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The U.S. delegation, headed by Paul Nitze, 74, an experienced and hawkish arms negotiator, is going to Geneva with different arithmetic. According to U.S. calculations, which include nukes carried by Soviet-based aircraft, Moscow currently has not parity but a 6-to-1 advantage in medium-range weapons. Thus, Nitze will press vigorously for the Reagan proposal. Mindful of the Soviet Union's outright, not to say contemptuous, rejection of President Jimmy Carter's 1977 proposal for deep cuts in strategic arms, the Administration is determined to avoid what it considers to have been Carter's principal error. Unlike his predecessor, Reagan will not announce a fallback position in advance. Still, the President said in his speech that the U.S. delegation would "listen to and consider the proposals of our Soviet counterparts." Arriving at Geneva airport last week, Nitze declared: "I'm going to be reasonable—and tough."
Visibly enjoying the worldwide attention he was receiving, Schmidt described his role as that of an "interpreter" of U.S. policy. To dispel any doubts about his loyalty to the Western alliance, he was meticulous in keeping Washington informed. Both before Brezhnev's arrival and after his departure, he phoned Reagan with progress reports.
But Washington bridled at the news that West German and Soviet diplomats would maintain regular contact on the missile issue as the Geneva talks progressed. Despite West German assurances that no "back channel" was contemplated, one State Department official declared: "It is certainly a complication." State fears that separate Bonn-Moscow discussions might only help the Soviet Union's attempt to play NATO members off against one another.
The Bonn summit revealed agreement on at least one issue: neither Brezhnev nor Reagan is anxious for a summit face-off of their own. Schmidt's efforts to promote the idea of a Brezhnev-Reagan meeting were quickly brushed aside by his Soviet guests. In Washington, officials continue to believe that such a confrontation would be counterproductive in the present climate. "Without a guaranteed outcome, it would fall flat," an official explains. Whether and when the leaders of the two superpowers will get together may depend on the progress of the arms talks that begin in Geneva this week.
—By Henry Muller. Reported by Erik Amfitheatrof and Roland Flamini/Bonn