Hungarian Church Press, 1968 (20. évfolyam, 2. szám)
1968-06-01 / 2. szám
BOP Vol XX Special Number 1968 No 2- 149 -(07930) in a no to be effected/such a way as not to hinder the negotiations about general and total disarmament - neither the implementation of comprehensive disarmament measures, but, as their integral port, actually promote their real! zationn This agreemoit on principles clearly outlines the next objective; general and total disarmament, effected by stages and effectively controlled, and, at the same tirafe, it calls attention to the place end role of the partial measures of d is armament 0 3) Beside the clarification of principles, the disarmament effbrts have also produced some concrete results, especially in the last decade (In the previous period most of the real steps forward were other than those to be achieved by bilateral and multilateral negotiations,? Between 1955 and 1959, the Soviet Union reduced its armed forces by 2,140,000, then in 1960, by further 1,280,000). Certain hopes were raised by the plans put forward and discussed at the beginning of the sixties concerning a comprehensive plan of disarmament, alas, without reaching concrete agreements- Thus, in the following, we can point only to partial agreementsi in December „1959, the international Ahtarctic Agreement was signed, the first example of regional agreementsj Of the partial agreements, the most important so far is the partial Nuclear Test Ban Agreement of Moscow signed on the 5th cf August, 1963, which forbade nuclear experiments in the air, under water and above ground and "thereby reduced the danger of the radioactive pollution of the atmosphere and put the brake on the armament race- The significant effect of this step on the improvement of the interna.tional atmosphere is indicated by the subsequent and relatively quickly achieved resuitsc In October, 1963, a Soviet - U,S0 agreement came into being banning the sending of weapons cf mass destruction into space (this agreement was then confirmed by a UNO resolution)c Following this, in December, 1966, an agreement was reached and, in January, 1967, signed by 60 countries to the effect that space can only be used for peaceful purposes« In October, 1963, the agreement on the "hot wire" was negotiated between Washington and Moscow and this was subsequently extended concerning the -Moscow-Paiis and Moscow-London relations« There can be no doubt that this step does not have the nature cf an explicit disarmament measure yet it produced a degree of "safety" with the possible capacity to prevent the outbreak of a nuclear conflict,? In April, 1964, the Soviet Union, the U«S»Ae and Great Britain announced their reduction cf the manufacture of fissionable material,. All these successes underscore the significance of partial agreements,, They have made it clear that, on the basis cf realistic politics, steps can be taken which are either parts, in a certain sense, of the process of general and total disarmament or, at least, point in tint direction and might facilitate and prepare the way for comprehensive agreements« At the same time, such agreements, while possibly preparatory to further steps, have a beneficent influence on the international atmosphere and, even by themselves, might reduce or avert great dangers (far instance, the Test Ban Treaty averts
