Comments on: More going away presents from Bush – why aren’t we screaming?

By: Political Irony › Bush’s monstrous innovation - no-risk capitalism

Political Irony › Bush’s monstrous innovation - no-risk capitalism — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:28:05 +0000

[...] discuss is that the banks are also free to spend this money for nefarious purposes, like lobbying the government or even pumping money into the campaigns of the politicians who are looting the treasury on their [...]

By: Piyush Sethia

Piyush Sethia — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 06:51:45 +0000

Well, I agree there will be both proponents and opponents to the nuclear agreement. But a point to be noted, Bush hasn’t been a generous Santa : to me, it sounds like more of a retirement plan for himself, considering that contracts worth billions of dollars are at stake.

And yes, India has tested nuclear devices, and it has a programme to develop thourium based reactors, but the agreement between US and India is important on another bigger note : Reduce the world dependence on oil, and cut back global emissions. In terms of the big picture, its not so bad.

By: Iron Knee

Iron Knee — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 06:54:02 +0000

You might want to stop conflating civilian and military nuclear technology, but it doesn’t work that way. In the early 70’s India secretly developed nuclear weapons using “civilian nuclear technology” from America. That’s history. On what basis should we trust India now?

The situation was summed up by Senator Byron Dorgan: “We have said to India with this agreement: ‘You can misuse American nuclear technology and secretly develop nuclear weapons.’ That’s what they did. ‘You can test these weapons.’ That’s what they did. And after testing, 10 years later, all will be forgiven.”

By: Abhay Agarwal

Abhay Agarwal — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:05:46 +0000

I agree with Sethia. The idea that the India Nuclear Deal bears any relationship to terrorism or nuclear weaponry is completely misguided.

India’s reason for not signing the NPT is not because it wants to proliferate. Rather, India wants a more comprehensive nuclear disarmament agreement that does not solidify power into those already possessing nuclear technology. India has already proven that it does not want military power through its nuclear weapons, and has agreed to never use its military weapons unless attacked with nuclear weaponry by another country first.

I think its time we stop conflating civilian and military nuclear technology.

By: Iron Knee on How Screwed We Are « Remarks From Remarksman

Iron Knee on How Screwed We Are « Remarks From Remarksman — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:21:34 +0000

[...] lobbying, nuclear proliferation, nuclear weapons Iron Knee has posted a couple articles, today and yesterday on PoliticalIrony.com, discussing the awful actions the Bush Administration is taking [...]

By: Prose Before Hos

Prose Before Hos — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:48:19 +0000

The Cult Of The Free Market…

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By: Iron Knee

Iron Knee — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:39:18 +0000

I would argue that the nuclear non-proliferation treaty is one of our main tools for keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists. I was definitely not saying that India itself is a rogue state. I was saying that our willingness to start making exceptions to our policy of not selling nuclear technology to nations that have not signed the treaty is what is dangerous.

As for the NSG waiver, if stopping nuclear proliferation was important enough, could we not have done something about that? Besides, when did it become acceptable for us to do something just because others are doing it?

By: Piyush Sethia

Piyush Sethia — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:14:34 +0000

The implication that selling nuclear technology to India is equivalent to helping the terrorists acquire nuclear weapons is in extremely bad taste. India is not a “rogue” state, and the technology in question will be sold to India irrespective of what Mr Bush thinks, since India has received the waiver from NSG to buy the same.