A courtly Soviet diplomat is explaining to his earnest, rumpled American counterpart why the Kremlin must reject what both sides agree is a fair and useful arms-control plan. They are standing in the one place they can be candid, a small stretch of forest near the villas where, with grave and formal ceremony, they daily meet. Shared frustration has made them intimates, if still not quite friends, so the answer is blunt: "We don't trust you." Long years at the table have persuaded the Soviet that neither government will actually reduce armaments; neither side can afford the risky belief that the...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
