WHERE IS NON PROLIFERATION
Even those of us who are extremely critical of the policies and programs of the current Administration in Washington DC have always belieded the there is conviction behing the arrogant and misplaced policies so relentlessly pursued by George W Bush. However we are sorel;y disappointed by the fact that George Bush has given the Nucleatr Non Proliferation Treaty, the corner stone of the non proliferation regime presently in place, a quiet and furtive burial during his visit to South Asia. The nuclear deal with India spells disaster for the United States because the USA can no longer claim that it is against the proliferation of nuclear weapons when it concedes the weapons staus to India. American Presidents from Reagan onwards have been consistently opposed to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by non weapons states. The ease with which India legitimised its acquisition of nuclear weapons by making only cosmetic consessions to the IAEA safe guard regime will encourage other nations to purues the same policy. The USA is no longer in a position to throw non proliferation as a major issue before the world community if it adopts contradictory positions on this issue. If Iran is agggressively following the path of proliferation by going in for the full fuel cycle route, exactly what India has done, how can the US Administration react. The Bush Administration has done itdelf in by conceding the nuclear deal with India.
The Deal between India and the USA gurantees nuclear co operation between the two nuclear states on the so called civillian programme. India has not placed the 8 Fast Breeder Reactors which produced plutonium under IAEA safeguards. This knocks the bottom out of Bush's claim that he is sincere about non proliferation vis a vis Iran. Further the Deal brings wihtit the danger of making the NPT of 1974 wholly irrelevant in containing the spread of nuclear arms. A regime that thas stabalised the nuclera arms race is now being challenged and undermined and the Administration og George Bush has yeilded without a murmur of protest.
I hope the US Congress understands the implications of this Deal and rejects the Agreement as is fundamentlly breks the nuclear order in the world today.