COOLING THE CRUSADE

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP85M00364R002204280131-2
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RIFPUB
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K
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1
Document Creation Date: 
December 20, 2016
Document Release Date: 
December 19, 2007
Sequence Number: 
131
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Publication Date: 
January 14, 1983
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OPEN SOURCE
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Approved For Release 2007/12/19: CIA-RDP85M00364R002204280131-2 Stephen S. Rosenfeld Cooling e Crusade The budget debate is not, least a for? et- policy debate, and it is a more im? this . Reagan campaigned against a~unnption' saying in effect that the pcnt one than the fight over MX or this AWACS i or Soviet Union is not a normally pushy along in the ythutg else that's come member of the Rfamiliar state system but nitcance is the Reagan preside ny. Its sig. a uniquely dangerous maverick dedi. opportunity it affords ated ' that system and Reagan to get in doser touch with theto diating teal "rid. ~ihowthis tutLin its own egemony. lk'hether In his formal statements, Reagan a assertion is true is a fair put forward the right idea when he question. It seems . to me beyond ques. tio~ entered the White House. He said the would however, that fewer Americans first foundation of a strong foreign today than it a basis for pular, ago policy is a strong economy. But then he ? years c s T popular, proceeded, with help from Congress, to pp arty and ureauaau support for the ideoJopcal dribble away his opening. Others, in to the White O~~ has coHouseh s Reagan brought his administration and in Congress, are The two big So iet?Arnerican missile trying now to recoup and hoping he negotiations, L'\*F and START, offer the will at least not block the may. right occasion for adjustment-on both Some success in economic recovery is sides The numbers can be ' ggled. 141 hat long way off, if it comes at all Just the matters more is that the a oat appearance of an America attempting to state a position that reflects a ~-mo strateeioc correct course, however-notwithstand. 1 . gic irg that correction entails defense reduc- fair. and athat reasonable n has seemed as people regard as tiom-is on balance a tonic for Amer- ally flawless age -nestto want a is Iran foreign policy. Politically, it' -one that in. the United Stacey is suggests vulnerable to the sort of attack he di- competent to play rected at SALT II and that erases what the leadership role that practically all he and, now, not too many others believe nations, including adversaries, want and to be an American power expect us to play. Economically, Amer. be better to regard an agraeficit. It would eement an ken recovery is the rising tide that lifts imperfect trarait onal arrangement main. almost all other boats. taining misting That improvement in the economy-_ low~g an rough parity but the world economy-would simplify the As it }~ levy of mutugi rlok and a us w has tasks before American foreign policy been struck at the conten onn-that the goes virtually without saying. Some peo. Soviet Union is an economic basket case pie worry, however, that improvement and can no longer would merely put in the president's com titio y w keep pace in a= hich hands the means for carrying out a ques- lion has justified its stmtm~- tionable policy more energetically than capproac The Soviet economy w he has been able to do so far. economy has slowed down I doubt it. markedh', but it won't cotlat and it 1ATatever Reagan's Mn ~s every sign of conttrt proclivities, which should not he taken for a_t utn~ 4 an altered b a+a nce Of political forces s bOut the it trie ington, The r ti p agma that have c elements should be been working on ec otxw ~ i onom c policy will, if they succeed, have a more vs~ a eowedul boost to influential hand on forei the cause of moderation On the domestic gn pas on olicy, the for. Even Yuri Andropov has a ~Y ei O and even among se contribution, The new Kremlin leader elm, and tho sometimes has generated in Washington a sense of are r d enotigh as as docttia R~anites, there renewed Soviet diplomatic ativisrti. people to make a, dNifference George t Thus he has given valuable ammunition - try-makers who feel that rather Shultz. who bestrides both policy realms, is the key man. though he could not Pce hanging tough tndefinhteh, and waiting for Moscow to falter, the Ltnited sihly act without the implicit and ex- States should be moving elicit partnership of others in the execu. deliberate out with all tik-F branch and in Co speed, meeting the Soviet 'mere is a hiddenna:;rrnptinn here: o competition and trying to make the that the pragmatic %-ay i., better than a that its stre.~t warrants and its rcouires Approved For Release 2007/12/19: CIA-RDP85M00364R002204280131-2 WASHiN GTCN PCS't 14 JANUAPY 1983