Diplomacy: Helping the Summit Along

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Fresh from a Liberty Weekend meeting with Ronald Reagan, French President Francois Mitterrand flew to Moscow for a 3 1/2-day session with Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev. While disavowing any formal role as diplomatic messenger, Mitterrand clearly planned to try to advance the prospect of a superpower summit later this year. Although some progress was achieved on several other issues, Mitterrand's postmeeting summit forecast was rather gloomy: "It is impossible to say today if it will take place or when it might take place. Diplomacy still has a lot of work to do."

The main stumbling block, both to the summit and to general progress in arms negotiations, remains Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, the space- based defense system better known as Star Wars. "The U.S. has no intention of renouncing SDI," Mitterrand said at the end of his visit. "The U.S.S.R. insists that as long as SDI is maintained, there can be no advance."