The Liberal Line

One Big Strike

The “disarmament” being discussed in London is not to be confused with the disarmament of the thirties. Today disarmament is a shorthand phrase for some kind—any kind—of agreement about the production, testing, storage and employment of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons; and disarmament negotiations have become an integral part of the great game of military and psychological strategy. They involve possible changes in the character of the game and, by that very token, the possibility of somebody’s losing his shirt.