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International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Chief El Baradei came out strongly to
support the Indo-US civilian Nuclear
Deal and asked the US Congress to vote
in support of the “win-win agreement.”
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
said that the world needs to “broaden
our concept of non-proliferation
regime in order to deal with anomalies
like the Indian situation.”
Democrats in the US Congress are
stalling the deal saying that a quick
deal between IAEA and India would get
the approval process moving faster.
Nuclear Ayatollahs in the US point to
this delay as Indian deceit and are
urging the Congress not to support the
deal claiming that it will dilute
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
and will reward India for not signing
the NPT. India refuses to sign the NPT
arguing that it is discriminatory and
promote nuclear weapons among the
nuclear haves while denying the same
level of security to others. India has
nuclear weapons that the world refuses
to acknowledge but also has very good
non-proliferation deals.
Comparatively, Pakistan has
proliferated nuclear weapons
technology to North Korea, Iran,
Libya, and Syria and protects the
protagonist of this proliferation
(disgraced nuclear scientist A.Q.
Khan). The Nuclear Ayatollahs
disingenuously argue that Pakistan
will also ask for a similar deal
disregarding the history of both
countries. The US Administration has
already rejected this demand from
Pakistan pointing out these
differences.
Meanwhile, the US has approached India
for some minor modifications within
the framework of the June 2005
agreement. Foreign Secretary Shyam
Saran and US Undersecretary for
Political Affairs Nicholas Burns met
in London to discuss what could be
changed. Saran admitted that semantics
and wording needs to be agreed by both
nations so they respective interests
are protected but did not elaborate
what areas are being changed. There is
fear in the Indian Government that
changes will not be accepted by
coalition partners such as the
communists who oppose any dealings
with the US because of their failed
ideology.
Even if the deal passes the US
Congress, it needs to get through the
45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
where there are even more strident
Ayatollahs such as the Scandinavian
nations and Australia. However,
France has said that it will lobby for
India and work the
Scandinavian nations to favor the
deal. India and France, India and
Russia have signed independent deals
that are all contingent on the Indo-US
deal being approved.
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