[What strikes one right in the face is the widespread, utterly inhuman and also irrational, craze, cutting across the spectrum, for retaining the right to further test - to graduate from the A-Bomb level to H- Bomb level to be able to kill just not hundreds of thousands but millions and millions in a single shot and thereby also making a mockery of the professed adherence to the doctrine of "minimum credible deterrence".
This is regardless of support or opposition to the deal. Quite noteworthy is the fact that while the major basis of domestic opposition is the charge that the deal circumscribes India's "strategic" - i.e. Bomb-making, programme, the international opposition -both from the recalcitrant states and the peace movements, is exactly on the opposite ground. The article in the Hindu by Siddharth Varadarajan (at VI) gives an interesting insight into the likely approach of the GoI. Exert maximum pressure on the US to pressurise other (recalcitrant) members of the NSG. Quote “Things are really very clear,” a senior official told The Hindu when asked for his reaction to the NSG stalemate. “There was an agreement in 2005 in which we both made certain commitments. We have delivered on all of ours. Now the Americans have to deliver the NSG,” he said, “not us.” In the July 2005 statement, President George W. Bush committed himself to “work with friends and allies to adjust international regimes to enable full civil nuclear energy cooperation and trade with India.” Indian officials say securing NSG clearance by extracting further commitments from India or diluting the scope of cooperation was not part of the bargain. Unquote Such gems, rather significantly, are not available from other Indian reporters, let alone the foreign ones. But that does not of course mean India itself would desist from doing whatever it can do on its own. It did in fact mobilise and dispatch highest level diplomats to countries after countries, this time round. One may like to recall that Indian diplomatic offensive, in this case, actually started with the US Congress, when it was deliberating the deal and the Act. Shyam Saran was dedicated to that task. His assignment was renewed even after his retirement. Varadarajan had himself, rather gleefully, reported: Quote Batting for the exemption are the United States, Russia, France and Britain and a host of other countries with significant nuclear or nuclear-related interests. In announcements presumably timed to add wind to the sails of India’s supporters at the NSG, Indian nuclear officials are speaking of adding an additional 40 GWe of capacity through reactor imports. France, the U.S., Japan and Russia all expect to get a chunk of this business. But by far the most dramatic turnaround has been that of Canada. Unquote [http://svaradarajan.blogspot.com/2008/08/for-nuclear-club-its- decision-time-on.html] So the offer of this grand carrot - additional 40 GWe of capacity through reactor imports - was India's last moment diplomatic surge, meant to be a masterstroke. But not only carrots, understandably sticks – threats of denial of business opportunities - have also been used. At the IAEA stage, the CIA disclosure as regards the ISI involvement in the blasts at the India's embassy in Kabul was presumably perfectly timed to bulldoze Pakistan. But money power and gunboat diplomacy cannot achieve anything and everything under the sky. In the editorial of the August issue of the 'Peace Now', penned about a fortnight back, it had been pointed out that "even gun-boat diplomacy, or some civilian equivalent of it, has its limits". But the fight is, make no mistake, far from over. Austrian Greens demonstrated in Vienna. A number of Japan peace groups have joined hands to pressurise the Japanese government. In many other countries, including the US itself and Canada, campaigns are on. To top it all, an international appeal by anti-nuke peace activists, has been delivered and released. But nothing is dead, till it is dead! And as the edit, referred above, had pointed out: "Like the proverbial cat, (the deal) also seems to have more than one life". Nevertheless, the psychological climate has unmistakably changed. Varadarajan had reported, only on 22nd instant: Quote The diplomat divided NSG members into three groups based on their opening interventions. Those who strongly backed adoption of the text included the Czech Republic, Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine. A second group of “like-minded countries” said they wished to be “constructive” but wanted some additions and conditions included in the text. Among these were Austria, Ireland and New Zealand. Switzerland too expressed concerns, he said, as did the Nordic group. The third group consisted of those who came out in favour of the proposal but who did not appear overly enthusiastic. This group, according to the diplomat, included Germany and Japan, as well as Canada and Australia. Unquote Mark Heinrich, same day understandably sometime later, has informed: Quote But to the apparent surprise of Washington at the two-day meeting, almost half the suppliers' group membership proposed amendments to a U.S. draft for a waiver which would allow India to do business with the cartel, diplomats said. .... "There were really masses of amendments and suggestions absorbed at this meeting. Many of the delegations said the same thing in different words," said one senior diplomat. Unquote [Source: http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnLM19822.html] The shift is too obvious. And in such a nail-biting see-saw battle, the psychological edge counts.] I/VI. Nuclear deal – 23.08.08 India won't accept conditions on U.S. nuclear deal-report Sat Aug 23, 2008 12:00pm BST NEW DELHI, Aug 23 (Reuters) - India will not agree to any conditions to get approval from an atomic trade cartel necessary for a civilian nuclear deal with the United States, a report quoted India's foreign minister as saying on Saturday. A 45-nation meeting on whether to lift a ban on nuclear trade with India ended inconclusively on Friday after many raised conditions, leaving the future of the controversial bilateral nuclear deal unclear. The countries in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) will meet again on Sept. 4-5 when the United States is expected to rework the draft taking account of their concerns and re-submit it, according to diplomats who attended Friday's meeting. "We have to see what kind of amendments come," Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Press Trust of India news agency. The nuclear cartel must agree to allow nuclear fuel and technology exports to India for its civilian atomic energy programme to help seal the 2005 U.S.-Indian trade accord. Diplomats said conditions tabled at the NSG included intrusive U.N. inspections of Indian civilian nuclear sites; cancellation of any waiver if India tests bombs again; and periodic reviews of Indian compliance with the exemption. New Delhi, sensitive to domestic leftist charges that closer ties with the United States will undo its strategic autonomy, has insisted on a "clean and unconditional" waiver from the NSG. That demand has disturbed pro-disarmament nations and campaigners since India is outside the global Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and developed nuclear bombs in the 1970s with Western technology imported ostensibly for peaceful ends. Time is running out on the bilateral deal which still has to reach U.S. Congress latest by early September for ratification, before the house breaks for the November American elections. (Reporting by Krittivas Mukherjee; Editing by David Fox) II. US pressures NZ on India nuclear pact By MICHAEL FIELD - Fairfax Media | Saturday, 23 August 2008 One of Washington's top foreign policy officials said today he had renewed the pressure on New Zealand to approve a nuclear pact between India and the United States. On Friday New Zealand diplomats played a major role inside a secretive 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) which has to approve the deal by consensus. New Zealand is holding out demanding that India sign both the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Nuclear Testing Ban. India wants a waiver from both. Prime Minister Helen Clark said New Zealand as a nuclear free nation wants the conditions. In Auckland today the a US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Glyn Davies, confirmed he delivered a message to the government here asking again for New Zealand support. He said his boss, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had pushed the message when she was here too. "I mentioned it to your government," he told Fairfax Media. "Its been mentioned by much higher pay-grades than mine." His message to New Zealand was that it was important to bring India into the nuclear fold. "We think it is important to find ways to go forward in a transparent fashion with India as they develop nuclear energy," he said. "We think this is the way to do it. "Its too important given the size of India's economy, given the size of its nuclear infrastructure, and its aspirations in nuclear generation, we need to find a way to embrace them in bring them into the tent." New Zealand's stance over the deal has won front page headlines in the Indian media who clearly do not know what to make of having their nuclear dream frustrated by what headlines tag "hardline non- proliferationists". Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invested his political future in a treaty with the US in which Washington will supply India with civilian nuclear fuel and technology. He narrowly survived a confidence vote last month in pushing through the deal on his side. India, US set to fine-tune draft waiver VIENNA: With attempts to get a quick and clean exemption from NSG not materialising immediately, India and the US are set to work on changes in the draft waiver for fine-tuning its provisions in the light of reservations expressed by some countries. Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon left this morning for Washington after the two-day Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting here ended inconclusively on Friday with another round scheduled early next month for considering India's case for an exemption to do n uclear commerce with other countries. Though officials maintained that Menon's trip to Washington was pre-planned, the significance of the visit is not lost on observers who feel that he may utilise the occasion to work with the US on how to come out wi th a waiver that will be acceptable to all without compromising India's position. The 45-nation NSG will meet early next month, possibly on September 4-5, to consider the changes which US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said are necessary to accommodate the concerns raised by some countries. Boucher said in Mumbai on Fri day that some countries had “objections'' and “we need to listen'' to them. “I don't want to lie to you...I can't really lie. There might be some changes that we could accept. But we are pushing for a clean text'', he had said. “The US and India will have to sit together and see what we can accommodate and what we can't. We will have to talk to the other governments involved'', said Boucher. India is also firm that it wants an unconditional exemption and a language acceptable to it on all issues, including right to conduct tests. - PTI III. Hang on India, say N-clubbers Hindustan Times It’s going to take a while longer. That was the message from Vienna on Friday, where a two-day Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting ended without a decision on India being able to source nuclear materials from members of the 45-country club. Western diplomats, however, told the Hindustan Times that the outlook was good for India and the atmosphere during the two days of meetings was "not poisonous". The conditions All nuclear trade will end if India tests a nuclear device again. India must agree to additional protocol with IAEA, meaning more access to the atomic watchdog. No transfer of uranium-enrichment technologies. Termination clause if India walks out of safeguards accord with IAEA. The NSG will now meet on September 4 and 5 to take a final call on a waiver for India. “India will get its exemption. But there will have to be some fine- tuning of the draft to take on board the concerns of others,” an Indian official said after the meeting. The NSG said in a terse, four-line statement, “Participating governments exchanged views in a constructive manner, and agreed to meet again in the near future to continue their deliberations.” John Rood, the US acting undersecretary of state for arms control, told reporters in Vienna that he remained very optimistic about getting the nuclear deal through the NSG. In a radio interview, New Zealand’s Disarmament Minister Phil Goff spilled the beans that eight countries — his own, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark — were working in concert to make changes to the Amercian “waiver” draft. The octet was trying to find a way of accommodating the desires of the Indian and American governments while ensuring that any exemption granted would be supportive of non-proliferation rather than working in the opposite direction, Goff said. These countries were pushing to end all nuclear cooperation with India should it test a nuclear device again, restrict the supply of uranium- enrichment technologies and build a review clause into any waiver document. All this is similar to the provisions of the Hyde Act, an enabling legislation passed by the US Congress in 2006, which permits Washington to engage in nuclear commerce with India. Also, they wanted a termination clause if India opted out of the August 1 safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency and return all material secured on account of the NSG waiver. The Associated Press news agency, meanwhile, reported from Vienna that the U.S. was expected to present a revised proposal to exempt India from NSG rules by the beginning of next week. In Mumbai, US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher prepared the ground for changes in the draft text circulated by Washington to grant India exemption from NSG guidelines. “I don’t want to lie to you...I can’t really lie. There might be some changes that we could accept. But we are pushing for a clean text,” Boucher said at a press briefing. “My colleagues in the (United) States and New Delhi are bringing all the pieces together. All the commitments are there; we’re working towards fulfilling them,” said Boucher. “We can’t anticipate any of the changes, but won’t put down anything that makes it harder to achieve an agreement either,” Boucher took the view. The American official felt that most countries he had interacted with were positive towards India. “They understand the benefits of co- operation with India…We are trying to explain these benefits and the nuances of the deal in our meetings with nuclear suppliers, to answer their questions and figure out how to make this happen.” IV. Economic Times BJP fears US may ask India to make concessions on nuke deal NEW DELHI: The BJP on Friday said attempts were on to shift the goal posts yet again and said the US observations that questions raised by NSG countries were “good” indicated that a new benchmark would be set for the Indo-US nuclear deal. “The Americans have been shifting the goal posts since 2005. If one goes by the track record of the Manmohan Singh government, it will acquiesce in it,” said former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha. The BJP has been maintaining that the safeguards agreement with the IAEA made a mockery of the assurances that prime minister Manmohan Singh had repeatedly given to the nation. Far from it being an India-specific agreement, the accord resembles IAEA agreements with non-nuclear-weapon states. The India-IAEA safeguards accord comes with perpetual, legally irrevocable obligations, which India cannot suspend or end, even if the supplier- states cut off supply of fuel and replacement parts. The IAEA inspections in India will not be nominal but stringent and invasive, of the type applicable to non-nuclear-weapon states,” the party said. The party has been critical of the decision to put 35 of India’s facilities under IAEA inspection. “While the five established nuclear powers have offered only 11 facilities in total — less than 1% of their total facilities — for IAEA safeguards, India has agreed to place 35 of its facilities under IAEA inspection, according to the civil-military separation plan presented to Parliament by the prime minister in 2006,” the BJP said. These facilities include 14 power reactors; three heavy-water plants at Thal-Vaishet, Hazira and Tuticorin; six installations at the Nuclear Fuel Complex in Hyderabad; the PREFRE reprocessing plant at Tarapur; and nine research facilities, such as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology and Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. Mr Sinha said the statements by the US officials clearly indicate that it will bring the agreement with the NSG in line with the Hyde Act. “The government and the prime minister have been misleading the nation about the implications of the Hyde Act,” the BJP leader said. V. The Telegraph Vienna blow to nuclear deal - NSG puts off decision, cloud on US passage during Bush reign K.P. NAYAR Washington, Aug. 22: A two-day meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) broke up today without agreement on exempting India from the group’s rules to pave the way for operationalising the Indo-US nuclear deal. The collapse of the Vienna meeting raises questions about the future of the nuclear deal during the life of the Manmohan Singh government and in the remaining days in office for US President George W. Bush as well as the present US Congress. Reflecting the gravity of the situation, foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon is expected to fly from Vienna to Washington tomorrow itself, according to Indian embassy sources here. John Rood, US acting under-secretary of state for arms control and international security, left the NSG meeting and cabled the disappointing news to his boss, secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, amidst indications here that India will come under severe pressure from the Bush administration in the next few days to accept some prescriptive clauses from the NSG in order to move the nuclear deal forward. As reported exclusively by The Telegraph yesterday, a group of NSG dissenters put Rood and his delegation on the mat by asking for nothing more than incorporating some provisions in America’s Hyde Act into the document allowing a waiver for India from the global rules for nuclear commerce. “It was a demand no bureaucrat could reject. Rood could not stand up against his country’s legislation at the NSG. The Hyde Act is the law of the land in America,” said one European diplomat who attended the meeting and was privy to discussions on its sidelines. It was a clever strategy firmed up on Wednesday night by a group of seven NSG members who are against the India waiver — not because they are opposed to India, but because of fears that such a waiver will weaken the global non-proliferation regime. Today, the “Group of Seven” countries stood their ground when the NSG reconvened and the lack of a mandatory consensus ended in a stalemate over the US draft that would have amended NSG rules in India’s favour. The immediate future of the Indo-US nuclear deal now hinges on the next date for an NSG meeting. Even before the group convened in Vienna on Thursday, the US had proposed a second meeting on September 2. This prompted severe resentment among NSG members, who felt they were being pushed around by Washington even before they could deliberate at their first meeting. Sources in Vienna said there has been a tentative agreement as today’s meeting ended that the NSG would reconvene on September 4 and 5. But these sources said the majority view in the group was that the next meeting should be held in the third or fourth week of September to coincide with the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or its board of governors. These IAEA meetings will bring to Vienna all the key players in the nuclear field from all over the world in any case. If the Group of Seven countries is determined to push the date of the next meeting to the second half of September, the US will have no choice but to agree to a date favoured by the majority of NSG members. But such a delay would derail the Bush administration’s time table of sending the nuclear deal back to the Congress in the week of September 8 so that all the necessary legislation for operationalising the deal can be wrapped up before the Congress adjourns on September 26 for the US elections. VI. India says NSG clearance is U.S. responsibility Siddharth Varadarajan Cartel to meet again in two weeks to consider amended waiver Vienna: The United States’ inability to deliver a key part of its side of the July 2005 nuclear bargain with New Delhi became apparent on Friday as the Nuclear Suppliers Group ended an extraordinary plenary meeting without reaching agreement on a proposal to waive its restrictive export guidelines for India. More crucially, the fact that India will now be asked to accept changes in the draft waiver that could conceivably limit the scope of nuclear cooperation or place conditions on it of one kind or another suggests the three-year-old nuclear deal could well be approaching its most serious break point to date. Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon is now set to fly directly to Washington from Vienna to discuss the issues which arose in the NSG meeting and examine the American proposals, if any, for a change in the wording of the waiver. But it is apparent that there is little scope for India to accommodate the kind of demands a number of NSG countries made in the two-day meeting. “Things are really very clear,” a senior official told The Hindu when asked for his reaction to the NSG stalemate. “There was an agreement in 2005 in which we both made certain commitments. We have delivered on all of ours. Now the Americans have to deliver the NSG,” he said, “not us.” In the July 2005 statement, President George W. Bush committed himself to “work with friends and allies to adjust international regimes to enable full civil nuclear energy cooperation and trade with India.” Indian officials say securing NSG clearance by extracting further commitments from India or diluting the scope of cooperation was not part of the bargain. The NSG, which consists of 45 countries and takes all its decisions by consensus, will now meet again here on September 4 and 5 to reconsider the India question on the basis of a new draft waiver that the U.S. has said it will bring to the group. The dates were informally agreed to but found no mention in the brief communiqué issued by the NSG, presumably because the U.S. needs to secure India’s concurrence to any language change before it is able to come before the suppliers group again. “Participating governments exchanged views in a constructive manner, and agreed to meet again in the near future to continue their deliberations,” the NSG statement simply noted. Asked what sort of amendments the American side was asked to make by those NSG countries that were critical of the original proposal, a European diplomat told The Hindu that a number of states had made suggestions on virtually every aspect of the draft. “I think the whole thing will be reformulated, but in a positive way,” he said, requesting that he and his country not be identified out of respect for the NSG’s rules of confidentiality. Another diplomat said the NSG raised concerns on nuclear testing, adherence to NPT full-scope safeguards, the need for a review mechanism to assess Indian compliance, as well as restrictions on enrichment and reprocessing technology. “There was a reference in the earlier U.S. draft to the desirability of India eventually accepting the NPT and its safeguards that was more positive than what we have now,” the diplomat said. “So, I think America will have to come back to us with a new draft before any decision is possible.” Speaking to reporters at the end of the meeting, acting U.S. Under Secretary for Arms Control John D. Rood said the U.S. was “pleased with the results of the discussion” and remained “very optimistic” about continuing to make progress “towards this important goal” of permitting civilian nuclear cooperation with India. He noted that “many delegations spoke about this important question” and said the India waiver would “remain something the group continues to work through in a serious manner.” --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
