U.S. Business Blocks Arms Talks--Pravda

Pravda charged today that dozens of U.S. companies are blocking disarmament talks because the “Star Wars” program of research into space weapons presents them with a modern-day gold rush entailing trillions of dollars in profits.

The article came after several editorials and commentaries published Sunday charged that the United States was continuing to build its military arsenal at the behest of arms producers despite gains made at the Geneva summit.

“The Strategic Defense Initiative is seen in the United States today as the biggest chance ever for enrichment by dozens of corporations,” the Communist Party newspaper said today.

‘A Super-Klondike’

“It is a super-Klondike,” Pravda said.

“The vision of billions, if not trillions, of dollars in possible profits have made many industrialists into unqualified allies of the right-wing groups in the United States which look to the SDI as a means of gaining military superiority over the U.S.S.R. and the world as a whole.

“These forces are acting in serried ranks against any barriers to the program’s fulfillment, be it disarmament talks or research into the dangerous implications of SDI,” Pravda continued.

Another article in the newspaper said the Reagan Administration attended last November’s superpower summit in Geneva not because of a desire for peace, but because of public pressure.