Apparently the bitter chill lingering from the Cold War isn’t freezing enough to stop Congress from taking more risks that could burn off the face of the planet. They celebrated “victory” after reaching an agreement to allow civilian exchanges of nuclear material and technology with India, a nation whom the U.N. has monitored in recent years to prevent possible violent nuclear exchanges with Pakistan.
More interesting than the Senate’s sudden change of heart on nuclear proliferation, after condemning it for more than half a century, is the coincidental agreement reached by China’s visiting President Hu Jintao with India’s rival neighbor Pakistan just days later, which would be followed by India’s claim of successfully testing its first home defense missile, capable of carrying nuclear weapons up to 155 miles.
Now, senators in party hats have always been my thing, but I can’t bring myself to crash the “victory” celebration. The Associated Press reported the Senate had voted in overwhelming majority to pass a program permitting the trade of material and technology in exchange for new safeguards and inspections at India’s 14 civilian nuclear facilities, but not its eight military ones. So we can feel safe knowing that the secret science facilities where they’d likely do their top secret nuclear experiments are unnecessary to inspect once we hand over our extra uranium.
Several senators did invoke skills they obtained during childhood while playing connect-the-dots, however, and voted against the agreement for various reasons including: it allows for India to stockpile domestic uranium, it encourages an arms race, it devalues the nonproliferation agreement by sending the wrong message to developing countries and, most importantly, Iran.
Iran is a potential serious threat and the cause of many problems throughout the Middle East, including but not limited to the possible training for and provoking of Hezbollah attacks in Israel and the training of the constant flow of insurgents fighting the U.S. in Iraq. The last thing the world needs is for Iran to get hold of technology to produce nuclear weapons. Despite the fact Iran and India have inter-military communications, our senators still feel confident putting dangerous material and information into India’s hands.
Considering they have run their nuclear program with no consideration for the nonproliferation agreement for years, it’s absurd to think India will behave in complete accordance with the U.S.’s wishes when they have so much to gain and so little to risk. With their current nuclear capabilities and an infinite military personal, it’s not difficult to reach the conclusion that we will not try to invade if they disregard our wishes. And even if they do comply, we’ve now lit a fire under China and possibly instituted an imperialistic chess game that could potentially surpass the intensity of the Cold War, due to the constant availability of nuclear weapons worldwide.
Nuclear proliferation must be limited to maintain the safety of the planet. The superpowers set the example for the world and when we play favorites or break our own rules, we encourage unstable nations to do so too.
