Its no charity please
Now that the Indo-US nuclear deal has been approved by the US establishment and will be signed soon by both the countries, let us look back a bit at NSG, the group of nuclear supplier nations which recently approved the supply of nuclear materials to India for civilian use.
How many of us are aware of the fact that NSG was formed in 1974 as a response to the first Indian nuclear test earlier that year? Following the Indian nuclear test a group of nations ganged up together and formed NSG to prevent nuclear material from falling into the hands of non-nuclear states for nuclear weapon development. NSG forbids the supply of nuclear material to nations that have not signed the NPT.
Now look at the irony here. The same NSG today has given "clean waiver" to India there by allowing supply of nuclear material to India inspite of India not being a signatory to NPT! An organization whose very formation was based on a purpose passed a resolution against that purpose. Now this is called international politics. Its as good as dissolving the NSG :)
But NSG waiver is good for India in the sense that India can now do nuclear commerce with all the friendly states like France and Russia.
But what I am opposed to here is to the Indo-US nuclear deal which is based on the 123 agreement which has its roots in the Hyde Act. This deal lays a series of conditions on India, which is completely uncalled for since the deal is all about a buyer-seller relationship where India pays to buy nuclear stuff and US receives the payments and supplies the material. Thats it.
After the deal was approved in US senate, the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that India will have to face "serious consequences" if it conducts any future nuclear tests!
Excuse Me! Did I hear "Serious Consequences"! For God's sake, US is doing no charity here by signing this deal with India. India will be paying bucks, billions of it to get the fuel and the reactors. The deal will create a multi-billion dollar industry for US. US nuclear industry has been sitting idle with no jobs and business for the past three decades. Let Rice not forget this fact. India will be investing about 150 billion dollars in this and its not small peanuts. This deal will create atleast 2,50,000 American Jobs.
Now tell me, if India looks the other direction towards other suppliers like France and Russia and ignores US, who will be facing serious consequences? India or US?
Let India get ready to sign the multi billion dollar nuclear commerce contracts inviting France, Russia and US, and then conduct nuclear tests just before signing the contracts. Let us see how seriously serious the consequences would be. Who doesnt want money? :)
USA, a country which has conducted the largest number of nuclear tests, a country which has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons enough to destroy the planet multiple times, the only country to have used nuclear weapons in a war - and look how its administration is trying to bully India - a country which is the very reason why the American continent became known to the rest of the world, when Columbus set out to discover a sea route to India and ended up discovering America, and then mistook it to be India and hence called the native Americans - Red Indians.
Wake up Rice, Wake up. The era of economic sanctions is gone. If US imposes sanctions on India, then India doesnt have to react. Instead, US companies will react. Remember how effective the sanctions of 1998 by Bill Clinton were? So, please dont keep making silly statements like this.