Tag Archive for 'India-US nuclear deal'

The President-elect and India

Published
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asianwindow
on November 17, 2008
in Leaders
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Martha Nussbaum in 3quarksdaily:

I should like to focus on a letter written by then-candidate Obama to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, dated September 23, 2008, and published in India Abroad, the October 10 issue. I address these remarks to my former University of Chicago Law School colleague in the spirit of the type of respectful yet searching criticism that I know he will recognize as a hallmark of our faculty workshops and discussions.

The Obama letter has three slightly disturbing characteristics.

First, the letter gives lengthy praise to the nuclear deal, without acknowledging the widespread debate about the wisdom of that deal in both nations. Perhaps, however, this silence simply reflects politeness: Obama is surely aware that Singh has been an enthusiastic backer of the deal, risking much political capital in the process.

Second, the letter speaks of future cooperation that will “tap the creativity and dynamism of our entrepreneurs, engineers and scientists,” particularly in the area of alternative energy sources, but never mentions a future partnership in the effort to eradicate poverty and illiteracy. This silence, unlike the first, cannot be explained by politeness, since Singh has devoted a great deal of attention to issues of rural poverty, and it is plausible to think that he could have gotten a lot further had he had more help from abroad.

[Martha Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at The University of Chicago, and the author of The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future.]

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India and the U.S. presidential election

Published
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asianwindow
on November 3, 2008
in Politics
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Siddharth Varadarajan

Why is it that when the American people and pretty much the entire world want Barack Obama to be elected President of the United States, India’s strategic and business elites seem to be rooting for John McCain? As the Republican contender’s star has faded, the cries of support from Delhi have become less muted but the subliminal desire of the average decision-maker in Delhi is still for the Senator from Arizona. What makes the contrast all the more glaring is t he obvious civilisational affinity India ought to have with the ethos, tenor and symbolism of Senator Obama’s campaign and candidacy. Besides, the Bush presidency has so littered our wider neighbourhood with new conflicts and so exacerbated old ones that it is hard to see what possible interest India could have in the ‘four more years of the same’ that Senator McCain stands for.

To the extent to which it was a Republican administration that took the initiative to open the doors for international nuclear commerce with India, the elite say they are justified in wishing Mr. McCain well. Their argument goes something like this. President Bush might have launched a disastrous war in Iraq and may be responsible for unleashing a financial tsunami across the world through his promotion of unregulated capitalism but at least he was “good for India.” And of the two presidential contenders, they say, Mr. McCain is most likely to continue pursuing a strategic partnership with India, even if his other foreign policy moves generate tension between the U.S. and major powers like Russia and China.

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The India nuclear deal: The merits

Published
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asianwindow
on October 1, 2008
in Conflict and Economy
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[Updated after the US Congress approved the deal]

William S. Cohen in Forbes:

America will benefit if the Senate can act quickly. The U.S. State Department estimates that India plans to import eight 1,000 megawatt nuclear reactors by 2012. If the United States wins bids for just two of these reactors, it would result in 3,000 to 5,000 direct jobs and 10,000 to 15,000 indirect jobs in the U.S. French and Russian companies are already lined up to sell their nuclear technology to India. It would be an unfortunate irony indeed if bringing India into the world of nuclear trade and non-proliferation–a goal of U.S. diplomacy–would result in no economic benefits for American companies and workers.

All concerned with climate change should also support the U.S.-India agreement. Denying Indians the ability to make full use of nuclear energy will force that country to continue to rely heavily on coal, oil and gas. Now that the NSG has acted, India can replace an estimated 20 gigawatts of its coal-fired energy with nuclear power, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by more than 145 million tons per year. To connect this to my previous point, some of those nuclear reactors should be American-made.

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The deal is done: The U.S. Congress approved the landmark deal on Wednesday. The Senate voted 86-13 to ratify the agreement, sending the legislation to Bush to sign into law. Here’s the report in The Washington Post:

The agreement, which sparked fierce opposition from nuclear proliferation experts, acknowledges India as a de facto nuclear power, even though it has never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. India until now has been barred from worldwide nuclear trade, leaving its homegrown industry hobbled and short of uranium fuel to run its reactors. The administration said the deal would bring a substantial portion of India’s nuclear industry — though not the facilities that produce materials for weapons — under international observation.

Supporters, moreover, argue that the deal will help India become a responsible world power and will forge ties between two large democracies that have had an antagonistic relationship. With an agreement in hand, India has said it plans to spend $14 billion on reactors and other nuclear equipment next year, though France and Russia are also expected to be key suppliers.

Four days before the Congress approval, in an editorial headlined “A Bad Indian Deal”, the New York Times said:

India is a democracy, a rising power that has sent many thousands of talented people to live and work in the United States. Mr. Bush has correctly chosen to build a new relationship with India.

But he erred in making the nuclear deal the centerpiece of that relationship. And he erred in assuming that he could selectively break the nuclear rules for India and still argue that other countries had to do a lot more to rein in Iran. The deal approved by the House fails to meet legal requirements set previously by Congress.

Also read Manoj Joshi’s analysis: This is by far the best deal India could have got

An endgame with no clear winners

Published
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on July 23, 2008
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Siddharth Varadarajan in The Hindu on the day of the confidence vote in Parliament:

When a patient is staring death in the face, the dividing line between self-preservation and self-destruction can be rather thin. In medieval times, leeches were often attached to a dying patient’s body in the belief that the ‘bad’ blood they drew out would help breathe life into him. But even if this drastic remedy worked, the doctor had to know when it was safe to cast aside the pet parasites. Let them feed too long and the sick man might never recover; remove them too soon and they may not have time to deliver their ‘cure.’

Ever since the Left parties withdrew their support to the United Progressive Alliance, the Congress party has sought to prolong the life of the government it leads by resorting to leech therapy. Beginning with the Samajwadi Party, it has struck deals with a range of parties and individuals to ensure at least 271 votes when the confidence motion is put to test on July 22. Some of these deals involve concessions that are in the public domain – a file speeded up here, a Cabinet berth promised there – but the most critical indulgences sought and granted are the ones not being advertised. Whatever they are, these deals could prove counterproductive for the Congress at four levels. First, the perception has gotten around that the UPA will go to any length to win this vote, even if this means accommodating demands that ought not to be accommodated. The Congress may carry the day but its reputation will have been diminished as a result. Second, creating the impression that the SP’s pet agendas will be pursued with vigour has given Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati a compelling reason to go flat out to unseat the government. Third, the impression that one section of big capital is being pandered to has galvanised another section into action, and it is far from clear what the overall effect of this corporate intervention will be for the Congress. Fourth, the understanding with the SP is clearly not momentary. As it matures into a full-fledged political alliance involving seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh, the compact will represent the Congress’s formal abandonment of any hope of revival in India’s politically most important state.

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Playing the Muslim card on nuclear deal

Also by Siddharth Varadarajan

Going by the statements Indian politicians make, Hindus and Muslims must be the most gullible people on earth. How else can one explain the cynical revival, in the run-up to the next general election, of the Ayodhya temple card by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani? Or the manipulative assertion by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati that the nuclear deal is anti-Muslim.

Sadly, Mayawati is not the only one to look at one of the most important foreign policy issues confronting India in this manner. On June 23, M K Pandhe, a member of the politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), warned the Samajwadi Party against supporting the UPA govern- ment on the nuclear issue because, he claimed, “a majority of the Muslim masses are against the deal”. The CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat wisely disowned this shocking statement two days later by saying that Pandhe’s remarks “are not the view of the party” but the damage had al- ready been done. Now that it has been let out of its bottle, this dangerous genie will not be exorcised easily. Parties eager to hoodwink Muslims into supporting them feel they now have an issue. And waiting in the wings are the traditional Muslim- baiters in the BJP, who thrive on the communalisation of any issue and will point an accusatory finger at the community when the time is ripe.

Siddharth Varadarajan’s blog Reality, one bite at a time:

A nuclear King Canute

Published
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on June 19, 2008
in India
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India’s relations with the US are headed for a downturn, should Barack Obama be elected president. Bharat Karnad in Mint:

Considering the banner headlines on the US presidential nomination race in Indian newspapers, one would think Barack Obama was in the race for power in India! Relations with the US are, in fact, headed for a downturn should he get elected US president, come November. John McCain is an uninspiring alternative, but at least he talks of “a league of democracies” in which India is bound to feature prominently, and not non-proliferation measures that will end up hurting India that Obama is set to pursue. As far as India is concerned, the main problem with Obama is precisely his non-proliferation stance. He is for preventing states from crossing the weapons threshold and is bent on making an example of India (and Pakistan) for obtaining these armaments; verily a latter day King Canute ordering the nuclear tide to roll back!

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