Post-Summit Statement
International Security Council
November 26, 1985
The world has applauded the outcome of the Geneva summit meeting between the United States and the Soviet Union. Especially significant was President Reagan's reaffirmation in his address to Congress on November 21, 1985, of America's continuing deep desire for peace and unwavering attachment to freedom.
But the President also said that "the United States cannot afford illusions about the nature of the USSR." We fully agree. And we underscore, with the President, that American and allied strength has given us in the west the ability to act with confidence and to explore every genuine opportunity to promote freedom, peace and security.
The Geneva summit was the latest in a long series of such encounters, which often have produced--let us remember--results damaging to the interests of free and democratic countries. There never will be symmetry in public pressures on the participants in summits between democracies and totalitarian states. The absence of these pressures in a totalitarian system, combined with its manipulation of such forces within the democratic world, creates a basic imbalance in any summit process. Yet, at Geneva, some modest agreements were reached.
Now the free world must prepare an affirmative agenda for peace and freedom.
We support President Reagan's stand on strategic defenses against the threat of Soviet ballistic missiles. The west must not compromise or retreat from the basic right of self-defense. We are encouraged by the President's clear recognition that the danger of nuclear intimidation and of war will be reduced by such strategic defenses. No American president should be faced with the option of "launch on warning" as the only alternative to submission and defeat. As the United States pursues strategic defenses, the European Allies should undertake complementary efforts.
We welcome the President's support of the struggle against communist oppression in Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Ethiopia, and Nicaragua. The president made clear that America will not break faith with those fighting in the cause of freedom. The withdrawal of Soviet, Cuban and other surrogate forces from their aggressive intervention in Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean area and elsewhere, is imperative.
The west must remain committed to the fundamental linkage between human rights--the rights of all people, everywhere in the world--and an enduring peace. Regrettably, this commitment was omitted in the Geneva joint statement.
We trust that no concessions were made at the summit on the important issues of the continuation of the SALT II agreement and the interpretation of the ABM Treaty. Still, we must express our concern about the administration's ambiguous position on SALT II. This unratified agreement, which is due to expire in any case on December 31, 1985, was called fatally flawed by President Reagan himself.
The issue of verified Soviet violations of
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