A New Math for Nuclear Weapons

The question: how to counter Andropov's not-so-zero offer

Can there be a set of numbers between zero and zero-zero? It sounds like the most abstruse speculation in mathematics. But the math in this case is the potentially lethal calculus of nuclear weaponry, and so the question is leading to a backstage brawl in Washington.

At issue is what stand the U.S. should take when negotiations on limiting nuclear weapons in Europe resume in Geneva Jan. 27. Moscow's negotiators presumably will then formally present an offer already proclaimed publicly by Soviet Leader Yuri Andropov: if the...

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