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  • Thanks, George Bush and Congress

    ...for letting us screw you guys over

    America's nuclear deal with India
    From bad to worse

    Jul 20th 2006
    From The Economist print edition


    America's Congress is preparing to say yes. Others should say no



    THE damage done by George Bush's proposed nuclear deal with India gets worse and worse. Already weakened by the nuclear antics of Iran and North Korea, the web of treaties and controls that seeks to halt the bomb's spread is starting to unravel. Congress, hitherto a staunch defender of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and all it stands for, is poised to allow America's laws to be amended to accommodate civilian nuclear trade with India, despite that country's bomb-building. There will then be pressure on the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to carve an India-shaped hole in its global nuclear export restrictions, and on the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to agree to “India-specific” safeguards on any nuclear materials or technology sold.

    The Bush administration defends its India deal as good for combating global warming, good for friendship with the world's biggest democracy and good for jobs in America. All that is debatable (see article). But its claim that the nuclear deal will be a net gain in the fight against proliferation is pure nonsense. The controversial deal is already undermining confidence in the world's anti-nuclear rules. The NPT, which has helped prevent a number of other capable states from going nuclear, and encouraged some which tried (Argentina and Brazil) and others which had succeeded (South Africa) to turn back, rests on a promise: that only those that renounce nuclear weapons qualify for civilian nuclear assistance. India deliberately stayed outside the treaty to build its bombs; America is now offering it nuclear help anyway. That won't encourage others to keep their non-nuclear promises.

    Nor has India taken on any meaningful new non-proliferation obligations to lighten the blow to the treaty. The recognised nuclear powers—America, Russia, Britain, France and China—are committed under the NPT to curb their arsenals (four are shrinking, only China's bomb-pile is still growing) on the way to eventual disarmament; the deal with America lets India build as many bombs as it chooses. The five have at least all signed the treaty banning further nuclear tests and have stopped producing more highly enriched uranium and plutonium for weapons; India flatly refuses to do either.

    The wrong sort of helping hand
    By lifting restrictions on India's ability to buy nuclear technology and fuel from abroad, America will be helping it out of a uranium squeeze: its usable stocks of the enriched stuff (lower enriched for power generation, higher for weapons) have been dwindling fast. If the NSG goes along, and makes an exception to its rule that nuclear exports can go only to countries with all their nuclear facilities under safeguards, India will no longer have to eke out its nuclear materials. It will be able to accelerate its bomb-building while using foreign uranium for power generation. Russia has already jumped the gun, recently supplying fuel to two Indian reactors, citing “safety” concerns. That is disingenuous. A reactor running short of fuel can simply be shut down; Russia wanted to get to the front of the queue for future contracts. China, unhappy at America's India deal, could do the same for Pakistan.

    India has agreed to separate its civilian nuclear reactors from its military ones, with IAEA safeguards on the civilian sort. But when the intent is bomb-building (and India has every intention of expanding its arsenal), technologies and skills imported for running “civilian” reactors can just as easily be put to military use. India used just such technologies and materials for its first nuclear explosion in 1974. Its civilian and military programmes are closely intertwined—which is why none of its uranium-enrichment or plutonium-reprocessing plants, or its planned plutonium-producing fast-breeder reactors, is on its civilian list. It is even pushing for minimal safeguards on reactors designated as civilian, with inspections only when foreign fuel is present.

    Aiding India's nuclear weapons programme, as this deal inevitably will, offends the NPT, which bans such help, direct or indirect, to any country not recognised as a nuclear power by the treaty (and India isn't). Congress is anxious about this too, but uses weasel words that are likely to allow the deal to go forward. That leaves the NSG and the board of the IAEA to decide whether to uphold clear anti-nuclear rules, or be complicit in their further unravelling. Plenty of governments involved are unhappy at America's proposed nuclear agreement with India, but wary of offending either party. It is time they found the courage of their anti-proliferation convictions and blocked the deal, before even more damage is done.
    17
    Bad bad bad, it makes the world less safe
    29.41%
    5
    It's a good thing, India is different from Iran and North Korea
    47.06%
    8
    They should have signed a Banana Proliferation Treaty instead
    23.53%
    4
    THEY!!111 OMG WTF LOL LET DA NOMADS AND TEH S3D3NTARY PEOPLA BOTH MAEK BITER AXP3REINCES
    AND TEH GRAAT SINS OF THERE [DOCTRINAL] INOVATIONS BQU3ATH3D SMAL
    AND!!1!11!!! LOL JUST IN CAES A DISPUTANT CALS U 2 DISPUT3 ABOUT THEYRE CLAMES
    DO NOT THAN DISPUT3 ON THEM 3XCAPT BY WAY OF AN 3XTARNAL DISPUTA!!!!11!! WTF

  • #2
    Well, we oursource so much **** to you guys anyway, Congres figures what's the difference? Now, if we have any problems with our nuke arsenal, the helpdesk support in Mumbai or Bangalore might actually have half a clue what they're talking about.*




































    * Unlike every other outsource tech support operation, where you get some idiot reading through a scriptbook asking stupid questions that aren't applicable to your issue.

    Oh, and congrats on finally posting a thread that doesn't (yet) have to do with Islam.
    When all else fails, blame brown people. | Hire a teen, while they still know it all. | Trump-Palin 2016. "You're fired." "I quit."

    Comment


    • #3
      Wasn't that Aneeshm?

      Comment


      • #4
        LordShiva, what does the world of Islam have to say about this deal?

        Long time member @ Apolyton
        Civilization player since the dawn of time

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
          Oh, and congrats on finally posting a thread that doesn't (yet) have to do with Islam.
          "All brown people [post] the same," huh?

          THEY!!111 OMG WTF LOL LET DA NOMADS AND TEH S3D3NTARY PEOPLA BOTH MAEK BITER AXP3REINCES
          AND TEH GRAAT SINS OF THERE [DOCTRINAL] INOVATIONS BQU3ATH3D SMAL
          AND!!1!11!!! LOL JUST IN CAES A DISPUTANT CALS U 2 DISPUT3 ABOUT THEYRE CLAMES
          DO NOT THAN DISPUT3 ON THEM 3XCAPT BY WAY OF AN 3XTARNAL DISPUTA!!!!11!! WTF

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by LordShiva


            "All brown people [post] the same," huh?

            BTW, would you know a racist slur toward Indians? It would add to my trolling arsenal culture
            "I have been reading up on the universe and have come to the conclusion that the universe is a good thing." -- Dissident
            "I never had the need to have a boner." -- Dissident
            "I have never cut off my penis when I was upset over a girl." -- Dis

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by LordShiva


              "All brown people [post] the same," huh?

              In my and MtG's defense, brown people are our favorites. I married one and MtG likes chocolate.
              Long time member @ Apolyton
              Civilization player since the dawn of time

              Comment


              • #8
                Hello there! I see you are discussing brown people. Perhaps I can be of assistance.

                Asher might disagree, but it was on the books that people of color were 3/5ths the stature of white people. This is why Saddam was able to get the WMD's out of Iraq before Desert Storm and still create Sunni dominance in the east. You can argue with me, but you cannot argue with the Constitution or the liberal rag New York Times op-ed page. In your face, Berzerker!
                RoboCon v2.1.1

                Comment


                • #9


                  I'm beginning to like this

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Oopsie!

                    I thank GWB and Congress for very, very little. It's more like "fook you very much."

                    -Arrian
                    grog want tank...Grog Want Tank... GROG WANT TANK!

                    The trick isn't to break some eggs to make an omelette, it's convincing the eggs to break themselves in order to aspire to omelettehood.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by RoboCon
                      Hello there! I see you are discussing brown people. Perhaps I can be of assistance.

                      Asher might disagree, but it was on the books that people of color were 3/5ths the stature of white people. This is why Saddam was able to get the WMD's out of Iraq before Desert Storm and still create Sunni dominance in the east. You can argue with me, but you cannot argue with the Constitution or the liberal rag New York Times op-ed page. In your face, Berzerker!
                      grog want tank...Grog Want Tank... GROG WANT TANK!

                      The trick isn't to break some eggs to make an omelette, it's convincing the eggs to break themselves in order to aspire to omelettehood.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Who would have thought that these bots come with a weird sense of humour now
                        Blah

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Spiffor

                          BTW, would you know a racist slur toward Indians? It would add to my trolling arsenal culture
                          Dude, you seriously don't know any? That's just weak.
                          "The French caused the war [Persian Gulf war, 1991]" - Ned
                          "you people who bash Bush have no appreciation for one of the great presidents in our history." - Ned
                          "I wish I had gay sex in the boy scouts" - Dissident

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Kontiki
                            Dude, you seriously don't know any? That's just weak.
                            Well sorry

                            Indians aren't visible enough in France for us having some slur directed against them specifically (at least a slur I know of), and English isn't my native language
                            "I have been reading up on the universe and have come to the conclusion that the universe is a good thing." -- Dissident
                            "I never had the need to have a boner." -- Dissident
                            "I have never cut off my penis when I was upset over a girl." -- Dis

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Spiffor

                              BTW, would you know a racist slur toward Indians? It would add to my trolling arsenal culture
                              "Dot Head" and "Turban Head" are the two that I know.
                              I'm about to get aroused from watching the pokemon and that's awesome. - Pekka

                              Comment

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