November 10, 1981
A Limited Nuclear War
A number of remarks have recently been made that a limited nuclear war could be waged. When asked at today’s press conference what he thought of such an idea, President Reagan replied that he could not imagine to use limited nuclear force in Europe without setting in motion an exchange of intercontinental missiles between the United States and the Soviet Union. The risk of full-scale war would be very great.
Who would not feel a shiver running down the spine at this thought? By these and similar expressions, the nightmare of a nuclear war has again been aroused on both sides of the Atlantic.
November 21/22, 1981
The Struggle for Europe
While about 300,000 people rallied for a peace demonstration in Amsterdam over the weekend, Leonid Brezhnev arrived in Bonn for a state visit. Shortly before, President Reagan, alarmed by the peace movement in Europe and the growing tendency toward neutralization, announced that the United States would not deploy the Pershing II missiles if the Soviet Union on her part would dismantle the already installed SS-20 intermediate-range missiles. Brezhnev’s answer was a clear “njet.” Brezhnev is obviously convinced that the ever increasing peace movement in Western Europe would prevent the deployment of the Pershing missiles anyway. A gigantic struggle for the soul of Europe has broken out. Will Europe remain faithful to the Atlantic Defense Alliance, or succumb to the propaganda from the East and turn more toward Moscow?
November 29, 1981
Zero Option
At the same time when the delegations for disarmament talks arrived in Geneva, about 200,000 people demonstrated in Florence against nuclear armament in Europe. There is concern in America about the extent of these protest rallies. For the first time, President Reagan suggested “zero option,” which means that all intermediate-range missiles in Western and Eastern Europe should be eliminated. Although it is unlikely that this proposal will be put into effect, it has nonetheless given new impetus to the disarmament talks in Geneva.
Note
[In a speech at the Press Club in Washington on November 18, 1981, President Reagan proposed “zero option” for the elimination of all INF (Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces) in Western and Eastern Europe. Zero option remained for years a vehemently discussed topic at the disarmament negotiations in Geneva. The historic INF treaty was finally signed by Reagan and Gorbachev in Washington in December, 1988. See Morris, Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan, pp. 454, 630.]