Reagan, Gorbachev, and Reykjavík

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40 Octobers ago, the superpowers' leaders met in a distant capital and came within a whisker of agreeing to eliminate all nuclear weapons. The Reykjavík summit ended without a breakthrough, but it was not a failure. Soon the world would witness the high tide of arms control treaties and superpower detente.
However, that time is long over. In our age of budget-busting nuclear modernization and potential proliferation, superpower hostility and anarchy are the norms. Where’s the spirit of Reagan, Gorbachev, and Reykjavík? Our guest is historian Michael Kimmage.
Michael Kimmage is the director of the Kennan Institute in Washington, an expert on the Cold War and U.S.-Russia relations. He's the author of 'Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability (global.oup.com/academic/product/collisions-978…).'
Further reading:
Reykjavik at 40 (responsiblestatecraft.org/reagan-gorbachev-rey…) by Martin Di Caro (Responsible Statecraft)

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