DIPLOMACY: Detente: The Word Won't Go Away

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The charges that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is soft on the Soviets have reached a peak in recent weeks. Longtime Administration critics and a clutch of presidential candidates have damned détente as a one-way street; the U.S., they claimed, has been bulldozed by the Russians. President Ford reacted by replacing the word détente in the diplomatic vocabulary with "peace through strength." All U.S. embassies were advised that the change was no mere wordplay; the U.S. was indeed taking a tougher stand.

Last week Kissinger took steps to signal the Kremlin that, however anxious the U.S. may be to curb the arms race, which is the central feature of détente, Washington will resist Soviet "adventurism." Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Secretary warned that "exploiting local crises for unilateral gain"—a reference to Kremlin intervention in Angola—"is not acceptable. This nation will not seek confrontations lightly, but we are determined to defend peace by resistance to pressures and irresponsible actions." For starters, the State Department announced that three scheduled Cabinet-level meetings with the Soviets on trade, energy and housing would be postponed indefinitely. Said one senior White House official: "We are indicating that we are not conducting business as usual and that antisocial behavior by the Russians is costly."

Dual Policy. At the same time Kissinger privately expressed regret at Ford's decision to expunge the word détente. He complained that the decision was a petty capitulation to right-wing critics and tended to undercut the long-range policy the Administration intends to pursue. Publicly Kissinger made a point of reasserting that the U.S. would continue its "dual policy" of attempting to resist and deter Soviet adventurism while striving for "more constructive relations" with the Kremlin.

Said a State Department aide: "The Government doesn't want to mess with grain sales and SALT negotiations." The SALT II talks are stalemated, but Washington was hopeful last week that Moscow would move toward at least an interim agreement. The U.S. has proposed that the two nations reaffirm the agreements reached by Ford and Soviet Party Chief Leonid Brezhnev in 1974, thus indicating readiness to discuss further limitations.