Trying to Have It Both Ways

Ronald Reagan, wimp? Dove? More wishy-washy than (gasp!) Jimmy Carter? Not only were those strange-sounding accusations ringing out last week, they were coming from people who are normally among the President's staunchest supporters. Reagan, they charged, is letting his eagerness for an arms-control deal and a summit with Mikhail Gorbachev prevent him from precipitating a full-scale showdown with the Kremlin over the seizure of Nicholas Daniloff, the American reporter being detained in Moscow on what the U.S. regards as trumped-up espionage charges. Why, they asked, was Reagan being so cautious and pragmatic about not making a firm link between such Soviet behavior and progress on arms negotiations?

To his conservative critics, Reagan appeared to be swallowing outrageous Soviet insults, the latest delivered by none other than Gorbachev on Soviet television. Chatting on Thursday with residents of the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, the Soviet leader called Daniloff a "spy caught in the act." Since Reagan had assured Gorbachev in a personal letter that Daniloff was only a journalist, Gorbachev was in effect calling the President a liar.

Through it all, Reagan spurned demands that he break off all U.S.-Soviet negotiations unless Daniloff is freed. Indeed, the President took a hand in Washington talks between Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze. After the diplomats had met on Friday for two hours and 45 minutes at the State Department, Shultz picked up his private phone to the White House and suggested that he bring Shevardnadze to a meeting with Reagan. Shevardnadze startled the President by handing him a letter from Gorbachev about Reagan's July arms-control proposals; White House Spokesman Larry Speakes had just told reporters the President intended to complain about Soviet unresponsiveness in a speech at the United Nations on Monday. Radio Moscow later paraphrased the Gorbachev message this way: "We don't rule out the possibility of our meeting and signing something."

Still, Reagan insisted on confining the 45-minute discussion to the Daniloff case, which Shultz pronounced a "cloud hanging over" any chance for progress between the two nations. Although neither side budged on the Daniloff issue, Shultz and his counterpart were nevertheless surprisingly upbeat about the results of their two-day talks. "Quite a few items that seemed insoluble a year ago are now working themselves out," Shultz said after the meetings ended Saturday. He cited strategic arms and "especially" intermediate-range missiles based in Europe as the most promising areas for agreement. For his part, Shevardnadze implied that he and Shultz had recommended that the U.S. and Soviet Union proceed toward a summit. "We have no doubt that this meeting is necessary," he said. The two ministers plan to continue discussions this week at the U.N., said Shevardnadze.