THE STRATEGIC ARMS LIMITATIONS TALKS (SALT) have raised many hopes that some real reduction in nuclear weaponry, East and West, will come about. Here BRIAN LYONS looks at the real meaning of the SALT agreements, the theory of 'detente' which lay behind them, and exposes the way in which SALT actually led to arms increases.
There are The SALT people in CND who only did cemens o believe that ratification of not in any way disarm the the SALT 2 accords would ODS Sees. they Virrepresent step towards tually necessitated an nuclear In escalation of the race to its founding statement, the develop offensive nuclear European Nuclear missile technology.
Campaign By the time the SALT 2 calls for ratification of the November 1972, talks opened Geneva in SALT 2 accords.
the race Although critical of centred upon the developthose accords, CND's ep- ment of MIRV missiles cial broadsheet otherwise known issue urges the movement 'multiple independently support toe accords. lanceldo e re-entry This is part of what some vehicles'. In plain (ND leaders describe lailkuare. these combing multilateral in- missiles which carry several warheads that fire disarmament. The two ap- at different individual proaches, they say, are not lal KeLs OLICC the opposed to one another. carrier arrives at its overall So what are the SALT accords? What was their aim and did ther originate? The first round of SALT Helsinki in November had 1969. Progress wasn't very first test flight of a MIRV rapid since it took two and missile in 1968. By the time half years before an in- the Soviet Union made its Inal agreement was signica mirst test he Pentagons • vears their inception, later, though, the talks were already had 600 of these never conceived of sophisticated warheads reducing, far less deployed on land-based eliminating, nuclear alic weapons. the Poseidon submarines.
The purpose of Parity the SALT 2 talks from the Pentagon's angle, was to agreement was hailed by the Kremlin as signalling a fundamental the nuclear arms race. 'No doubt now one has ally said Pravda November, that the people of good will on earth have wholeheartedly accepted positive processes of our epoch.' Cover In reality, the Valdivostack agreement like ine enure SALT summitry provided COVCE LOT the continued pursuit by Washington of its global objectives. Reacting to this agreement, the York Times could scarcely conceal glee will br free' November 29, *to deploy hundreds of B-1 bombers and ten Trident nuclear submarines..
There is no restriction on flight testing slow the qualitative arms race. Nor is there anv ba developments such as land other destabilising mobile and air-mobile ICBM's, cruise launched from submarines and provements in missile acculaly. In other words all the grotesque nuclear paraphernalia templated for US Europe now was restricted but sanctioned by the SALT 2 accords.