Playing Nuclear Poker

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Reduction (MBFR) negotiations that have been dragging on in Vienna for almost ten years.

In preparation for the resumption of the INF talks and the Bush mission, Reagan held an hourlong meeting in the Oval Office last Friday with his top political aides, national security advisers and arms-control negotiators. The coming round" of negotiations, said a presidential statement released afterward, "is particularly important because our far-reaching proposals, combined with our defense modernization programs, provide a strong incentive for reaching agreements on lower levels of forces."

Whether the Administration's proposals and policies are somehow heading toward an agreement with the Soviets or whether they have pointed the US toward a major crisis within the Western alliance and a breakdown of superpower arms-control negotiations, is the question of the hour and perhaps the question of the year.

—By Strobe Talbott. Reported by Bonnie ANgelo/London, Roland Flamini/Bonn and Gregory H. Wierzynski/Washington, with other bureaus