One Down One to Go: The Nuclear Club Diminishes From a Practical Perspective

The man of the hour for India Prakash Karat- a lefty nationalist in India's corrupt political system who is crying murder, and loss of sovereignty and most of India, besides the ruling elite, agree with him.

Many in India are protesting a U.S. proposed treaty outlining a sweeping arrangement to give the U.S. control over much of India's nuclear industry. India's business elite and politicians see this as an opportunity to put themselves in the permanent good graces of the U.S., possibly allowing India to become a supplement to China as a provider of low cost manufactured goods. (China is widely believed to be shifting its manufacturing sector to serve domestic consumption. Whether a less independent India can make such an arrangement economically profitable is another question.)

The decision may have been made. The pro-west India Times has carried a number of stories on the progress of the nuclear control pact.

The India Times also reported details of the story later confirmed about the U.S. two step- fomenting instability and then taking over Pakistan's nuclear weapons. Musharraf was always in a no win. Act democratically and the U.S. will be angered by capitulating populism. As many proxy dictators from Pinochet to Karimov attested, Washington requires you demonstrate crushing strength and total obeisance. The harsher the measures however, the more despised Musharraf became at home. Musharraf's half measures and refusal for full cooperation brought in the jackals.

Political realism dictates that if a nation's state security cannot keep another country's hand off their weapons they should lose them. Imperialism 101. In 2001 when America made it clear it would try to secure the entire region Pakistan had the opportunity to go with becoming China's client state instead tried to maintain independence. It tried independence and failed. India may believe that it is simply hastening the inevitable.


India's nationalist say they are another step on their way to full American proxy, barring a miracle between now and the May summit. The major roadblock to the agreement was not the Indian public's outrage, but China. China recently agreed to changes in the nuclear pact which will let China to also take part in the new "inspections and safeguards" regime. India's weapons and further production of nuclear material will fall under the proposed arrangement.