Summer of Decision

Summer doldrums? Not in the arena of international diplomacy. At no time since the close of World War II have so many important and sometimes interrelated negotiations between East and West been under way. In addition to the Paris talks on the Viet Nam War (see THE NATION), there were important developments in three crucial areas last week:

SALT. As Soviet Chief Negotiator Vladimir Semyonov arrived in Helsinki for the opening of the fifth round of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, he exuded confidence. He declared that the Soviet delegation carried "clear-cut instructions to achieve concrete results," and predicted that the U.S. and Russia would soon reach a preliminary agreement on limiting anti-ballistic missiles. A ban on the defensive ABMs would make it easier to work out a balanced reduction in offensive strategic missiles. Meanwhile, Pravda seemed to be preparing its readers for a nuclear accommodation with the U.S. "Action is met by counteraction," the party newspaper said. "This process, if it is not stopped with the help of reasonable agreements on curbing the arms race, is endless."

BERLIN. In West Berlin the ambassadors of the Big Four (Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the U.S.) made new progress toward an agreement on the status of West Berlin, which is isolated 110 miles inside Communist East Germany. Sixteen months after the talks began, the Russians have recently been cooperative enough that some Western diplomats are talking boldly of a "three-three-three" timetable: three more months for the ambassadors to draw up the basic framework of the settlement, emphasizing free access between West Berlin and West Germany; three months for the West and East Germans to work out details on transit procedures and the like; and a final three months for the West Germans to ratify the treaties of Moscow and Warsaw, whose approval by the Bundestag hinges on a successful outcome of the Berlin talks.

FORCE REDUCTIONS. On a mission to Moscow, Italian Foreign Minister Aldo Moro formally advised the Soviet government that NATO wants to begin talks with the Warsaw Pact about force reductions in Europe. Perhaps as an indication of Soviet interest, Moro was received both by Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko and Premier Aleksei Kosygin. But then it was only logical for them to hear out the NATO emissary, since it was Soviet Party Chief Leonid Brezhnev who last May invited the Atlantic Alliance to taste the wine of Russian intentions about troop cuts.

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