Solution-Oriented Policy

ARTICLES OF WISDOM Mr. Bessmertnykh said changed attitudes on both sides had facilitated progress toward settling regional disputes where the United States and Soviet Union had been an influence. These disputes involved such places as Afghanistan, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, Southern Africa, and Kampuchea. In the Soviet Union, the attitude change encompasses Mr. Gorbachev’s “new thinking” in foreign policy, which calls for political solutions based on a “balance of interests” of all the involved parties, and in the United States, a readiness by the Reagan Administration to discuss issues on this basis. When Mr. Reagan came to office, the administration used phrases such as “we shall draw the line, we shall go to the source, we shall stop the advance of communism...” But eight years later, “look at the situation,” he said, “the fleet was concentrated in the Persian Gulf. What was the result?” Mr. Bessmertnykh said, “Practical minded people” in the administration “realise the world has changed.” You can’t do it anymore that way. “It’s impossible.” Just three years ago, when Mr. Reagan and Mr. Gorbachev met in Geneva at their first summit, the US aim in the Middle East was “Pushing the Soviet Union into the sea from the Middle East,” he said. The Administration has dropped this “arrogant but