The right to know

Georgy Arbatov, by definition, is the Soviet Union's leading expert on the U.S. He is director of the Soviet Academy of Science's Institute for United States and Canadian Studies. He is also a member of the Communist Party's policy-making Control Committee. He was recently in the U.S. Among other things, he attended the first meeting of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, held at Airlie, Va., late last month. Arbatov also expected to participate in a televised debate involving three Soviet and three U.S. representatives to be broadcast April 10 on "Bill Moyers' Journal" on the Public Broadcasting Service. It was to be the third program in a three-part series on U.S./Soviet relations. But Arbatov never made it. The Department of State denied him a necessary visa extension and the broadcast subsequently was canceled when the Soviets withdrew their other representatives "as a matter of principle." The State Department's decision, apparently cleared by ...