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¶The summit obviously furthers Brezhnev's ambition to draw closer to Europe and to confirm the status quo at a European Security Conference. It caps Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik, designed to improve West Germany's relations with its Communist neighbors. That may bring relaxation in Europe, but it may also bring new tensions and rival ries between the U.S. and Russia there.
The portents, though, are for an era of more treaties and agreements, more realism and less rampant ideology.
¶The summit was highly significant for what it did not say. Whatever the leaders might have mentioned in private probably would not become clear for a long time. By week's end it was still possible that some statements or signals would emerge on the Middle East or Viet Nam. But even if that did not happen, it would constitute a message.
At present, Nixon and Brezhnev seemed agreed only to continue disagreeing on the Middle East. On Viet Nam, by do ing nothing to respond to the Ameri can mining of Haiphong and other ports, Moscow had indeed done some thing of major proportions.
By welcoming Nixon in Moscow despite the mines and bombs, the Russians suggested that Viet Nam could be put into perspective as a relatively minor theater of conflict—something that Washington has for too long refused to acknowledge—and that the major business of the superpowers could proceed. There was something cold and slightly brutal about this way of dealing, amid champagne and caviar, over the heads of the Vietnamese dead. Hanoi was furious. Assailing Russia as much as the U.S., it called Nixon's trip to Moscow "dark and despicable."
This was the background against which the prize packages of the various agreements were unwrapped. Some were important in themselves, especially SALT (see story, page 18). Others were mainly important as symbols and to capture the imagination of the two countries and the world.
Scientists in both countries have been urging joint space ventures to save money and pool information. That now becomes a reality as plans go forward for a 1975 rendezvous in orbit of American and Soviet space ships (see story, page 19). The two countries agreed to pool research and resources in the medical and environmental fields. Though the U.S. no doubt has more to offer, Russia has apparently made strides in producing experimental anti-cancer drugs and in coping with urban sprawl. The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. also agreed to stop harassing each other's fleets on the high seas—a kind of shadow warfare that has grown into a dangerous sport.
Negotiators had the most trouble over trade. Russia wants lots of credit to buy badly needed grain from the U.S. It also wants to share in American technological advances. The U.S., on the other hand, insists that Russia first pay back $800 million it still owes America in Lend-Lease debts. Unable to reach an agreement on the issue, the negotiators established a joint commission that will continue to dicker.
Ritual Words. As important, in a way, as the agreements was the atmosphere of the summit. The Russians were determined to be good-humored and to keep their guests in good spirits as well. Nixon's picture appeared every day on page 1 of Pravda, and unlike the usual Soviet caricature of the President, he looked pleasant.