"...So tell me now, who are we to say the Russians can't sell that nuclear plant to the Iranians? Really?"

But, but, but those Iwanians is really nasty, naughty people. Pwesident Bush told us so. And, he's always right -- hard right.

I'm not at all keen on undercutting the core NPT bargain, but on the other hand I'd rather see the de facto trade be formalized, brought into the open, and potentially used as a means of engagement / leverage. India has already been importing nuclear materials from NSG countries over an extended period. This sort of deal would seem to be the only viable means of them expanding their nuclear power on the scale they think they need to. Goodness knows I'm not keen on the idea of them starting more exotic means of conservation - fast breeders give me the creeps.

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.” ~ Sir Ernest Benn

India Says US Atomic Pact Sign 'World Needs India'
Published: October 2, 2008
Filed at 10:23 a.m. ET

NEW DELHI (AP) -- India said Thursday that U.S. congressional approval of a civilian nuclear pact was a sign that ''the world needs India as India needs the world.'' Pakistan immediately demanded a similar deal.

I'm betting Pakistan get those F-16 upgrades now

October 3rd, 2008
Posted by: Sanjeev Miglani

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be in New Delhi this weekend to celebrate a hard-fought nuclear deal that to its critics strikes at the heart of the global non-proliferation regime by allowing India access to nuclear technology despite its refusal to sign the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT) and give up a weapons programme.

China and Pakistan are not amused although both stepped aside as they watched an unstoppable Bush administration push the deal through the International Atomic Energy Agency and then the Nuclear Suppliers Group in one of its few foreign policy successes.

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A commentary in the state-controlled Beijing Review says Pakistan has reason to worry about the deal and recalls a statement put out by the Pakistan Army last month that warned of negative implications for strategic stability in South Asia. It would have been better if the United States had considered a package approach for both India and Pakistan, which conducted its first nuclear weapon tests two weeks after India, the magazine said, quoting the Pakistan Army statement.

China’s own stand, it said, was that all countries are entitled to make peaceful use of nuclear energy and that bodies like the NSG must address the aspirations of all parties. But it described the India-U.S. deal as a turning point which in the long run would have have a profound impact on international non-proliferation efforts.

“Countries on the nuclear threshold might be tempted by the potential rewards of the Indian approach and pursue their nuclear weapon programs with renewed vigor,” it said. “This new perspective might also affect negotiations over the North Korean and Iranian nuclear issues. ”

Within hours of the U.S. Congress clearing the deal by an overwhelming vote, Pakistan’s prime minister was demanding a similar agreement for his country

“Pakistan will also now make efforts for a civil nuclear (deal) and they will have to accommodate us,” Yousaf Raza Gilani said.

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Saibal Dasgupta | Beijing | October 17

Times of India - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has failed to obtain a clear commitment from Chinese leaders on his proposal for broadening the nucle
ar relationship between the two countries, informed sources said. ( Watch )

Zardari is believed to have spent the past two days during his first presidential visit to Beijing persuading Chinese leaders to sign a Sino-Pakistan nuclear deal on the lines of the India-US deal, among other things.

But Beijing has indicated it will seriously consider Zardari's request after examining the changing situation concerning India-US nuclear relationship and Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Zardari is believed to have told Chinese leaders that a Sino-Pakistan deal on nuclear energy would help Beijing counter the effects of the India-US deal. But Chinese leaders are reluctant to go ahead with the idea as they regard Pakistan to be politically unstable, sources said.

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“The absence of any US-Iran bilateral channel...may have the perverse effect of reinforcing Iranian interest in progressing in the nuclear realm so that the US will be forced to take it seriously and engage it directly." ~ Richard Haass