Here's an editorial from Watertown Daily Times in upstate News York (weekday circulation: 29,849) on the US-India nuclear deal -- a sample of a small-town newspaper's perspective.
The Bush administration has made significant concessions to India to clear the way for the sale of U.S. civilian nuclear technology. If approved by Congress, the arrangement will end three decades of U.S. policy aimed at controlling the spread of nuclear technology.
[The editorial is available only subscription on the
paper's site. Below is the full text, from Newsday's wesite that
features an AP roundup of editorials.]
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The Watertown Daily Times on Bush, India and nuclear agreement - Tuesday, July 31:
The Bush administration has made significant concessions to India to clear the way for the sale of U.S. civilian nuclear technology. If approved by Congress, the arrangement will end three decades of U.S. policy aimed at controlling the spread of nuclear technology.
The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty of 1970 bans the sale of nuclear technology to countries such as India who have not signed the pact. The United States halted assistance to India in 1978.
The Bush administration has been negotiating the sale for two years and announced Friday that it had reached an agreement allowing it to go forward with favorable conditions for India.
It will open 14 of its 22 nuclear plants to inspection for the first time by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which also must approve the agreement. However, the administration conceded India's right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel from civilian plants into weapons-grade material in a new plant that will also be subject to IAEA monitoring.
International agreements allow countries such as the United States to decide whether recipients of the nuclear fuel can reprocess it or transfer it to a third country.
India has agreed to use American-produced fuel for civilian reactors, but, opponents say the deal will allow India to divert its domestic supplies and other sources of fuel for its weapons.
"The Bush administration should not make it easier for New Delhi to resume nuclear testing and to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons," Michael Krepon, co-founder of the Henry L. Stimson Center, told the New York Times. Rep. Ed Markey said the deal reverses Bush administration policy against allowing countries to reprocess spent fuel.
The proposed agreement also sets an apparent double standard with the Bush administration challenging nuclear development and spread of nuclear technology to other countries, which have signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, while facilitating it to a U.S. ally who has not.
The agreement has to be approved by the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the IAEA. Congress also has to ratify it.
Together, they will have to make certain adequate
safeguards are in place to ensure India's compliance.
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