An Impossible Dream

May 13, 2019
French journalist Serina provides a lackluster look behind the scenes of the historic 1986 summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, during which Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev tried to agree on reductions to their countries’ nuclear arms stockpiles. Gorbachev’s ascendancy provided an opportunity for progress in arms talks, and, after his first meeting with Reagan in Geneva in 1985, their two countries agreed to a follow-up. Over the course of two days, the leaders offered proposals and counterproposals, but Reagan’s commitment to SDI, a space-based defense system intended to shoot down enemy missiles, nicknamed Star Wars, remained a major sticking point. The talks collapsed, although they paved the way for subsequent agreements. Sloppiness over details (Rudy Giuliani was not still the mayor of New York City in 2002) doesn’t inspire confidence in the author’s commitment to accuracy, and stiff, sometimes awkward prose (“Gorbachev would try to speed up the calendar. Even if that meant forcing the destiny of the world.”) suggests something was lost in the translation. Even diplomacy buffs may want to give this one a pass.

June 1, 2019
A Los Angeles-based French author looks back at the 1986 negotiations between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev about eliminating nuclear weapons from the arsenals of each nation. In a book translated from the French, Serina, who authored the first French-language biography of Barack Obama, writes mostly in the present tense, attempting to give the historic summit a you-are-there feeling. His research covers a preliminary meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, followed by a more detailed examination of a second meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland. Details about the negotiations seemed scarce at the time, and the author claims his research uncovered many previously undisclosed aspects of the meeting. It may be difficult for general readers to discern whether Serina's sources, recalling their presence at the summit decades later, are spinning the details to make their respective governments look better. In a brief foreword, Gorbachev writes that the negotiations led to some progress that all parties could endorse, but he blames Reagan for impeding further progress due to his insistence on a space-age plan known as the Strategic Defense Initiative. "To agree on the elimination of weapons on Earth while at the same time opening an arms race in space was not acceptable to me," he writes, sensibly. Gorbachev credits Reagan to the extent that five years later, President George H.W. Bush built on the limited Reykjavik accord to sign an initial Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as START I. Serina's research becomes particularly revelatory as he explains the immediate aftermath of the Reykjavik summit, as American officials transmitted pessimistic signals about the outcome while the Soviet public relations effort seemed more optimistic. The author brings the saga somewhat up to date by explaining 2010 negotiations regarding nuclear arsenals, with President Barack Obama and Soviet leader Dmitry Medvedev as the main actors, as well as a few comments on the Trump administration. A historical account that feels refreshing because of the author's neutral perspective as neither American nor Russian.

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