Bush's
Destabilizing Nuclear
Deal With India
By Ingmar Lee
19 April, 2006
Countercurrents.org
Countless
thousands of people have died in the utterly stupid and useless wars
which have been fought between India an Pakistan since "Partition"
in 1947.This warmongering enmity has resulted in a precarious and insidious
arms race, and today, the subdivided subcontinent is locked into the
world's most dangerous nuclear brinkmanship embrace. Both India and
Pakistan have secretly developed ricketty nuclear weapons using materials
derived from internationally supplied civilian power plants. Both countries
have tested nuclear bombs and developed missile systems capable of delivering
the bombs to their targets. As all the world knows full well, if one
combatant gets a nuke, then its opponent will want one as well. It wasn't
until India exploded its first nuke that Pakistan knew that it had to
have the bomb too. This is exactly what nuclear proliferation is all
about.
The Non
Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is a landmark international
treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and
weapons technology, to promote co-operation in the peaceful uses of
nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament,
and general and complete disarmament. The Treaty represents the only
binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament
by the nuclear-weapon States. Neither India nor Pakistan are signatories
to the NPT, and both countries have defiled the spirit of the treaty
by their nuclear weapons programs. On May 11 and 13, 1998, India blatantly
carried out five nuclear tests at its Pokhran blast site. Two weeks
later, Pakistan responded by exploding five nuclear bombs at its base
in Balochistan. But in spite of such outright reciprocal madness, in
the buck-boggled brain of Bush, India should be given a special exemption
from the requirements of the Non Proliferation Treaty.
Bush Throws Gas on
the Fire
When India detonated its
first nuclear blast in 1974, it weaseled out an explanation to the horrified
world that their plan was to apply such explosive power to "peaceful
projects" only. Hard-rock mining was an example which was given.
India is extremely proud to be a nuclear power and has therefore invested
heavily in its program by constructing 22 reactors since 1956. For this
massive investment, the civil return is a pathetic 3% total nuclear
contribution to the country's electrical grid. 50 years of frenzied
construction has got Boiling Water Reactors, Pressurized Heavy Water
Reactors, Fast Breeder Reactors and Reprocessing plants buzzing and
clicking away all over the country, but beyond producing this pittance
of electricity, there's only one other thing that the Nuke Plants are
good for, and that's making bombs. Oh, and irradiating mangos.
In July, 2005, Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh travelled to Washington to discuss with Bush
how India and the USA could patch up their differences and start the
free-flow of nuclear material, fuels, technology and expertise once
again. America had boycotted India's program since it started detonating
its bombs. Bush then visited India in March to further the deal, but
before he left the US, in a bizarre bargaining feint, he arbitrarily
demoted India from the ranks of "leading countries with advanced
nuclear technology" — the phrase used in the July 18, 2005
India-U.S. Statement — to those who merely have a "developing
nuclear energy programme." In his speech to the Asia Society in
Washington, Bush named India as a country that would have to hand over
its spent nuclear fuel to a handful of "supplier nations"
for reprocessing, forgoing in the bargain its right to reprocess the
waste generated from its civilian nuclear programme. But after flying
half way around the world in a highly publicized PR adventure, the Indian
negotiators knew very well that Bush just had to emerge with a deal,
at any cost, so they easily got around all that eleventh hour bluster.
Bush Gets Snookered
Here's Bush at a joint press
availability with Singh in New Delhi after the negotiations, stammering
out his newly-revised version of the reprocessing point: "Listen,
I proposed reprocessing agreements -- that stands in stark contrast
to current nuclear theology that we shouldn't reprocess for proliferation
concerns. I don't see how you can advocate nuclear power, in order to
take the pressure off of our own economy, for example, without advocating
technological development of reprocessing, because reprocessing will
not only -- reprocessing is going to help with the environmental concerns
with nuclear power. It will make there -- to put it bluntly, there will
be less material to dispose." "And, oh, by the way, Mr. Prime
Minister, the United States is looking forward to eating Indian mangos.
" The clincher for this new export deal was the India will now
irradiate the fruit to make it suitable for American consumption.
The Bush team was otherwise
roundly out-manuevered and had to capitulate on virtually every single
proliferation restraint which had been embedded in the American bargaining
position. India agreed to allow international safeguards on only 14
of its reactors. The other 8 therefore, will be able to proliferate
nuclear weaponry. The Bush team even capitulated on safeguarding the
fast breeder reactors, which can produce especially large quantities
of bomb-quality plutonium. So the plan will also allow India to reprocess
spent nuclear fuel in its civilian power reactors for weapons purposes.
If the deal goes through, India can extract more that two tons of plutonium
from fuel rods and build a 1000 more bombs. And while Manmohan Singh
may have promised to refrain from nuclear test blasts, notso with his
predeccesor, former Prime Minister and BJP opposition leader, Atal Behari
Vajpayee. Accusing the government of accepting "a legally binding
commitment" never to test nuclear weapons, Vajpayee said that the
India-US deal should be redrawn to ensure that India's right to conduct
nuclear tests is not compromised.
The shrewd Indian negotiators
also knew that the crippled lame-duck Bush will have to clear another
series of political hurdles back home before this deal is ever ratified,
so India has not kept all of its eggs in the Bush basket either. They've
got other options already lined up to satisfy their desperate need for
nuclear fuel, just in case Bush can't weedle the US Congress and the
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) into lowering their principles and standards
to his level. The only thing Bush can now hype about his deal is the
billions and billions of bucks that will flow into the massive American-economy-stoking
nuclear and weapons of mass destruction proliferation business.The proliferation
concerns that he welched on were just another pesky international UN
obstacle that must be bludgeoned to make way for the USA.
Certainly, Lockheed Martin
will be getting a huge cut of the spoils. The Moscow-based daily, Nezavisimaya
Gazeta claimed that during Bush's India visit the United States and
India exchanged 'letters of intent' concerning American companies' effort
to squeeze Moscow out of the Indian arms market by selling New Delhi
126 F-16/F-18 fighter jets. And just to make sure that the giant US
war machine accrues maximum profit from any violence which occurs on
the subcontinent, on March 25, Bush also authorized the sale of F-16
fighter jets to Pakistan in an Orwellian move which reverses15
years of policy begun by his own father, Bush #1. India immediately
complained, and warned that this would destabilize the volatile region.
Bush administration officials said there would be no limits on how many
warplanes Pakistan could eventually purchase.
"What we are trying
to do is solidify and extend relations with both India and Pakistan,
at a time when we have good relations with both of them -- something
most people didn't think could be done -- and at a time when they have
improving relationships with one another," Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice said in an interview at The Washington Post. "If you look
at it in terms of the region," she added, "what we are trying
to do is break out of the notion that this is a hyphenated relationship
somehow, that anything that happens that is good for Pakistan is bad
for India, and vice versa."
But the US Congress, and
even the quisling US corporate media, is not necessarily buying the
Bush bullshit. Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA) is now challenging the
bill, and is exposing more Indian
subterfuge in its nuclear program. Two days before Rice
defended the deal in her testimony
before Congress recently, the Washington Post said, "few of Bush's
decisions have as much potential to shake up international order than
this deal with India...He decided to change laws to enable India to
buy foreign-made nuclear reactors if it opened its civilian facilities
to international inspections -while being allowed to substantially ramp
up its ability to produce materials for nuclear weapons," the Post
said. Earlier this month, the Post reported that it was turning out
to be a "controversial deal" and a "hard sell" on
Capitol Hill primarily because Congress had never even been consulted.
As one non-proliferation policy specialist put it, "it is no accident
that [nuclear experts] were not included, because you didn't have to
be a seer to know how much they would hate this. But Bush doesn't care
about that. This deal was never about non-proliferation, -it's about
billions and billions of dollars.
According to Under Secretary
of State, Nicholas Burns, the chief negotiator of the deal, "There
are times when you have to engage in incremental diplomacy and there
are times when you need someone who is willing to make a bold move.
The President was willing to make a bold move towards India, and it
is going to pay off for the United States now and into the future."
Burns added, "That economic benefit (note singular) is going to
be in the billlions, there's no question about that, because of the
huge nature of the Indian economy and the expansion that they are planning
in the civil nuclear energy field..." -the plan is to up the Nuke
contribution to the grid from 3% to 20% by 2020- "...and given
the state of technological research on nuclear reactors, and given the
elementary ingredient of financing, this is an extremely -- the payoff,
the economic benefits, in the long term will be substantial, certainly
in billions."
Bush Gets Duped
In the July
18th 2005 India-US Joint Statement, Bush told Manmohan
Singh that "he will work to achieve full civil nuclear energy cooperation
with India as it realizes its goals of promoting nuclear power and achieving
energy security. The President would also seek agreement from Congress
to adjust U.S. laws and policies, and the United States will work with
friends and allies (the Nuclear Suppliers Group) to adjust international
regimes to enable full civil nuclear energy cooperation and trade with
India, including, but not limited to, expeditious consideration of fuel
supplies for safeguarded nuclear reactors at Tarapur." By 2005,
India was getting pretty desperate to get around the international obstacles
that were preventing them from getting fuel for Tarapur.
Russia and India, it turns
out, had already concluded a secret deal to supply fuel to Tarapur,
and they were not going to wait around for the political wrangling that
will take place in Washington over the next few months to be sorted
out. Instead, immediately after Bush's visit to India, Russia raced
to the Nuclear Suppliers Group to notify them of their intention to
supply fuel for two of the Tarapur nuclear reactors on "safety
grounds," because they were running low on fuel. The Russian deal
to supply the nuclear fuel was concluded last December, but because
it was going to raise hackles, especially in the United States, it was
kept under wraps until February. It was only then that Russia notified
the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group
of the sale. India's Big Buddy Bush was not even informed that a fuel
deal had already been negotiated with Russia in the lead up to his trip
to India! The U.S., like other NSG members, only came to know of the
proposed supply after Mr. Bush's return to Washington when Russia intimated
its intent.
Here's the response
of Official Spokesperson of India's Ministry of External Affairs to
questions on news report regarding fuel supply to Tarapur nuclear plant
by Russia
New Delhi on March 14, 2006:
Question: There are some
wire reports that Russia has agreed to supply nuclear fuel for Tarapur?
What is your take on that?
Answer: Well, the report
is correct to the extent that to India's request, Russia has agreed
to supply a limited amount of uranium fuel for the safeguarded units
1 and 2 of the Tarapur Atomic Power Station and this supply of fuel
will enable the plant to continue to operate in safety and provide much
needed electricity to the western power grid of the country.
Question: Have they taken
the approval of NSG in this regard?
Answer: According to our
information, they have notified the NSG of their intention to supply
fuel to Tarapur under the safety exception clause of the NSG guidelines.
The shortage of fuel for Tarapur would have affected its continued operations
under reliable and safe conditions.
Question: Can Russia unilaterally
do it, or this will have to be formally cleared by NSG?
Answer: Well, they have notified
the NSG of their intention to supply the fuel under a particular clause
which is the safety exception clause of the guidelines. The fact that
they have notified them and identified the clause, I think answers your
question.
Question: The last time such
fuel came, in 2001, it was criticized by the US government…(inaudible)...this
is a fallout of the…(inaudible)...it will allow more countries
to have dealings outside the NPT ?
Answer: Let me put it like
this. You know India has made a request to the United States for supply
of fuel for Tarapur, and this is not being possible under the current
US laws. The July 18 statement has stated that the US will seek to adjust
its laws and seek a change in NSG guidelines to enable full civil nuclear
cooperation with India, including, fuel supplies to the safeguarded
reactors at Tarapur. The statement also commits the United States, in
the meantime to encourage its partners to consider supply of fuel expeditiously
to India, and India has had to seek this urgent and limited supply of
uranium fuel to enable the Tarapur reactors to function in safe and
reliable conditions.
As R.
Ramachandran wrote in The Hindu on March 23rd: "The
perception within government circles that India's firm stand on civil-military
separation was unlikely to be accepted by the U.S. was apparently the
motive for engaging in parallel negotiations with Russia. But, even
if negotiations had been concluded in parallel, it was highly undiplomatic
to firm up a supply contract before Mr. Bush's visit, and not inform
him on top of it. The Government could have waited till the U.S.' response
to India's separation offer became clear and proceeded accordingly.
With a favourable U.S. response, and Mr. Bush's apparent keenness to
see changes in U.S. laws and NSG Guidelines through, it would have made
more sense to wait till the NSG Plenary in May."
Now I just have to
ask, how is it that this incredible story that an American president
got duped on the world stage by Russia and India is not all over the
USA media??
There is one other major
South Asian destabilising aspect of the USA/India nuclear deal which
needs to be mentioned. Bush and his Neocon cabal have been ratcheting
up the rhetoric in the lead-up to a seemingly inevitable American attack
on Iran, which may feature a pre-emptive nuclear strike on its civilian
nuclear installations. Contrary to the assertions of Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, it is widely believed that during the nuclear bargaining,
he did make three major concessions to Bush. First, India supported
Bush's recent machinations against Iran and the IAEA, and subsequently
at the UN Security Council. Secondly, Singh conceded to terminate the
$4 billion "Peace Pipeline" project, which was to have delivered
natural gas from Iran, across Pakistan, to India which was slated to
be operational by 2011. And Thirdly, Singh has demoted the main architect
and proponent of the Peace Pipeline, his Union Petroleum Minister, Mani
Shankar Aiyar to the post of Sports and Youth Affairs.
India's goal for its civilian
nuclear program is to boost its contribution to its electrical grid
from 3% to 12% by 2020, -an increase of 20,000 MWs. Iran however, could
easily supply that 20,000 megawatts through the Peace Pipeline delivery
of comparatively environmentally ethical natural gas from its South
Pars gas-field near the Balochistan border, with an estimated 286.6
trillion cubic meter in proven natural gas reserves. Condoleeza Rice
however, has not minced her words about the US opposition the gas pipeline
project. "We've voiced our concerns to the Indian Government about
the gas
pipeline with Iran." said Rice. Under a US law or
the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996, George Bush can penalize any
foreign firm that invests more than 20 million dollars in the energy
sectors of either country. In other words, India was required to sacrifice
the pipeline to the nuclear agreement.
It's difficult to envision
a more stabilizing, neighbourly Peace project for the whole region.
To construct such a pipeline would require an inordinate degree of cooperation
and goodwill, to stitch together and stabilize this volatile region
of the world. Mr. Aiyar's energetic and passionate pusuit of the Peace
Pipeline, in my opinion, makes him one of India's most outstanding and
unusual peace activists and a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. On
the other hand, it's impossible to imagine a more idiotic and disastrous
catastrophe than that which has been inflicted on South Asia by George
W. Bush.
Ingmar Lee
is a Canadian freelance writer, currently living in Pondicherry, India,
just downwind from the Kalpakkam Nuclear Power Plant. He believes that
what is really terrifying Bush about Iran and it's pipeline projects,
which are now snaking all the way to China, is that the Chinese, and
then everyone else in the region will start buying Iranian oil in Euros.
Ingmar can be reached at [email protected],
or at his website, www.ingmarlee.com