Washington PostA controversial nuclear deal between the United States and India appears close to collapse after the Indian prime minister told President Bush yesterday that "certain difficulties" will prevent India from moving forward on the pact for the foreseeable future.
The main obstacle does not involve the specific terms of the agreement but rather India's internal politics, including fears from leftist parties that India is moving too close to the United States, according to officials and experts familiar with the deal. Besieged over the past two months by growing opposition to nuclear energy cooperation with the United States, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh indicated over the weekend that he would rather save his coalition government than the nuclear pact.
"What we have done with the U.S., it is an honorable deal, it is good for India, and it is good for the world," Singh said Saturday. "But we are in the realm of politics, and within our coalition, there are differing perceptions."
Neither government appeared eager to announce the setback to what had been billed as one of the Bush administration's biggest foreign policy achievements. India's only official pronouncement was tucked at the bottom of a seven-paragraph news release on the Indian Embassy Web site outlining a telephone conversation Monday between Singh and Bush.
Okay, it's all nice and clean, using the term United States when attempting to explain the difficulties in executing this nuclear pact. But the truth is, the growing opposition is unwilling to have anything to do with BushCo™. And, quite frankly, I am rather of a mood to understand that opposition. I am not happy about it, and don't like the idea of nuclear proliferation, but I am of an understanding.
The Hedgemony have become "radioactive" in most of the world. No one wants to be seen hanging with the US.
This was a very good deal for India, which indicates what a problem the Shrubbery has become.