A Message for Moscow

By Jacob V. Lamar Jr

Ronald Reagan was delivering a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, but his real audience was in Moscow. For some time, Reagan's aides had been concerned that the U.S. was sending confusing signals to the Soviets; Strasbourg seemed a per- fect place to clarify American positions. Speaking on the 40th anniversary of V-E day, Reagan offered olive branches from a mailed fist. He charged that the Soviets were building first- strike nuclear weapons and vowed that the U.S. would "resist attempts by the Soviet Union to use or threaten force against others, or to impose its system on others by force." But in a conciliatory tone, Reagan said the U.S. was eager to make headway at the arms- control talks in Geneva, and that it built nuclear weapons "not in the pursuit of superiority but merely of balance." The President did not, however, offer any new U.S. concessions, and he reiterated his commitment to his Star Wars plan.

At virtually the same time that Reagan addressed the European Parliament, Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev was giving his own V-E day anniversary speech at the Kremlin. He too mixed hard rhetoric with soft sell, but overall his language was tougher than Reagan's. The U.S., he claimed, was "the forward edge of the war menace to mankind." Nevertheless, Gorbachev said his country was ready for a thaw in relations. "From our point of view, detente is not the end aim of politics," he said. "It is needed, but only as a transitional stage from a world cluttered with arms to a reliable and embracing international security system."

The long-distance dialogue took on added significance because of the scheduled meeting in Vienna this week between Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. Shultz said that the issues raised in Reagan's speech--arms reduction, the Strategic Defense Initiative, and "confidence-building" measures such as better communications between the U.S. and Soviet military chiefs--would serve as his agenda for the conference. The two officials are also expected to discuss the possibility of a Reagan- Gorbachev summit this fall. Said Shultz: "When the Soviet Union is ready for such discussions, they'll take place."

After the vexing economic summit in Bonn and the controversial visit to the Bitburg military cemetery, Reagan's second week in Europe was largely upbeat and colorful, with everything from a joyous German pep rally to unruly Spanish protests. The Strasbourg speech put the President back on the diplomatic high ground. The address underscored the theme of resurgent democracy that Reagan repeated throughout his ten-day stay in Europe. "History is on the side of the free," he said, "because freedom is right and because freedom works."

The President could not have picked a tougher audience than the one in Strasbourg. Possessing almost no legislative power, the European Parliament is nevertheless a good place to grandstand. Its 434 elected officials are mostly conservative, with a smattering of special-interest fringe groups and Communists. The hard-core leftists, including British Laborites, German Greens and a few French and Greek Communists, were determined to give Reagan a hard time. As he criticized Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, they began to heckle and boo. Reagan faltered in his delivery, and many spectators thought the leftists had disturbed him. In fact, his TelePrompTer had malfunctioned. When he outlined U.S. policy toward the Soviets, some 20 Parliamentarians staged an ostentatious walkout. "You know, I've learned something useful," Reagan said. "Maybe if I talk long enough in my own Congress, some of those will walk out."

The next day Reagan was nonchalant about the Soviet leader's stinging rhetoric. His response to Gorbachev's charge that the U.S. is a "menace" to peace: "Who is he to talk?" The President's jocular comeback indicated that after a trying first week on the Continent, his spirits were revived. This was evident at the beginning of last week when he spoke at a German youth rally at the 700-year-old Hambach Castle. The enthusiastic crowd of 8,500 interrupted his speech 40 times with applause. Reagan's handling of the Bitburg affair had clearly endeared him to many Germans. Said Joachim Fest, co-publisher of the conservative Frankfurt newspaper Allgemeine Zeitung: "Everybody was very impressed by Reagan. He said all the right words at the right moment."

Next stop was Madrid, where the Reagans were greeted by Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia. The day before their arrival, 500,000 demonstrators in twelve Spanish cities protested the presidential visit and Spain's membership in NATO. When the Reagans reached the capital, 5,000 demonstrators blocked traffic in downtown Madrid, and mobs of youths charged toward the American embassy but were forced back by club-wielding riot police. "I don't know anyone in the world who is used to demonstrations more than I am," said the President. "They don't bother me."

In Madrid, Reagan repeatedly voiced his hope that Spain would remain in NATO, a question Spaniards will decide by referendum next year. For his part, Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez urged Reagan to decrease the American military force of 12,000 stationed at four bases in Spain; the treaty allowing the bases expires in 1988, and Spain wants to renegotiate a reduced force level well before then. With its ethnic ties to Central America, Spain is also unhappy with the Reagan Administration's hard-line policies in Nicaragua, most recently the trade embargo. While Reagan and Gonzalez did not settle their differences on Central America, the Spanish felt that their position received a respectful hearing.

Reagan and Gonzalez seemed to establish an instant rapport, and even traded anti-Communist jokes over lunch. Reagan told an old one about a Soviet farmer who claims his potato crop is so abundant "it reaches to the foot of God." When a visiting commissar reminds the farmer that "there is no God," the local replies, "There aren't any potatoes either." Gonzalez responded with the one about Karl Marx returning from the grave and going on TV in Moscow to say, "Workers of the world--forgive me!" The First Lady let her hair down as well. During a visit to Madrid's School of Dramatic Arts and Dance, she was persuaded to join some young pupils in the flamenco. Said one dance instructor: "Her rhythm was good, but she should take time to learn to use her arms."

At Portela Military Airport in Lisbon, the final stop on the Reagans' Euro- pean trip, they were greeted by President Antonio Ramalho Eanes. Portugal's leader is one of Reagan's biggest European boosters, and the crowd waved American flags and held up a banner reading WE LOVE REAGAN. At the Portuguese parliament, the President laughed off another Communist walkout ("I'm sorry that some of the chairs on the left seem to be uncomfortable") and hailed the host country's eleven-year-old democracy. Said Reagan: "It is the democratic world that is flexible, vibrant and growing --bringing its people higher and higher standards of living even as freedom grows and deepens."

At the Queluz Palace last Friday, a chipper Reagan held a press conference ) to mark the end of his European journey. White House Aide Michael Deaver had called it "without question the hardest trip of his presidency," and Reagan admitted "some anguishing moments" along with "many highs." Declared he: "We are returning home, mission accomplished."

More impartial witnesses gave his trip mixed reviews. The Bonn economic summit ended in disappointment when French President Francois Mitterrand refused to join the other leaders in agreeing to a new round of trade talks. Reagan managed to defuse the Bitburg uproar, but the incident nevertheless left a sour taste. By and large, however, Reagan handled his diplomatic duties with sensitivity and skill. Whether they liked him or not, Europeans could no longer dismiss him as an unschooled cowboy, as they did a few short years ago.

Ultimately Reagan's visit will be judged by whether it strengthened the alliance and struck the right note on dealing with Moscow. Said Reagan in Lisbon: "We set forth a sensible framework for improved Soviet relations based on strength, realism, peaceful competition and negotiations." He said he was ready for a summit whenever Gorbachev was. "So the ball is in their court, first to decide whether he's coming here, and then, second, as to time and place for such a meeting, if he's willing." No one could tell whether Gorbachev planned to keep the ball in play or smash it out of bounds.

With reporting by Laurence I. Barrett and Barrett Seaman with Reagan