The Michigan Daily-Friday, April 10, 1'981-Page 7
NA TO DEFENSE CHIEFS ON SOVIE T DEALINGS:
Reagan-European rift deep

BONN, West Germany (AP) - Desp-
ite public assurances of harmony, this
week's meeting of NATO defense
chiefs underscored deep divisions
between the Reagan administration
and its European allies on dealings with
the Soviets.
The defense ministers agreed Wed-
nesday that the Kremlin had embarked
on an arms buildup beyond its defense
needs, and that any military interven-
tion in Poland would harm East-West
detente. West German Chancellor
Helmut Schmidt publicly reiterated
that concern yesterday saying military
intervention in Poland would "change
the world."
BUT THE MEETING of the allian-
ce's Nuclear Planning Group split over
strategy for combatting the Soviet
threat. While the United States pushed
for increased defense spending and a
"hard-to-get" line in negotiations,
Western Europeans opted to join the
Soviets at the conference table as soon
as possible.
West German officials let it be
known they were disappointed over
U.S. reluctance to set a date for
negotiations with the Soviets on
reducing medium range nuclear
missiles in Europe.
According to press reports in Bonn,
the West Germans were also upset over
the U.S. administration's continued op-
position to the SALT II treaty,
negotiated under President Carter but
never ratified by the Senate.
PRESIDENT REAGAN was a con-
sistent critic of the SALT II treaty
throughout his successful campaign for
the White House.
"'The Atlantic alliance is in danger of
falling out over basic questions of
mutual interest," wrote the conser-
vative newspaper Die Welt.
"They agree on what their dossiers
say, namely that the Soviet Union is
rearming to an unprecedented degree.

But this is where Atlantic harmony en-
ds ... The U.S. urges increased allied -
and not only American - defense spen-
ding. The Europeans react with reser-
ve. They hope that much desired
negotiations on containing military
might will be successful."
IN RECENT YEARS, the United
States and its Western European allies
have found themselves on opposite
sides on a number of issues.
Of the major allies, only West Ger-
many joined the United States in
boycotting the 1980 Moscow Olympics
to protest Soviet intervention in
Afghanistan in December 1979.
Western European nations main-
tained diplomatic relations with Iran
throughout the 444-day hostage ordeal
and sold grain to the Soviet Union after
the Carter administration suspended
sales to protest the Afghan interven-
tion.
DIFFERENCES between the
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Americans and their European par-
tners stem from a mixture of domestic
politics and perception of the Soviet
Union.
The governments in West Germany
and elsewhere in Western Europe are
faced with strong anti-nuclear and anti-
war movements, which the Soviet
Union has exploited by a massive
public relations campaign.
Faced with high oil prices; creeping
inflation and chronic unemployment,
liberal Western governments are reluc-
tant to dismantle social welfare
programs to finance arms programs at
Washington's insistence.
A BONN NEWSPAPER, the Bonner

Rundschau, saw a "deep rift"
developing between the United States
and Europe.
"While the U.S. adheres to its position
that SALT II is unacceptable, the
European partners believe there can be
no negotiations on limiting theater
nuclear weapons without SALT II."
Differences between alliance par-
tners on both sides of the Atlantic even
surfaced on the issue of Poland.
West German sources quoted Defen-
se Secretary Caspar Weinberger as
telling the allies arms control talks with
Moscow would not be possible until the
situation in Poland returned to normal.

AP Photo
THE SPACE SHUTTLE Columbia waits on the launch pad in Cape
Canaveral, Fla. for its scheduled early morning blast-off today. Thousands
of tourists gathered near the site to watch the shuttle launch into space.
Thousands gather to
see shuttle blast off
(Continued from Page )
military communications, navigation that destroy other orbiters.
and weather forecasting. The shuttle, which can carry Earl
The development of the American satellites into orbit, is expected to I
space shuttle has left behind a world used extensively for putting up militar
still wrangling over how to put inter- spy satellites. U.S. defense officials sa
national order into the largely lawless it might also eventually help build gia
new frontier the revolutionary manned space platforms that cou.
spacecraft will exploit. serve as reconnaissance or commar
With the shuttle, man will soon be posts for earthly combat.
doing things in outer space that are On the commercial side, ti
shnply not covered by the handful of in- American craft may quick
ternational treaties that pertain to ex- monopolize and expand the lucrati%
lraterrestrial activity.' communications satellite business.
THERE IS ONE key treaty that
would move significantly toward an in-
ternational "space regime." It would
declare the resources of the moon and
phinets to be a common heritage to be
shared among all nations. But that
treaty lacks the required number of
signatory governments and has not
gone into effect.
Long before a "moon treaty" finally
takes force, American lunar stations
built with the aid of the shuttle may
already be mining iron, titanium, or
aluminum on the surface of the moon.
The commercialization of space is not Mon, tue, Thur, Fri 7;00-9:00
the only development outstripping in- sat, sun, Wed 13-5-7-9
ternational law. The Pentagon's plans
for the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration shuttle have aroused
new international concerns that space
will become a superpower bat-
tleground.
THE SOVIET UNION has denounced
the shuttle program as the opening shot
of a space arms race. The Soviets
themselves, however, are at work on
space weapons, such as long-range
laser "guns" and "killer satellites" ,

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