Two op-eds on India's still-tenuous nuclear energy deal with the U.S. The first is by Mary Kissel, the editor of the Wall Street Journal Asia's editorial page: "Delhi Drama" (via Ram Narayanan). It focuses on the ongoing drama initiated by the Communist wing of the ruling coalition, which wants to undo the deal (if not Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government). Kissel says the Left is "ideologically antiquated and dangerously out of touch with the public."
If the deal falls through, it could be years before Washington -- or any other nuclear nation -- broaches the idea of selling nuclear fuel to India. That outcome would, ironically, make India more dependent on Iran for energy, and weaken its own economic prospects. It would also undermine other nations’ willingness to negotiate major treaties with Delhi, the logic being that if Mr. Singh can’t get a sweet deal like this through Parliament, what can he get passed?
Well, a Who's Who of the world's lefties have this to say to Ms. Kissel and other supporters of the deal: Scrap-it.
Writers including Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Vijay Prashad submitted a statement, called "Why we oppose the Indo-U.S. military ties" which ran in The Hindu earlier this week. It makes 3 main points:
- The deal is another attempt by the Bush administration to weaken the framework of international law.
- The deal will intensify the instability of the South Asian subcontinent.
- The deal is intended as a part of the Bush administration’s wish to isolate Iran.
The writers end on this note:
The U.S. Congress gets a chance to weigh in on this deal after the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group vet it. We urge the U.S. population to reject this agreement. There are better ways to go forward, such as the need for global nuclear disarmament, and we hope that Congress will put us on those more rational tracks.
More coverage at The Economic Times: "N-deal will spell doom for NPT: Chomsky"
