Senate Votes To Make Nonproliferation A Joke
By Cernig Wednesday Oct 01, 2008 7:30am
Most folks missed it, because the vote came just before the bailout bill, but on Wednesday the US Senate voted 86-13 to approve the India 123 bill, giving India access to US nuclear know-how and materials for the first time since India conducted a nuclear weapons test three decades ago. Both presidential candidates voted for the bill and the House had already passed it 298 to 117. The roll call for the Senate vote shows that Boxer, Byrd, Feingold, Leahy and Sanders were among the few "Nay" votes.
Arms control experts aren't at all happy with the deal:
Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, blasted the deal as a "nonproliferation disaster." India, along with Pakistan and Israel, has never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. India conducted nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998, despite international outrage, and continues to produce fissile material. Kimball said the deal "does not bring India into the nonproliferation mainstream" because it "creates a country-specific exemption from core nonproliferation standards that the United States has spent decades to establish."
But Bush is:
The President said he is looking forward to signing the Bill, considered as a major foreign policy initiative of his Administration, into law and continuing to strengthen the US-India Strategic Partnership.
"I congratulate the Senate on passing the United States-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Nonproliferation Enhancement Act, H.R. 7081," he said.
"In particular, I commend the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for their leadership in crafting this important bipartisan legislation," he said.
The President also thanked Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader McConnell for bringing this bill to a vote prior to the Senate's adjournment.
One of the major stumbling blocks had been that the bill contains no specific wording to cease co-operation if India goes back to nuclear testing, on which it currently has a self-imposed moratorium. The Bush administration refused to add any such wording to an all-important waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group which it heavily pressured other nations to pass, and an amendment to the US bill that would have made it explicit failed to pass.
Critics also point out that India's military nuclear facilities would notbe subject to inspection - only 14 of its 22 existing or planned reactors would come under regular IAEA surveillance - and note that being able to buy US uranium for its civilian reactors would allow India to redirect more of it's own nuclear material to bomb production. They also note, not that anyone on the Hill is listening, that India could have sidestepped all of this rigmarole by joining the NPT and giving up its nukes. Once upon a time, the US backed that provision of the NPT fully. No longer, exceptions are now the name of the game (see Iran and the hyperbolic saber-rattling over what so far has only been shown to be a purely civilian program).
As Jeffrey Lewis, Director of Nuclear Strategy at the New America Foundation, writes: "carving out an exception for India undermines the rule of law and allows India to use the international marketplace to mitigate the effect of any sanctions following a resumption of nuclear testing." He also says:
I worry this sets up a potential trainwreck:
Indian officials believe they have what they seek: the legal commitments at the core of a strategy that will mitigate the consequences of a resumption of testing. (The fuel reserve, access to the international marketplace, etc.)
NSG members, on the other hand, believe they have a political commitment, however weak, from India to refrain from testing and options to isolate India again in the event that it violates the pledge. [So do members of Congress now - C]
One of the two parties is wrong. I am not eager to find out which.
At the time of the NSG waiver, Mira Kamdar, a fellow at the Asia Society, wrote scathingly in the Washington Post:
The deal risks triggering a new arms race in Asia: If it passes, a miffed and unstable Pakistan will seek nuclear parity with India, and China will fume at a transparent U.S. ploy to balance Beijing's rise by building up India as a counterweight next door. The pact will gut global efforts to contain the spread of nuclear materials and encourage other countries to flout the NPT that India is now being rewarded for failing to sign. The U.S.-India deal will divert billions of dollars away from India's real development needs in sustainable agriculture, education, health care, housing, sanitation and roads. It will also distract India from developing clean energy sources, such as wind and solar power, and from reducing emissions from its many coal plants. Instead, the pact will focus the nation's efforts on an energy source that will, under the rosiest of projections, contribute a mere 8 percent of India's total energy needs -- and won't even do that until 2030.
So what will the deal accomplish? It will generate billions of dollars in lucrative contracts for the corporate members of the U.S.-India Business Council and the Confederation of Indian Industry. The Bush administration hopes that it will help resuscitate the moribund U.S. nuclear power industry and expand the use of this "non-polluting" source of energy, one of the pillars of the Bush team's energy policy. The deal will let the real leaders of the global nuclear-power business -- France and Russia, both of which eagerly support the deal -- reap huge profits in India. And the pact will provide spectacularly profitable opportunities to India's leading corporations, which are slavering to get their hands on a share of the booty. How much booty? This newspaper estimates more than $100 billion in business over the next 20 years, as well as perhaps tens of thousands of jobs in India and the United States.
This is what the U.S.-India nuclear deal is really all about. This is what the nonproliferation regime that has kept the world safe from nuclear Armageddon for decades is being risked for: cash.
... the deal will tell other would-be nuclear powers -- and nuclear rogues -- that the old barriers to nonproliferation need not be taken seriously. They certainly have not been taken seriously by the United States.
Interestingly, almost immediately after the NSG waiver was granted, Pakistan announced that it would be buying state-of-the-art enrichment and seperation technology from China. Pakistan, historically, has been the proliferator of choice for those wishing to build nuclear programs outwith IAEA and NPT supervision.
The House and Senate have just made a serious mistake by following the Bush administration, energy and defense lobbyists on this so enthusiastically. The NPT is effectively dead - as the neocons have wished for all along. What comes next?
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The BBC is already covering the story of Pakistan stating that they want the same deal or they will turn to China for more nuke power. . . just what the hell are they thinking about?
Great. Set off an arms race in the middle east.
Brilliant f*%ing idea... dumbasses!
I think this deal is being overblown in significance. India signed a civilian nuclear tech deal with France two days and France is one the countries that leads in civilian nuke tech. Secondly, India will not sign anything unless Pakistan does as well. So the closest we are going to come any time soon is for IAEA to get some inspection of the civilian technology through this deal. In fact there is already a lot of opposition to this deal in India that Indian technology is being subjected to international inspections, where as U.S reactors are not. So its not clear if India will take up this deal that easily.
I think main goal of this deal that India will become part of the international community that focuses more on civilian nuclear tech and also have its civilian operations open to inspections.
Actually, I guess I should say increase the pace of it.
Now, more than ever, I'm beginning to think that they are looking for the Armageddon that the end of the Cold War prevented.
Nonprolieration was already a joke. A 60 year old nation in the middle of all those brown people has more nukes with the help of who?
Bush Bots strike again.
Eric Hussein in Ottawa @ 2:
middle east?
Thanks for bringing this up. Good article.
Anonymous Hussein @ 9:
Or post...I meant post. I betray my age by referring to such a moribund medium as the newspaper!
Well we all know that playing both sides of a war always works out so well for us in the end. I guess since we gave weapons to Pakistan, we might as well arm India as well. I'm sure the Pakistanis will be TOTALLY cool with it.
This is awesome: Palin channelling Miss S. Carolina:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ0xySe0uRw
In all honesty we know that if we only knew what the real dangers could be like the major insiders know we could support the bill...in other words if we knew the real intentions of Congress we would never sleep peacefully again.
Hum...And we expect Pakistan to be an ally in the fight on terrorism after that? I think the White house (Dick) wants to make sure Pakistan doesn't cooperate so Bin Laden remains hidden and the fear mongering can go on.
Hey!
There's gold in them there mushroom clouds!
Bringing in the bucks,
bringing in the bucks,
We will come rejoicing
'til we gotta duck!
Stashing all our cash,
stashing ALL the cash!
We will come rejoicing
'til it all goes "CRASH!"
The NNPT only works if all signers take it seriously. The US has been in violation for a long time by developing new nuclear weapons. This latest news reinforces the US contempt.
Also, there has been no serious effort to bring non-signers on board. This would be necessary to increase it's effectiveness, but that would mean putting pressure on US "allies" like Israel and Pakistan!
Also, despite the US and UN sabre rattling, Iran is probably in total compliance with the NNPT!
Yes, it's all a joke and, like most other issues, corporate interests rule.
Patrick @ 8:
An "A" for enthusiasm -
A "D-" for accuracy.
I think that the post, from the title down, shows a basic misunderstanding of what this policy is supposed to accomplish. Of all of the misguided, kleptocratic policies that the Bush Administration has put forth, this may be the one policy change that was actually good. Instead of "cash" as the prime motivator as the author suggests, this treaty is meant to boost a long-term geostrategic alliance between two established democracies who have been estranged from each other for decades. India is an emerging global power, and already wields significant regional influence, checked only in scope by China, who backs Pakistan's nuclear and military ambitions to keep India off balance. This overt cooperation with the United States is meant to send as much of a signal that India "has arrived" to the Indian people as much as it is to signal a shift by the US in creating more balance-of-power realpolitik in an emerging multipolar world.
One of the biggest mistakes in NPT discussions, in my opinion, is that there is either no distinction between any non-nuclear state, or accusations that double standards are being applied. The third possibility is that not all countries are identical, and foreign policy must be tailored to the reality of each situation. Are we really to believe that Israel and India, both nuclear states, are the same as Iran and North Korea? Bringing India into the nuclear club responsibly is the best outcome both for global non-proliferation and for US national security interests.
chicano2nd @ 6:
Um, India developed their nuclear program on their own. They have never violated the NNPT, they can't have as they never signed it. This deal seems to be a case of the U.S. violating the NNPT.
Having just noted in passing in recent days that Israel is likley to come under increasing IAEA surveil regarding Israels "known but unknowable" atomic power/weapons status this new USA/INDIA "arrangement" takes on greater significance.
One can expect this American 'convenient understanding' with India to be put in place for Israel sometime soon as well.
This American 'evolution' regarding long held American NPT and IAEA POV and stand would seem to have Bush/Cheney approved neo-con fingerprints all over it. Israeli atomic issues surely well taken into account by Bush/Cheney regime in opening up what can only be a pandoras box of atomic power/weapons run amok.
How many of the people who voted for this are also demanding sanctions/military actions against Iran?
What a dumbass post. The NNPT basically denies nuclear power to any country except the ones who "officially" had it back in the cold war. You think us dealing with the most stable government in the Asian arena is going to be against our interest? Right. India has never violated the NNPT.
If we can't beat you, join us. Welcome India to the big leagues of hypocrisy. This sort of thing certainly isn't helping the already daunting task of putting the genie back in the bottle. BTW SK the NPT does no such thing. It specifically enshrines the right of all countries to develop peaceful uses of atomic power. With regard to India, you can't violate a treaty you haven't acceded to. That doesn't make them any more right than say, Israel.
Yes, there really is not a whole hell of a lot of difference between these two.
Don't believe me? Go watch the first 1:30 of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5WiE6MnmCM
Please, this is hyperventilating to no purpose. You think this is all about cash? Really? Have you bothered to look at it from the Indian side? How do you think a nation of a billion people are going to meet their energy needs over the next century? Coal? Hydel? Just 300 million of Ameicans have almost singlehandedly destroyed the environment, think what 3 times that number could do! No, the Indians desperately need alternative sources of energy, and nuclear power is the most plausible one over the next few decades.
Besides, what's all the nonsense about the death of non-proliferation? India has never, but never, aided in the proliferation of nuclear weaponry. Look in the mirror first, me hearties.
As with pork and the bailout, the Senate continues to repeat the very mistakes that got us into the mess we are in. I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
How do I, a 30 year old, escape a democracy dominated by older, senile, stuck in their ways voters?
They care little about the world of 2040, they won't be here. I will. My children will.
When the Constitution was penned life spans were much lower and mortality greater.
The balance they struck was sufficient for the time. It sucks now. We need generational usufruct. Or we need an escape plan.
chicano2nd @ 6:
What a racist bigot.
Also, India is more than 5000 years old. The modern indian nation state may be only 60 according to european history books..... read up on some history!
Please consider writing to your senators who voted yea on this piece of garbage. One of mine did, the other (Feingold) did not. Here's what I sent:
Senator Kohl,
I would like to hear your justification for voting in favor of H.R. 7081. India has never signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and tested a nuclear weapon as recently as 1998. I'm absolutely stunned that we would consider giving India (or any country) more access to nuclear materials at a time when we should be trying to eliminate such materials. Will Pakistan receive similar treatment now? Where will it end?
Please explain your vote on this matter. I would prefer a direct respoons to the quester versus political double speak.
Feel free to plagiarize as much as you like.
SK @ 22:
Well, except for testing a nuclear weapon in 1998. But other than that...
This kind of exposes our fake indignation about Iran's nuclear program.
But, actually the first thing that popped into my mind was Tom Lehrer - specifically two of his ditties: "Who's Next" and "We Will All Go Together When We Go." Still, it seems, quite relevant.
real injun @ 25:
This is just plain wrong. I wonder how many people commenting here have read even a precis of the NPT. Apparently not many. The NPT in no way restricts countries from developing peaceful uses of nuclear power. India became a proliferator when they developed nuclear weapons. Whether they signed the NPT or not. Whether they transfer the technology or not. If the US starts making exceptions for countries based on their status as allies then I presume the Russians and the Chinese and the Pakistanis are entitled to do the same for their allies. So much for non-proliferation.
real injun @ 25:
Dream on in ignorant bliss.
It is very much about money and billions in exports for General Electric (12th largest defense contractor and owner of 1/6 of US media).
It is very much about foreign policy and strategic alliances. India is a counterbalance to China, so "arming" them makes sense if you subscribe to a "cold war" world view. India is also a counterbalance to Pakistan which is troublesome beyond belief (largely due to our actions there).
Nuclear technology is destabilizing. This keeps "friends" and adversaries alike off-balance while providing excuses for defense contractors to further throttle our country.
The very last thing this is about is "helping" India meet their energy needs or protecting the environment. Name one thing the current administration has done in the last 8 years to help ANYONE meet their energy needs or protect the environment - just one!
real injun @ 25:
Bullshit. They live in overpopulated sqaulor in many of the larger cities, so population control is a FAR better option. They get abundant year round sunlight and have the India Ocean that can provide wind and tidal power. There are many better options than nuclear power. Any guesses where they will dump the radioactive waste?
Hey, have you ever thought that a new Arms race in the Middle East and Far East, might be really good for the US economy?
So what?
Israel constantly sells U.S. military technology and weapons to China in violation of its agreements with the U.S..
See:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FL21Ak01.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4101961.stm
Eric Hussein in Ottawa @ 2:
Last I checked, India wasn't part of the so-called Middle East, but I get what you're saying.
code x @ 36:
Neither of those articles supports the word "constantly". As Douglas Feith is cited as the American disputant in the first article it is virtually certain to be bullshit.
They want them all to kill each other over there. That's the plan.
Peter G @ 31:
You are confusing nuclear weaponry with nuclear energy.
Devil_Dog @ 33:
you've got to be kidding me. that is so f*%#in ignorant shit that all I can say is, are you Sarah Palin? Population control (right, let's bring it down to 250 million next week), sunlight (heard of the monsoons?), tidal power (wtf?!) -- sheesh.
Yes, nuclear waste is a problem. But a smaller problem than the chokehold that exists now on the quality of life, industrial development, transportation, and the economy, with inadequate energy resources.
Noah @ 32:
Listen, who cares about motivation, when the action is what is important? I agree, the Bush administration has done diddly all to help the environment. So? That doesn't mean that this deal won't help the environment. You guys have been complaining about the contributions to global warming from China and India. This will slow it down.
real injun @ 40:
If you don't believe over population is a problem in the world, you've been living in a cave. Of course you can't reduce populations overnight, but it must be addressed and especially in countries like India.
The last monsoon I sat through in Okinawa only lasted about two days. They also have a 6 month dry season. Tidal generators are in the testing stages. Maybe you could try reading and you would know about things like that. Seems to me I'm not the ignorant one here.
"But what was striking was the across the board support that found even rival presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, besides a host of heavyweights on both sides of the aisle such as Hillary Clinton, Richard Lugar, and Joe Biden." -India Times
Go figure. Both Obama and McCain together again to make the world a safer place.
Do you get it now? FISA...Bailout...India Nukes.
Corruption.
Evil.
Togetherness.
Good thing the Democrats are "in charge" in the house and senate.... Or they would have voted for this... oh, wait, they did. Who cares who is in charge?
India may as well have nukes to power their growing population. And China. And everyone else. Ever have pet mice. Try this at home. Get a bunch of mice. Put them in a large fish tank and make sure you give them plenty of food and shelter. Let the population grow and keep feeding them and adding those mouse maze additions until the tank is full of mice and mice mazes. Then, one day, just for a day not more, don't feed them.
Discuss the results.
So... in a way... with the human population explosion, who cares what we do?
US Foreign Policy
Oh! Pakistan will be our friend and help us in our war on terror.
Oh! silly me... did I bomb your village. Ooops.
Oh! silly me... did I bomb your village again.
Oh! silly me... did I just sell technology to build nuclear bombs to your enemy. Ooops... silly me again.
Oh! my buddy Saddam. Would you do me a great big favor and kill hundreds of thousands of your people taking care of this embarrassing Iran problem for us.
Oh! silly me... I didn't know that you didn't want us selling weapons to your enemies. Ooops... silly me.
Oh! you bad old Saddam... When I said that I didn't care if you invaded Kuwait. I didn't actually mean that you could invade Kuwait. Ooops silly me... Oh! what a pickle... guess we have to have this silly little war... Ooops silly me.
Oh! I didn't know that you were telling the truth about dismantling your WMD program. Sorry about invading your country. Guess we are going to have to make your country all better now. Ooops silly me.
All Americans have lost the right to complain about the insecurity and oversight of other countries.
I have no sympathy for a thug that gets caught in a mexican standoff
for a long time the USSR and the USA were like a two party imperial system of the world
I can not wait to look at the faces and bumper stickers of the repugs in my town as the rest of the world joins the party.
Eric Hussein in Ottawa @ 2:
But think of the profits for the global nuclear industry!
AND .. we get INDIAN MANGOES !!
mmmm ...
Amitola @ 30:
First, as mentioned before, India is not party to the NNPT, and it's good that they weren't, because Pakistan was going to go nuclear anyway. And important thing to recognize since India officially went nuclear in 1998....there hasn't been one sustained conventional conflict with Pakistan since. The concept of Mutually Assured Destruction works....assuming you have sane individuals in charge.
You can't violate a treaty you never signed. Israel btw is also a nuclear state, and never signed the NNPT, and essentially stole the tech from us with additional help from France and South Africa. Yet, there's no crying and whining about Israel....why is that? It also begs the question that if Israel is allowed to be nuclear, why shouldn't any of the other ME powers have nukes too? It's because it's all about maintaining the balance of power
India has always passed the sanity test....being the largest democratic nation in Asia.
Comparison to Iran is faulty on numerous levels:
1. Iran is not a democracy....it's a theocracy. (but I do think its leaders are sane and rational).
2. Iran is not a nuclear state
Also:
The level of racism in these posts is a bit surprising. When did this place become Free Republic?
Actually, you guys should read the excellent book by Strobe Talbott called Engaging India. He worked under Democratic administration under Clinton, so he was one of the followers of the idea of non-proliferation. He talks about how the international agreements like NPT and CTBT are full of double standards and hypocrisy. Western Europe can live safely under NATO, Israel is an ally of the Western powers. India is not part of any treaty with a superpower which gives it automatic protection. It was an ally of USSR, but it got nowhere after the fall of Soviet Union. Pakistan is an ally of US and China in that region. India fought wars with Pakistan and China and US once sent a aircraft carrier to curb India when it was at war with Pakistan. Now understand the geography of the threats that India face and match it with the amount of restraint it showed in terms of testing and arming.
The genie came out of the bottle when US developed the nukes and tested it out in Japan. And India never did proliferation, developing the technology for nuclear energy or possessing nuclear weapons is not proliferation.
Regarding the comments about Indian population, I am surprised that the people who visit such a site could be so dumb. It is pointless talking about the per capita energy consumption levels in US and other parts of the world.
When-oh-when is Russ Feingold going to stick his neck out and just run for friggin' President already??? I'd even be happy with Veep. Heck, if Obama had had the brains to pick him for Veep, I'd be counting the seconds until tonight's debate.
Peter G @ 38:
You're discrediting a source based on association.
Anyway, your point about "constantly" is really reaching. Anyone familiar with Israel's arms deals would use the word "constantly". Of course the word "constantly" can't be supported by JUST those two articles because the articles focus on recent events.
Here:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE5DB163BF931A25753C1A...
How are you going to discredit that source, I'm curious?
real injun @ 40:
Actually that would be you who failed to make the distinction between nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. The NPT in no way would have impeded India from developing nuclear power.Clearly bullshit is your forte.
code x @ 52:
That NYT article is from 1993, in case you miss that, and it uses phrases like "more than a decade".
Have fun!
India is developing nuclear power...in fact they have some of the most innovative breeder reactor designs in the world, including designs set up to run on Thorium, which India has huge deposits of.
As for proliferation....which country has India sold nuclear weapons or technology to? They developed it for their own national defense and kept it for themselves.
code x @ 52:
The problem with your assertion that Israel "constantly" sells US Technology and weapons is that they don't "constantly" get US technology and weapons and they develop a lot of their own. They are one of the largest weapons dealers in the world. Almost as large,in fact as the US. As the article you linked to admits: As high tech weapons suppliers to some of the most unsavory characters on the planet the US is in a very poor position to criticize any other country on moral grounds. With Israel they have a leash they can yank. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Who's yanking your leash? Is this a matter of taking the moral high ground or just restraining the competition for arms sales?.
chicano2nd @ 6:
Brown people? WTF? Did you sleep through the past 100 years you racist ...
Is this the same congress that's voting on the bailout bill? So glad such wisdom goes into this stuff. We're truly fucked. We will be poor and bombed. We'll at least I was alive to watch the U.S. of A. turn itself into a 3rd world country.
I forgot to mention your NYT link. Does anybody need to discredit a CIA source? They usually do that themselves. You may also note the article in question deals with the sale of technology to China and not specifically US technology. Furthermore no one sells the Chinese anything without selling the manufacturing technology that goes with it. Once again the US is entirely complicit in this trade. As is Canada and Europe.
Peter G @ 56:
You need to support that claim with some reliable sources!
Peter G @ 56:
Israel doesn't even come close to the U.S. in arms sales. That's not the point here. You're confusing "dealer" with "inventor".
But, just for the record, you can check this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_industry#World.27s_largest_arms_exporters
::
::
Peter G @ 56:
Again, that's based on your claim that Israel exports weapons. That's not the issue here. The issue is Israel's sales of U.S. technology to third parties which constitutes a violation of its agreement with the U.S..
Peter G @ 60:
It looks like my response to your previous post got eaten up somehow. The issue here is not Israel's exports of weapons. Just for the record, Israel doesn't even come close to the U.S.. You can check arms exports by country on Wikipedia.
The issue at hand is Israel's sales of U.S. technology, in its original state or modified, to third parties, including China. THAT is the issue. Israel is CONSTANTLY doing what's good for Israel, all the while claiming its the United States' best friend.
And as far as your quip about the CIA...well...I'm sure you're the only reliable source with your sarcasm. When all else fails, derail the discussion and dodge the issue.
You have yet to provide ONE source to support any of your erroneous claims. Especially the one that asserts that Israel "invents" a lot of the military technology it sells China. Prove it!
I have to go now. Feel free to cite some sources for your assertions and don't give me that childish bullshit like your comment about the CIA. How old are you?
I think, it is good to be friends with the only other stable democracy in the South Asian region. A country of billion people definitely need energy, and even though they have over the decades made signification progress in technology and innovation, there is no quick fix to solving the energy crisis over the long run. Besides, India with its independent foreign policy has been and will always be a strong ally of the US. Look at the recent red flag excersizes and other military to military cooperation they have been conducting with US. The NNPT continues to be fundamentally flawed at its core, with a definite bias towards countries that went nuclear before 1968. For this treaty to be effective in the future, it should be re-written taking the present and future world dynamics in to account.
Money is definitely a key player in this, but look at the bigger picture.
1. Billions of dollars in trade for US/European countries with India
2. Thousands of jobs in these trading countries
3. Reduction in fossil fuel consumption and green house gases
4. More thriving friendship between countries that share the same ideals and principles of decency of human life and democracy
5. A strong balancing power to the ever increasing military strenght of China
Non-proliferation has to be looked at case by case basis - India till date has never been a threat to any country. They have always been a stable force that has survived outside aggression from nuclear countries (Pakistan and China). A stronger India will be interest of US and any other open democracy.
Cernig, questions for you:
1. Were you aware that the NNPT was and continues to this day a deeply flawed treaty that permanently creates a class of nations always subjugated to the 5 'recognized' powers?
2. China has tons of nukes and they have already invaded Tibet, India and threaten Bhutan and Nepal. Indians need this to stop Chinese aggression.
3. India is one of the world's oldest civilization and they have a sense of responsibility and have not proliferated their tech.
4. This is the most important question : Have you actually read the 123 agreement? Then you would not be posting deeply flawed posts such as this. The 123 agreement clearly states that the US can unilaterally stop fuel supply at any time for any reason (including if India conducts further tests). The agreement also clearly states that the fuel thus supplied shall only be used for energy purposes. The question of 'tech' transfer doesnt arise as India has already developed a hydrogen bomb.
I would like to see this outrage over Israel's program.
In summary, I think your posts smacks of '.. you cant trust these brownies with nukes...' attitude.. I hope you ready the comments on your posts (hope you are not a hit and run blogger)
Old News...we knew this was coming...
It was all part of GWBush's brilliant Mangoes for Nukes trade deal....
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/05/10/travel/10mumbailetter.html
"....But the ban should soon be lifted as part of a deal struck by President Bush on his March visit to the country, which will also give India easier access to nuclear technology. Quid pro quo, as far as many Indians are concerned. "The U.S. is looking forward to eating Indian mangoes," he said at a press conference."
Anyone who defends Bush is a psychopath....
The prosecution rests your honor...
MumbaiWala @ 27:
Ha ha. I think chicano2nd is talking about ISRAEL.
In a world that grows more dangerous every year due to nuclear weapon technology proliferating, there is absolutely no justification for the USA to enter into ANY trade agreement with ANY country that refuses to sign (and uphold) the NNPT, including two ostensibly "democratic" albeit ultra-nationalistic and imperialistic nuclear powers. Those countries names both start with an I, and both have "chosen people" cultures -- India and Israel.
OTOH, Iran is just as democratic as the USA, but just like the USA, it is being run by a bunch of wild-eyed religious fundamentalists. The ONLY reason that Iran has been stuck in the American gullet is Iranian OIL, which we no longer have control over. But nearly 30 years of a hostile and meddlesome USA foreign policy towards Iran has strangled their economy. With all the natural gas and crude oil reserves that Iran has, they cannot get access to the Western technology to expand their oil refining capacity. Instead, they are forced to import refined diesel and petrol fuel. As a NNPT signatory they are legally able, through the UN's IAEA, to refine uranium into fuel for civilian nuclear reactors. The USA wants to control their nuclear fuel cycle, to furnish that fuel (for humongous amounts of cash (or oil)), as well as have control of their spent uranium fuel. Iran wants to be independent of USA interference in their internal affairs, including their economy. And, of course, the USA's Middle Eastern foreign policy is absolutely controlled by Israel, a non-signatory to the NNPT, who seeks to maintain a nuclear weapon hegemony in their military AO (Area of Operations).
code x @ 60:
Of course everybody knows only the US has scientists and engineers. Perhaps you should look into the history of RPVs and who first developed that field . You might be surprised.
MumbaiWala @ 27:
I am referring to Israel. You read history, if you can, anus.
Sometimes Pat and Bernie do represent me.
Swami @ 56:
Ho hum! You don't know a damn thing about racism!
kray28 @ 47:
Um, last I checked, the US is a democracy and we've been fomenting war, deposing leaders we don't like (well, those the CIA doesn't like) and invading soverign nations for quite some time