The Corner

Gorby V. Gipper

Heh. From Der Spiegel:

On Oct. 8, 1986, shortly before the second summit meeting with Reagan in Reykjavik, Iceland, Gorbachev discussed the missile issue in the Politburo.

Gorbachev: We have to make concessions on the medium-range missiles. We must do something in Reykjavik if we hope to make any headway. The US wants the negotiating machinery to run dry, but the arms race is overloading our economy. We need a breakthrough.

Gromyko: We cannot just flip-flop 180 degrees. But the deployment of the SS-20 was a major error in our European policy.

Gorbachev: We can no longer treat our security from a purely arithmetical standpoint. If they force a second arms race on us, we will be finished. The loss of our submarine (a Soviet nuclear submarine had just sunk off the Bermuda Islands) has revealed to everyone the condition we are in. And we are now supposed to panic and shout: “We are falling behind, let us rearm”?

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