures in place

O ur new proposals are addressed to the
whole world. Initiating active steps to halt
the arms race and reduce weapons is a
necessary prerequisite for coping with
increasingly acute global problems, those of
deteriorating human environment and of the
need to find new energy sources and combat
economic backwardness, hunger and disease.
The pattern imposed by militarism — arms
instead of development — must be replaced by
the reverse order of things — disarmament for
development. The noose of the trillion dollar
foreign debt, which is now strangling dozens of
countries and entire continents, is a direct
consequence of the arms race. Over $250-billion
annually siphoned out of the developing
countries is the amount almost equal to the size
of the mammoth U.S. military budget. Indeed,
this coincidence is far from accidental.

The Soviet Union wants each measure
limiting and reducing arms and each step
towards eliminating nuclear weapons not only
to bring nations greater security, but also to
make it possible to allocate more funds for
improving people’s lives. It is natural that
peoples seeking to put an end to backwardness
and seeking to achieve the level of
industrially-developed countries associate the
prospects of freeing themselves from the burden
of foreign debt to imperialism, which is draining
their economies, with limiting and eliminating
weapons, reducing military expenditures and
switching resources to the goals of social and
economic development. This theme will
undoubtedly figure most prominently at the
International Conference on Disarmament and
Development to be held next summer in Paris.

The Soviet Union is opposed to making the
implementation of disarmament measures
dependent on so-called regional conflicts.
Behind this is both their unwillingness to follow
the path of disarmament and their desire to
impose upon sovereign nations what is alien to
them and what would make it possible to
maintain profoundly unfair conditions whereby
some countries live at the expense of others,
exploiting their natural, human and spiritual
resources for the selfish imperial purposes of |
certain states or aggressive alliances. The
Soviet Union, as before, will continue to oppose
this. It will continue consistently to advocate
freedom for the peoples; peace, security, anda
stronger international legal order. The Soviet
Union’s goal is not to whip up regional conflicts,
but {o eliminate them through collective efforts
on a just basis — and the sooner the better.

Today, there is no shortage of statements
professing commitment to peace. What is really
in short supply is concrete action to strengthen
its foundation. All too often peaceful words
conceal war preparations and power politics.
Moreover, some statements made from high

platforms are, in fact, intended to eliminate any
trace of that new ‘‘spirit of Geneva”’ which is
having a salutary effect on international

- relations today. And it is not only a matter of

statements. There are also actions clearly ©
designed to incite animosity and mistrust and to
revive confrontation, which is antithetical to
detente.

We reject such a way of acting and thinking.
We want 1986 to be not just a peaceful year, but
one that would enable us to reach the end of the
20th century under the sign of peace and nuclear
disarmament. The set of new foreign policy
initiatives that we are proposing is intended to
make it possible for humanity to approach the
year 2000 under peaceful skies and with
peaceful space; without fear of nuclear,
chemical or any other threat of annihilation and
fully confident of its own survival and of the
continuation of the human race.

T he new measures now taken by the Soviet

Union for the sake of peace and for
improving the overall international situation,
give expression to the substance and spirit of our
internal and foreign policies and their organic
unity. They reflect the fundamental historic law
which was emphasized by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.
The world sees that our country is holding high
the banner of peace, freedom and humanism
raised over our planet by the great October
Revolution.

On the questions of preserving peace and
saving humanity from the threat of nuclear war,
no one should remain indifferent or stand aloof.
This concerns everyone. Each state, large or
small, socialist or capitalist, has an important
contribution to make. Every responsible -
political party, every social organization and |
every person can also make an important
contribution.

No task is more urgent, more noble and
humane, than uniting all efforts to achieve this
goal. This task is to be accomplished by our
generation without shifting it onto the shoulders
of those who will succeed us. This is the
imperative of our time. This, I would say, is the
burden of historic responsibility for our
decisions and actions in the time remaining until
the beginning of the third millennium.

The course of peace and disarmament will
continue to be pivotal to the foreign policy of
the CPSU and the Soviet state. In actively
pursuing this course, the Soviet Union is
prepared to engage in wide-ranging cooperation
with all those who stand on positions of reason,
goodwill and an awareness of responsibility for
assuring humanity a future without wars or
weapons.

For extra copies of this Tribune Special

Supplement write: Pacific Tribune, 2681.

E. Hastings St., Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1Z5.

10 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 23, 1986