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[1] From: "C.K. Vishwanath" <ck_vishwanath2000@yahoo.com> Date: Tue Feb 28, 2006 Subject: Re: [indiathinkersnet] Attempt by the Hindu right wing to disruptthescreenings of VIBGYOR film fest people must have a right to air their opinion freely.this not a hindu or muslim issue. --- sanjeev nayyar <exploreindia@vsnl.net> wrote: > Anivar there was a movie titled Mumbai Bomb Blasts > made by the owners of Mid Day, the muslims went to the supreme court and got a stay order against the release of the film ------------------ [2] From: Regi P George <george_regi@yahoo.com> Date: Tue Feb 28, 2006 Subject: Re: [indiathinkersnet] RSS to launch private university in BJP ruled Rajasthan. This was point out very earlier in this forum on a debate based on privatising higher education.Now what is the meaning of the cry? Recent news coming out from delhi giving an impression that the center right political party and extreme right wing trying to come together.ie the congress and bjp try to form a new aliance to continue the govt. with the blessings of RSS. To keep the Left and socialists out from the power. Other wise look at the new methods adopted by rss and congress in all states where ever a communist/left presents visible rss is in understanding with congress regi. --------------------- [3] From: "editor@countercurrents.org" <editor@countercurrents.org> Date: Tue Feb 28, 2006 Subject: CC News Letter 28/02-Bush In India: Just Not Welcome Hello Kindly forward this newsletter to your friends and encourage them to join this mailing list. http://www.countercurrents.org/subscribe.htm In Solidarity Binu Bush In India: Just Not Welcome By Arundhati Roy http://www.countercurrents.org/ind-roy290206.htm Nothing the happy newspapers say can change the fact that all over India, from the biggest cities to the smallest villages, in public places and private homes, George W. Bush, the President of the United States of America, world nightmare incarnate, is just not welcome Gandhi, Bush, And The Bomb By Lawrence S. Wittner http://www.countercurrents.org/wittner280206.htm On February 24, at a press briefing, White House National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley announced that, when U.S. President George W. Bush travels to India next week, he will lay a wreath in honor of Mohandas Gandhi From: Mujeebulla Chemnad <kvchemnad@yahoo.com> --------------------- [4] From: Sukla Sen <suklasen@yahoo.com> Date: Tue Feb 28, 2006 Subject: Indo-US Nuke Deal: Disturbing and Destabilising Development Indo-US Nuke Deal: Disturbing and Destabilising Development Sukla Sen The much talked of July 18 joint statement(1) issued by Manmohan Singh and George Bush, as the culmination of the Indian PM's visit to the US last year, is, in fact, a wide-ranging one. Nevertheless only a specific portion of this document, etching out the contours of a (possible and promised) nuclear deal between the two countries has attracted widespread and disproportionate attention. The reasons are not too far to seek. This is unarguably the most radical part of a document dealing with a number of vital issues together with some customary platitudes to democratic values and all that. The promised deal just not only runs counter to the current global non-proliferation order, it will also call for a radical revision of the domestic laws of the US itself and its policies in this regard hitherto. While the deal has met with very considerable ebullience, mainly from India 's ruling quarters, it also continues to face stiff opposition, on very divergent grounds, from all the three major quarters: India, US and the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Apart from these, the global anti-nuke peace movement is also highly apprehensive of the deal(2). Within the US establishment, there are individuals and sections, who view the deal too cheap for India and also an assault on the NPT, and thereby the non-proliferation regime, by making an exception in case of India, an aberrant nation(3). In fact, just before the issue of the declaration, no less than Condoleezza Rice herself had opined against any such possibility. And the US Congress is still busy examining the deal with no indication as yet that its assent would be accorded any time soon. Consequently a proposed reciprocal visit by Bush remains in a limbo. Within the NSG, there are countries keen to do nuclear business with India. But there are many others, including those who had voluntarily given up their nuclear weapon options in the interest of global nuclear disarmament, who oppose this deal as an assault on the NPT, being clearly violative of its provisions, which debar nuclear commerce with any non-signatory(4). Incidentally, of the total 191 members of the UN, all but three - India, Pakistan and Israel, put their signatures to the NPT. North Korea, however, withdrew in 2003. But they have indicated their willingness to give up their weapons and weapon-making capability, developed clandestinely, in return for certain other concessions and rejoin the NPT(5). The question of the NSG approving the deal will, however, arise only when the proposal formally comes before it after having been cleared by the USA. The anti-nuke peace movement considers this deal yet another act of gross unilateralism on the part of the Bush administration and an assault on the NPT, and thereby the prospects of global nuclear disarmament, by making an impermissible exception in case of India - a non-signatory and a brazen 'proliferator'. Within India, while the government and much of the nuclear establishment and its apologists have welcomed the deal with great gusto, the opposition came mainly from the rightwing "nationalists", the extreme nuclear hawks - and also major sections of the Left, albeit in a fairly muted tone. The support has been justified on mainly two grounds. The deal, if comes into force, will confer a sort of quasi-recognition as a nuclear weapon power on India by the international community, which it has been denied all along. This will also de-hyphenate India from Pakistan. A dream for the Indian elite(6). At a more mundane level, this would be a lifeline for India's nuclear power plants, given the paucity of fuel - naturally occurring uranium, available indigenously. Currently uranium is being mined only from Jadugoda in Jharkhand. Attempts at exploration in Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh and West Khasi Hills district in Meghalaya have been stalled by massive popular resistance. The opposition, as was articulated by Vajpayee on the floor of the Indian parliament, claims that it will restrict India's 'sovereign option' to keep on endlessly piling up the weapon of deliberate mass murder and also hinder the prospect of further upgradation from the present level of fissile weapon to fusion weapon, or Hydrogen Bomb(7). The deal as and when - and if at all, comes into force will obligate India to open its 'civilian' plants to IAEA inspection. As per the deal, it's for India to designate, "voluntarily" and "in a phased manner", which are the 'civilian' plants, notwithstanding a strong element of tug of war on this score. In return, India will be entitled to "full civil and nuclear energy cooperation and trade", or unfettered nuclear commerce - in terms of fuel, technology, plants and machineries etc., only as regards its 'civilian' plants. So even without being a signatory to the NPT, it will enjoy the status of a signatory as regards its 'civilian' plants, which, as on date, it is not entitled to. As regards the balance, or 'military', plants its status will remain unchanged. Neither any inspection, nor any commerce. And for this India will not have to give up either its existing nuclear arsenal or its future programme. The future programme will, however, be somewhat curtailed in as much some of the plants will go out of its purview having been designated as 'civilian'. But this notion of 'curtailment' applies only if we assume India would have been able to carry on with its programme unhindered - unrestrained by non-access to fuel, technology and hardware from external sources - evidently a very questionable assumption. One must, however, keep in mind that the deal is yet to be cleared by the US itself, despite all the ballyhoo and the support from Bush himself. After that will come the turn of the NSG. While Bush may very well ignore even the NSG, the approval of the US Congress remains a must. From the Indian side, the main driver is its elite's mindless obsession with attaining a full-scale nuclear status - global recognition of its nuclear weapon capability and continuing programme, and also safeguarding and promoting its nuclear energy industry. From its point of view, a closer relation with the US, even as a sub-junior partner, will also serve the other major 'strategic goals' viz. emerging as a mini-hegemon in Asia / South Asia, firmly establish its clear superiority over Pakistan, the traditional rival and neighbour - one-sixth of its size in terms of population, and neutralise (much stronger) China - to whatever extent possible. India will, however, not like to completely surrender its autonomy of options within this broader framework, in so far as these are perceived to be in alignment with these 'strategic goals', and engage with other regional/global powers - including Russia, France and even China, who pose varying degrees of challenge to the global hegemon. Indian Prime Minister's recent sojourn to Russia goes to further underscore this aspect and the complex nature of the game it is out to play in the global arena. By offering this sop, Washington evidently wants to coopt India as a (sub-junior but nevertheless valuable) partner in its global gambit for unilateral domination(8). To demonstrate its power and sincerity it has already engineered India's inclusion as a member of the (highly prestigious!) International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project. Evidently this would have had not been possible without aggressive string pulling by the Bush administration(9). It goes without saying that from the perspective of the peace movement, this is a very worrying development. On the one hand, it aids, abets and further encourages the neocon coterie-led US drive for an unfettered global Empire and, on the other, signifies India's transmutation from a champion of the global underdogs and consequent emergence as a continually growing threat, as exemplified through its earlier rejection of the CTBT in 96 culminating in the May 98 nuclear explosions, to the prospects of global peace and nuclear disarmament in its own right - US, or no US. Notes 'Joint Statement Between President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh', July 18, 2005, at <http://www.state.gov/p/sa/rls/pr/2005/49763.htm>;. 'The U.S.-India Strategic Partnership' by Lora Saalman at http://www.japanfocus.org/article.asp?id=357 and also 'A Deplorable Nuclear Bargain' by Praful Bidwai at <www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php%3Froot%3D2005%26leaf%3D07%26filename%3D8920 %26filetype%3Dhtml>. 'Experts' Advice on the India Nuclear Deal' by Caterina Dutto at http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=17759 and also 'Good day for India, bad for nonproliferation' by Strobe Talbott, Washington, July 21, at <yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=6042>. 'Norway talks tough on NPT', December 8, 2005 at <http://in.news.yahoo.com/051208/43/61g4c.html>;. 'North Korea Says It Will Abandon Nuclear Efforts' by Joseph Kahn, September 19, 2005 at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/19/international/asia/19korea.html?th&emc=th. 'Ending our nuclear winter: Why Indo-US pact is a deal every govt in Delhi would have loved to cut' by C. Raja Mohan, July 26, 2005 at http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=75079 and also Chain reaction (Editorial), December 7, 2005 at <http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1567720,0012.htm>;. 'Vajpayee tears into nuclear deal: PM allays fears of BJP, Left', The Pioneer, August 04, 2005 at http://www.bjp.org/Newspaper/Aug_2005/aug_0405.htm. 'Faulty Promises: The U.S.-India Nuclear Deal' by George Perkovich at www.carnegieendowment.org/files/PO21.Perkovich.pdf. Chain reaction (Editorial), December 7, 2005 at <http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1567720,0012.htm>;. ------------- [5] |
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