Bush signs India Nuclear War Agreement - Washington Post
President Bush signed legislation yesterday permitting civilian nuclear cooperation with India, reversing three decades of nonproliferation policy in the interest of redefining U.S. relations with the world's largest democracy and reshaping the geopolitical balance as China asserts itself in Asia.
Bush, who has made the fight against the spread of nuclear weapons a centerpiece of his foreign policy, persuaded Congress to make an exception for India despite its not having signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Although critics warn that the deal could spark a regional arms race, Bush called it a landmark moment that finally relegates Cold War-era tensions to the past.
The deal represents a strategic calculation by Bush that it is better to embrace India than to continue isolating it for building nuclear weapons outside international legal structures. India tested bombs in 1974 and 1998, and specialists believe it can produce enough fuel for half a dozen weapons a year, but it is not one of five official nuclear states under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the main instrument governing nuclear weapons. Neither is its archrival, Pakistan, which set off its own nuclear blasts after India's in 1998.
Bush, who has made the fight against the spread of nuclear weapons a centerpiece of his foreign policy, persuaded Congress to make an exception for India despite its not having signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Although critics warn that the deal could spark a regional arms race, Bush called it a landmark moment that finally relegates Cold War-era tensions to the past.
The deal represents a strategic calculation by Bush that it is better to embrace India than to continue isolating it for building nuclear weapons outside international legal structures. India tested bombs in 1974 and 1998, and specialists believe it can produce enough fuel for half a dozen weapons a year, but it is not one of five official nuclear states under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the main instrument governing nuclear weapons. Neither is its archrival, Pakistan, which set off its own nuclear blasts after India's in 1998.
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