The Kremlin's New Cards

With Reagan under siege, Moscow may target SDI again

"The fate of President Reagan and of his Administration is in God's hands," argues Valentin Falin, a principal Soviet spokesman and director of the press agency Novosti. "If Oliver North reveals Mr. Reagan as a co-conspirator, then your President will not be worth a kopek." While the Soviets may be relishing the Iran-contra crisis, their interest is more strategic than voyeuristic. Reagan's current predicament, combined with Mikhail Gorbachev's success at consolidating his own power in the Politburo at his party plenum last month, has convinced many in Moscow that Reagan now needs a summit far more than Gorbachev. As a result,...

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