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LOS ANGELES TIMES THURSDAY, OCT. 14, 1971 WEDNESDAY, OCT. 13, 1971 y Mr. Nixon's Visit to Moscow Now it will be Moscow as well as Peking. sobering backdrop to new hopes for agree- And the months ahead are open to extra- ment from the Strategic Arms Limitation ordinary opportunity for a consummation Talks. of new steps toward American-Soviet de- tente just as they are open to the explora- Mr. Nixon has insisted from the start tion and rediscovery of relations between that there can be more harm than good China and the United States. unless the summit does something. The spirit of Camp David and Glassboro was The giants of world power will be in new not substantiated. One result was public and more intimate communication. But disillusionment. one can only dimly imagine how they will influence the course of world events. The President said yesterday that President Nixon's summit meeting next agreement by the four powers on Berlin May in Moscow runs less risk of failure had persuaded him that the time had come than most of the summits of the past be- to climb to the summit. Nothing is more cause his path to Moscow has been paved important to Europe. And he could also with substantiál preliminary agreements. cite other hopes for substantial steps in re- laxing East-West tensions. The Strategic The agenda already is long. Some of the Arms Limitation Talks "may be behind agenda items duplicate what other Pres- us" by the time the summit convenes, he idents talked about to other Soviet leaders said. on the tortuous path from Geneva and Camp David to Vienna and Glassboro. This Some indication of the sweep of the is a reminder that summits of themselves agenda was given by Mr. Nixon's specific solve nothing. But some of the agenda reference to both Southeast Asia and the items reflect agreement where none Middle East. He hastened to add that seemed possible when last the art of sum- American involvement in Vietnam might mitry was practiced, and there is in that a have ended by the time of the meeting. He vague reassurance that the slow process of did not need to remind reporters that he peacemaking can sometimes be accelerat- regards the Middle East as one of the most ed by this sort of meeting. dangerous points of potential confronta- tion between Washington and Moscow. Some uneasiness is inescapable in the unhappy coincidence that Soviet Foreign It was a confident and optimistic Pres- Minister Andrei Gromyko was formalizing ident who unfolded these travel plans. He the invitation just about the time Ameri- knows the risks of what he is doing. But can intelligence satellites were uncovering also the rewards. He has gone about plan- evidence of an immense buildup of strate- ning both trips the right way. If he suc- gic weapons in the Soviet Union. That is a ceeds, the nation will succeed with him. Historical File PRESERVATION COPY