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Friday, March 10, 2006

Why Dubya's India Nukes Deal Stinks on Ice

The Economist, like myself and a lot of other hip people, doesn't like President Bush's newly-inked nuclear deal with India. An excerpt from its editorial:

Ten years from now, will George Bush's determination to rewrite nuclear rules for preventing the bomb's spread be judged to have been courageously right or dangerously wrong? In striking his deal with India, allowing it to import nuclear fuel and technology despite its weapons-building, Mr Bush has not for the first time seemed readier to favour a friend than to stick to a principle. He is gambling that the future benefits of accepting a rising India in all but name as a member of the nuclear club will outweigh the shock to the global anti-proliferation regime, already under severe strain from the nuclear dealings of North Korea and Iran. His gamble is a dangerous one. Meanwhile, in his rush to accommodate India, Mr Bush is missing a chance to win wider nuclear restraint in one of the world's tougher neighbourhoods.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous4:15 PM

    This the kind of stupidity of which The Economist is occasionally capable.

    First, let's take a look at a map. It's easily apparent that having a nuclear India at its back door has profound strategic implications for Iran. It's also a lucky break, because a nuclear Pakistan would not be nearly so useful to the West.

    Second, India is a British-trained democracy, and much less of a threat to others than most of the countries who aspire to nuclear weapons. Like North Korea.

    Of course you help your friends! Who else?

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