Reagan-Grobachev Meeting in Iceland

This much can be surmised from the statements of both nations’ leaders at Reykjavik:

1--The Soviets continued business-as-usual. What’s theirs is theirs, while only ours is negotiable!

2--For President Reagan to have agreed to a 10-year ban on testing SDI-related components could have potentially jeopardized the NATO alliances, not to forget possibly doing a distinct disservice to our national security and defense interests.

3--In most bilateral arms control agreements with the Soviet Union so far, a strong case can be made that their national interests were best served by limiting technological surprise (a Western forte) thus reducing the elements of military risk to themselves in the process.

4--To date, this has been accomplished at an increasingly severe risk to Western alliances and our security interests. For evidence, we merely stress our present defenseless posture against the awesome Soviet land-based ballistic missile threat, which even the Physicians for Social Responsibility finally recognize.

5--So thankfully, for whatever else is written about the opportunities in Iceland, this process reached a plateau and possibly a turning point during those high-level meetings.

DAVID C. PHILLIPS

Spring Valley