The Western alliance had been waiting for the decision. After a lengthy and bitter debate that almost split Chancellor Helmut Kohl's ruling conservative coalition, West Germany last week finally closed ranks with its allies and endorsed Mikhail Gorbachev's "double-zero" proposal to eliminate both long- and shorter-range intermediate nuclear forces from Europe. Bonn's decision will permit NATO Foreign Ministers, meeting this week in Reykjavik, to give U.S. arms negotiators an unambiguous go-ahead for an INF agreement with the Soviets. Suddenly, the much-discussed superpower summit this fall -- at which Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan would sign an INF deal -- is beginning to...
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