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Article: Gently does it. (destroying the nuclear missiles as set forth in the INF treaty)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- January 16, 1988
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1988 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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HOW do you get rid of 2,611 medium-Hand short-range nuclear missiles in 18 months? That is the riddle President Reagan and Mr Gorbachev set themselves when they signed the intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) treaty in Washington on December 8th. It is no easy matter to get rid of missiles without starting a war. Expect some hitches-specially in Russia, which has more missiles, more widely distributed, to be destroyed.
Once the treaty has been ratified by America's Senate, Russia will have to dispose of more than three missiles per day, on average. The Senate is due to start work on ratification next week. The missiles will not be the first to be destroyed by ...