The US's nuclear cave-in (to India)

[atommom]

Buffeted by political turmoil at home, US President George W Bush sought a foreign-affairs victory in India. To clinch a nuclear-weapons deal, Bush had to give in to demands from the Indian nuclear lobby to exempt large portions of the country's nuclear infrastructure from international inspection.

With details of the deal still under wraps, it appears that at least one-third of current and planned Indian reactors would be exempt from International Atomic Energy Agency inspections and that Bush gave in to Indian demands for "Indian-specific" inspections that would fall far short of the normal, full-scope inspections originally sought. Worse, Indian officials have made clear that India alone will decide which future reactors will be kept in the military category and exempt from any safeguards.

The deal endorses and assists India's nuclear-weapons program. US-supplied uranium fuel would free up India's limited uranium reserves for fuel that otherwise would be burned in these reactors to make nuclear weapons. This would allow India to increase its production from the estimated six to 10 additional nuclear bombs per year to several dozen a year. India today has enough separated plutonium for 75-110 nuclear weapons, though it is not known how many it has actually produced.

The Indian leaders and press are crowing about their victory over the United States. For good reason: President Bush has done what Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and his own father refused to do - break US and international law to aid India's nuclear-weapons program. In 1974, India cheated on its agreements with the United States and other nations to do what Iran is accused of doing now: using a peaceful nuclear energy program to build a nuclear bomb. India used plutonium produced in a Canadian-supplied reactor to detonate a bomb it then called a "peaceful nuclear device". In response, president Richard Nixon and Congress stiffened US laws and Nixon organized the Nuclear Suppliers Group to prevent any other nation from following India's example.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HC04Df03.html

[Inland]

1. And then Bush goes to Pakistan to wish Musharraf a quick death

from the coming coup. Poor guy. Bush officially welcomes India into the nuke club and then, to make sure Pervez gets the stink of it, goes to Pakistan.

[IsItJustMe]

2. I don't get it. Chimp promotes proliferation with India and is talking

tough with Iran. It's the ultimate in hypocracy. How can anyone follow a foreign policy like this?

[Inland]

3. It's OK when we do it, and by extension, when we say it's ok.

It's the same people who criticize Iran for interfering with Iraqi internal affairs.

[Divernan]

4. Explain this in words of 1 syllable to US media, please

This destroys the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and if the Congress has any balls, they will block this nuclear giveaway/bogus "foreign affairs victory", as Bush describes it, and the media parrots repeat.

[atommom]

5. Congress has already let so many appalling things go through

that I don't really expect them to intervene on this, either. Sometimes I can't decide whether Bush's policy decisions are more short-sighted than they are evil, or the other way around....

[Krist]

6. A call for quiet analysis of this complex issue

---> The deal is NOT meant to aid Indian nuclear weapons program, which is the reason why India is opening up 14 of its 22 reactors to international inspectors for PERPETUITY. Its only for civilian nuclear power to address the energy needs of a poor country.

---> US already has a similar agreement with China, inspite of its shaky non-proliferation record. It has openly built numerous nuclear plants in Pakistan afterall which have been used to produce nuclear weapons, all the while claiming they are assisting Pakistan in the civilian domain only. Dont think India has ever proliferated nuclear technology to any country.

---> Anyone who's been to India can tell you that the country is choking with pollution. Its good to encourage them to explore alternative sources. If this deal hadnt happened, India would be relying on oil supplies from middle east and would remain permanently poor. Its not in our interests to see another failed democracy, which would only lead to more instability in that region. Nuclear power is a viable, environmentally sound, low cost alternative to expensive fossil fuels.

---> France has already signed a similar agreement with India just a week before Dubya went there. And UK too would follow sooner or later. Australia, the world's largest supplier of uranium and which controls 40% of the world's market, might pitch in too.

---> Its also the world's largest democracy, where you find anti/pro western people in large numbers. But its also more multi-cultural than rest of middle east and south asia. There are some morons who give out death threats against Teenage girls for wearing skirts on one hand, and on the other there are even liberals who push for legalizing gay marriages. Its a messy, complex country but its also one of the few democracies in that region, markedly better than many others in that region.

---> Bush, however whacked up on many fronts he may be, got this one quite right. It serves American interests to have the world's largest democracy on its side rather than befriend China and form a strong anti-American axis in Asia.


No wonder even John Kerry supported this deal.. along with leaders of the entire western world and IAEA itself.


‘‘A significant cont-ribution to energy security, development, economic and enviro-nmental objectives for India and the international community, net gain for non-proliferation regime.’’
— British PM Tony Blair

‘‘It should be meaningful that India and the US held dialogue and agreed in various areas as India, the US and Japan share the values of freedom, democracy and basic human rights.’’
— Japan govt spokesperson Shinzo Abe

‘‘The deal was indispensable to ensure that India had access to civilian nuclear technology to meet its immense energy needs, while limiting its greenhouse gas emission.’’
—French President Jacques Chirac

‘‘It’s a good step forward in what’s been a difficult situation.’’
—Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer

‘‘A step towards universalisation of the international safeguards regime and will make India an important partner in non-proliferation regime.’’
—IAEA chief Mohd Elbaradei