The momentum of East-West detente has grown with the summer visit of the agreeable and businesslike Leonid Brezhnev. A burst of treaties, agreements and deals has noisily signaled a singular achievement of Nixon-Kissinger diplomacy. To most Americans the sole objections, raised by Senator Jackson and others in the name of Soviet Jews and liberal dissenters, must seem unwelcome throwbacks of the cold war or at least a parochial intrusion. With world peace and free trade seemingly at stake, even many intellectuals hesitate to belabor the narrowing liberties of those dissident groups.

Both Nixon and Brezhnev agree that trade and arms reductions are practical. While neither disavows ideological competition, both now say it should be channeled to peaceful outlets.