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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 25, 1983)
Speaker says freeze leads to imbalance By Michele Matassa Of th* Emerald A bilateral nuclear freeze would put the United States at a disadvantage because it would not be balanced, mutual or verifiable, an arms race ex pert said Sunday. The Soviet Union has demonstrated an “imperial istic pattern" that would prevent a successful freeze, said University of South ern California associate pro fessor Robin Ranger. Ranger, author of “Arms and Politics 1958-78: Arms Control in a Changing Political Context,” spoke as part of Ground Zero Week, sponsored by Students for a Nuclear Free Future. He currently assists William Van Cleave, director of Pres. Ronald Reagan’s Defense Department Transition Team. Ranger explained why a freeze would not be balanced. He said that because U.S. strategic weapons date to the late 1950s and 1960s, depreciation would cause the U.S. military to “wither away” if production were stopped. The United States would ex perience a 25-percent decrease in its forces in the first five years of a freeze, Ranger added. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, would suffer only a 5-10 percent decrease because its missiles were pro duced as late as 1974, he said. Ranger predicted the freeze would not be mutual because "the United States would observe it scrupulously” and the Soviets would continue to introduce new weapons systems by calling them “modifications” of old ones. “The U.S., like its allies, has always overcomplied with arms control agreements. If there’s a test ban limit of 150 kilotons, to be on the safe side we test well under that limit because we want to preserve the spirit. We want to promote arms control,” Ranger said. In the past, the Soviets have refused to cooperate with U.S. freeze proposals, choosing to “put all of their eggs in the military basket,” Ranger said. It would be impossible for the United States to verify the freeze on the Soviet side, he said. “The U.S. verification capability has to produce ab solute proof of Soviet viola tion” to "satisfy you, the American public,” Ranger said. To do this, the administra tion would have to stage an in tense inspection network and “it's very unlikely that Yuri An dropov would agree to that kind of intrusive verification,” he said. Because a freeze would make the United States an underdog, Ranger sees sup port for the freeze as a political game. “Why have Senators Ken nedy and Hatfield backed the nuclear freeze? I think quite honestly they have made a choice... to put their own political interests ahead of those of the country.” “Those senators know perfectly well that a freeze is not mutual, it's not balanced and it’s not verifiable,” Ranger said. “They have encouraged, and I think diluted, the American public into believing that these desirable sort of agreements are possible.” GREAT WESTERN GAMES THE PLACE to purchase high quality new and used coin op pinball and video games. For your home, business, Fraternity/Sorority, we’ve got the games you want and values that can’t be beat. Choose from games like these: Asteroids.*4295 Battlezone.*395 Scramble.*550 Pacman.*1550 Black Night Pinball.*695 Harlem Globetrotters Pinball.*299 Come by and visit our showroom GREAT WESTERN GAMES 2787 Olympic St. #12 Springfield 726-1813 Terry Leavitt Visa and Mastercard welcome • Sales-Lease • Trade-Repair EMU Cultural Forum sponsors Oufutol Ait A\om *1lve, Animated tyilm, TWO DAYS ONLY! Mon. - Tues. April 25 - 26 lO am until 7 pm EMU MAIN DESK AREA By special arrangement with GALLERY LAINZBERG, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Remember Mother's Day Sunday, May 8th * Limited to stock on hand. * Offer ends April 30th. * Cash register sales only. 13th & Kincaid Mon-Fri 7:30-5:30 Sat 10:00-3:00 General Books 8M-3510 uo BOOKSTORE
