Olympics: Behind the Bear's Angry Growl

What the Soviets really want is to get rid of Ronald Reagan

Part of the quarrel between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. is over the question of just how bad their relations are and whether they are likely to improve in the near future. One reason the Soviets announced their boycott of the Olympics last week was to buttress their argument that relations are very bad indeed.

To hear them tell it, the climate of relations is at its worst since the most frigid days of the cold war. Nor is the deterioration just a...