WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 23, 1987, PAGE 7 PAGE SEVEN THE ARMS DEAL One can probably be excused a bit of skepticism, but the apparent agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union to eliminate medium range nuclear missiles may be the most significant peace initiative since the end of the Second World War. For a generation that has grown up in the shadow of nuclear annihilation, it is a relief -to see the nuclear superpowers abandoning at least part of their childish oneupmanship in favor of the future of mankind. Although the weapons to be eliminated are only about five per cent of the total nuclear arsenals, the significance is that this is the first agreement in more than forty years to actually reduce armaments. For the first time there are governments in both Moscow and Washington who can agree on the mutual benefit of arms reduction. Their rationale is probably not as altruistic as they would like us to believe, yet the initiative will excite a measure of momentum amongst people and governments throughout the world which may lead to further arms agreements. The superpowers have finally agreed publicly that they can in fact rely on each other to keep their word. I doubt if that was ever a real stumbling block but it made a good excuse. Back in the early sixties while still a student at Jarvis Collegiate in Toronto, I was president of the school's World Affairs Club. The club participated along with some fifty or sixty other schools in a model United Nations with each school representing a country. Every Sunday morning for about four months we met at Victoria College to discuss and debate world issues from the viewpoint of the countries we were representing. We all took it very seriously and carefully researched the positions our countries would have taken. The major powers were always assigned to the strongest delegations and Jarvis was representing the USSR in my final year. My assignment was delegate to the disarmament committee. Looking back at it, it was all so simple. Virtually every year, this model United Nations reached some kind of a disarmament agreement and the year I represented the Russians was no exception. As students, we wanted to live in a peaceful world and so any initiative towards peace was both practical and realistic. Were we naive? Perhaps; but only in the sense that the issues which have prevented an agreement up to now have been idealogical rather than the technical . smokescreens that have been touted in public. Our chief failure as students was that we represented the aspirations of ordinary people rather than the politicians who lead them. Both sides have maintained through the years that there was no way to verify that the other side was keeping its word. Even as students 25 years ago we recogrized the duplicity in this argument. Seismic equipment was able to detect and distinguish nuclear explosions even back then (although the politicians preferred to deny it) and both sides had espionage and reconnaissance networks (remember Francis Gary Powers and the U2 incident) which were capable of verifying the other side's compliance. The real stumbling block in international relations (something that we, as idealistic students, were unable to grasp) was the domestic political and economic consequences of an agreement. Ever since the Second World War, both sides have had so much tied up in their military industrial complex that an agreement to reduce arms was impossible. ...until now. As armaments have become increasingly sophisticated they have also become phenomenally expensive. In order to pursue costly defence projects like the MX missles and "Star Wars", cuts were needed elsewhere. Intermediate range missiles were expendable. Moscow also has its ongoing economic problems and for a change has a leader with the intelligence and finesse to see the "enemy" in human rather than ideological terms. To view this historic accord in purely economic terms may appear rather negative and seems to offer little hope of further arms reductions; however, for the first time both sides are acknowledging that agreement is both possible and economically desirable. Reagan may also have found his place in history and encouraged by the popularity that this accord will have he may strive for an even more far-reaching agreement. For.the nuclear generation which has learned to live in the shadow of the bomb, any world leader who withdraws significantly from the brink will have a prominent place in history - their failures in other areas will be overshadowed by a foreign relations triumph. Ironically this is the same Ronald Reagan who, in one of his first acts as President seven years ago, killed the SALT II arms limitation agreement. Lt is strange that America's most conservative Presidents have ultiniately achieved the greatest detente with the communists. It was Nixon who opened the door to Communist China, the one-initiative in his six years in office that may ultimately overshadow the Watergate scandai that forced bis resignation. To ordinary people like the students I negotiated with 25 years ago, nuclear disarmament is both logical and attainable. In the past, politics and ideology have always prevented it - perh aps now, economics wil frovide the necessary incentive. ,1hte l TÎ1ime A CONTEST FOR SUMMER STROLLERS AND SUNDAY DRIVERS Sponsored by Whithy's LACAC* to encourage an awareness of our local architectural.heritame Each week throughout the summer, the Whitby Free Press has published a picture of an architectural detail of a building somewhere in Whitby. A draw was made from all the correct entries received by next Tuesday morning for a copy of an interesting heritage book. The last detail was published in the Sept. 16 issue of this paper. All entries have been entered in a draw for a watercolour painting of Whit- by's Centennial Building by artist Ann Syme. The winner will be announced on Sept. 26, 1987 as part of LACAC's "Heritage in Action" day at Henry Street High School. The painting will be presented by Mayor Bob Attersley. Thank you for your interest and participation. THIS WEEK'S WINNER Shirley Gelette, 810 King St. Whitby DARTNELL HOUSE 320 St. John St. W., Whitby This fine brick house was designed by prominent Toronto architect, Henry Langley, in 1881 for George A. Dartnell, a junior judge for Ontario County. Langley also built an exact duplicate of this house in the Rosedale area of Toronto. Following Dartnell's death, the·house belonged to another county judge Duncan John McIntyre, the father of Duncan Brodie McIntyre who was born in this house. The latter was a prominent member of Whitby's council and was warden of Ontario County in 1952. The Dartnell House presently belongs to Des Newman, mayor of Whitby from 1966-75. *LOCAL ARCHITECTURAL CONSERVATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE