Let's temporarily set aside talk of the US presidential race and reflect on the eight years in office of the incumbent, George W. Bush. There have been few high points and many low ones. Invading Iraq in 2003 without UN Security Council approval would seem the lowest. But, for all its infamy, that was a mere whirlwind compared to the super-typhoon that the administration is concocting in its dying months.
I am not referring to Washington's goading of Russia by supporting Georgia and insisting on missile bases in Poland. Outraging Pakistan by attacking alleged militants without permission is barely a footnote in the book of Bush misdeeds. The one that could be the mother of them all, were the US Congress to approve it, is the nuclear fuel and technology deal with India.
On its face, this would seem harmless. Washington has couched it in glowing terms, contending that it would help India meet rising energy demands in an environmentally friendly way, form a partnership with the world's biggest democracy and bring business to American companies. Were these the only concerns, we could rest easy. But the reality is that the pact has implications that should instead have us voicing loud disapproval.
The deal is about the US gaining a strategic foothold in Asia to keep China, India and Russia in check. But it also blows the doors off efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons: it has the potential to unhinge the vestiges of peace and stability. A defining moment came at the weekend, when the US used strong-arm tactics to force the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to approve the deal. At one stage, China was left hanging on a limb as smaller, fellow objectors gave way to US pressure. The move has widened a rift between Beijing and New Delhi.
The NSG is dedicated to reducing nuclear proliferation by controlling the movement of material that could be used to make weapons. Paradoxically, it was set up in response to India testing a nuclear weapon in 1974. India, like Pakistan and Israel, has refused to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the centrepiece of world efforts to eliminate atomic weapons. The NSG's authority has been eroded by its granting of a waiver to a non-NPT nation to trade in nuclear materials and technology.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has argued that the deal is good because it gets India into a mechanism where some of its nuclear facilities will be open to inspection. A condition of the NSG waiver is that India pledges not to carry out more nuclear tests. This is success where there was none before, but as Washington-based Arms Control Association executive director Daryl Kimball pointed out, pledges can be easily broken. It would have been better to ensure that India joined the 179 nations that have signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, a convention that, when it comes into force, will outlaw nuclear bomb testing by signatory nations.