Indo-USA: Is Cash payment delaying the "deal"?
USA is reeling under deveestating economic cruch and USA seeks world econmies, and Indian money, for a bailout. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came to India to commemorate "” but it seems not put her signature to "” a historic deal that opens up U.S. nuclear trade with India. A signing ceremony that had been scheduled was dropped ostensibly because, according to U.S. officials, a series of administrative steps have yet to be taken in Washington following Senate approval of authorizing legislation last week. Rice was meeting here with top government officials, including Prime Minister Manmohan and political opposition leaders. Even without a signing ceremony during her visit, Rice said, "I'm going to draw a line under this" deal to strengthen and broaden the relationship. She said the agreement "removes for India a barrier to full integration on a whole range of technologies". By 2050, India claims nuclear power is expected to provide 25% of the country's electricity. India has limited coal and uranium reserves. Its huge thorium reserves - about 25% of the world's total - are expected to fuel its nuclear power program long-term. The real purpose of nuclear energy, however, is to make more weapons to scare its neighbors. USA is keen to use India against China. Enemy's enemy is a friend and that is the basis of Indo-US deal now. Other wise, why should the global terrorist USA suspect Iran of its nuclear energy ambitions?
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In Washington Rice said she expects the civil nuclear cooperation agreement will trigger an across-the-board expansion of American-Indian relations. Rice said only administrative "” not substantive "” matters were delaying the signing of the agreement. Critics in India argue the constraints compromise their country's right to conduct nuclear bomb tests. The deal, which has been approved by the UN's nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency, gives India access to US civilian nuclear technology and fuel in return for inspections of its civilian, but not military, nuclear facilities. It ends a boycott imposed by nuclear supplier states because India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
President Bush has yet to sign the authorizing legislation, and once he does he is required to certify that the agreement with India is consistent with U.S. obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, designed to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. He must also certify that it is U.S. policy to cooperate with international efforts to further restrict transfers of technology related to uranium enrichment and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.
The US Senate approved the deal Sept 30, ending a three-decade ban on nuclear trade with Delhi to "liberate" itself from "the constraints of technology denial of 34 years". The U.S. agreement on civil nuclear cooperation allows American businesses to begin selling nuclear fuel, technology and reactors to India in exchange for safeguards and U.N. inspections at India's civilian "” but not military "” nuclear plants. Indian ruling regime has had a rough ride over the agreement in India from critics who say it will bring the country's foreign policy too much under US influence.
A BBC world affairs correspondent says the deal is the best of a bad situation for some, including the IAEA, as it will subject India to a more substantial inspection regime than at present. But many say it undermines the NPT because it effectively acknowledges that India has nuclear weapons while not being a signatory to the treaty. They argue it sets a bad example for countries like Iran and will spark off a nuclear arms race in Asia.
The Bush administration has made the deal one of its key foreign policy achievements and hopes the agreement will bolster ties with India which were cooled during the Cold War. America has restricted nuclear co-operation with India since 1974, after it tested a nuclear weapon.
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The Bush administration considers the deal a crowning achievement of the president's second term in office and hopes his party candidate McCain would be his successor in White House. It could, however, turn out to be the last major diplomatic achievement of a presidency that is struggling in its final months on a number of other fronts, including a setback in relations with Russia after its invasion of Georgia and the prospect of a breakdown in a nuclear agreement with North Korea.
Throughout the Cold War, relations between India and the USA were chilly. In the past decade, however, ties have grown closer in a range of areas, including trade, energy and security. The United States is now India's largest trading partner. U.S. opponents of the nuclear agreement say lawmakers rushed consideration of a complicated deal that could spark a nuclear arms race in Asia. The extra fuel the measure allows India to purchase, those critics say, could boost India's nuclear bomb stockpile by freeing up its domestic fuel for weapons.
India says the deal is vital to meet civilian energy demands, but critics say it undermines efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons. Increasingly, India figures into U.S. strategic interests in other ways, including its long standoff with neighboring Pakistan. The Pakistani government is concerned about US strengthening a terror state in the region and USA-India due would encircle Pakistan in future. USA wants to use India as a bargaining chip with Pakistan on its terror agenda in Pakistan.
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Indo-US relations are bases on mutual suspicions and hatred. India flirts around Wessington with its newly acquired cash for military-nuclear relationship that would undermine US-Pakistan reactions. Speaking on her way to Delhi, Ms Rice said it was not certain whether she would sign the deal on her visit. It appears the USA now under severe economic depression and financial crisis affecting the global finances very badly, has received bulk of the sum pledged by India during the Singh visit to USA recently for the passage of the "deal", and the remaining cash is supposedly cleared during the Rice visit to Delhi. USA seems to be annoyed that after the clearance by the US Senate of the bill, India has taken the matter as a "usual" matter is reluctant to pay the balance amount.
It sees India has pledged huge cash apart from support for US actions around the world. India is not trusted by the USA and other world nations, because it does not pay the retirement benefits to Muslim employees as promised by the government laws and rules. And, hence, Rice has been instructed by the Bush administration not to sign the finale until further orders.
India built its nuclear bombs outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which it refuses to sign. It has faced a nuclear trade ban since its first atomic test in 1974; its most recent nuclear test blast was in 1998. Rice said she spoke Oct 03 morning with the administration's chief nuclear envoy to North Korea, Christopher Hill, who was in Pyongyang this week to try to persuade the North Koreans to resume dismantling their nuclear problem in exchange for energy aid.
A nuclear weapons terror state that terrorizes Muslims in the subcontinent and kills Muslims in Kashmir on a regular basis, India has 14 reactors in commercial operation and 9 (nine) under construction. Nuclear power supplies about 3% of India's electricity. It has amazed piles of nuclear and conventional weapons to threaten its neighbors, particularly Pakistan and China. While china is a UNSC veto member and an economic giant competing with Japan, Pakistan, ill-focused by India, has it has serious economic problems. And USA has exploited Islamabad's weakness and terrorized the Muslims there. Anti-Islamic media continue to support the US-led terrroism in Muslim world.
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Thank you
Yours Sincerely,
DR.ABDUL RUFF Colachal
Researcher in International Affairs,
South Asia
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