Dan
Froomkin has a great column today about the India-US nuclear deal. Whats frightening is what Bush has given away in this deal. When you read the article, it appears he gave away everything. To pull a quote:
'This is Santa Claus negotiating. The goal seems to have been to give away as much as possible.'
While reporting on the disasterous deal this represents, Froomkin also touches on the wag-the-dog aspects of this story as a possible reason to get some less flattering stories (like incompetence and lying about Katrina, or the surfacing of 250 emails regarding the Plame outing, or a detailed synopisis of Iraqi intel cooking, or the DPWorld cluster, or the fact that the pentagon now says that there are zero iraqi battalions ready to fight alone).
As an aside: While every major newspaper had a story about the deal, i could not find a reference to it on the fauxnews site. Not on the main page, nor the international page.
This deal sounds like DP World, part duh. Can we get an adult in the administration to take the keys away from Junior?
More below...
Some gems from the article:
In addition to all the predictable reactions (pro and con) to the landmark nuclear agreement reached in India yesterday, a powerful and unexpected new concern has emerged based on a last-minute concession by President Bush.
It appears that, to close the deal during his visit, Bush directed his negotiators to give in to India's demands that it be allowed to produce unlimited quantities of fissile material and amass as many nuclear weapons as it wants.
Jim VandeHei and Dafna Linzer write in The Washington Post: "Bush and [Indian Prime Minister Manmohan] Singh praised the deal at a joint news conference, but they did not mention that it would allow India to produce vast quantities of fissile material, something the United States and the four other major nuclear powers -- China, Russia, France and Britain -- have voluntarily halted. The pact also does not require oversight of India's prototype fast-breeder reactors, which can produce significant amounts of super-grade plutonium when fully operating. . . .
Elisabeth Bumiller and Somini Sengupta write in the New York Times: "India . . . retained the right to develop future fast-breeder reactors for its military program, a provision that critics of the deal called astonishing. In addition, India said it was guaranteed a permanent supply of nuclear fuel. . .
... Bush did not drive a hard enough bargain. They said he failed to win any major restrictions on India's nuclear arsenal, such as a halt to the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons.
"It's not clear what the administration's objectives were, but it's unlikely that they achieved them."
The new arms race aspect:
Critics have long denounced such an agreement, saying it would reward India for its rogue nuclear-weapons program and could encourage other nations to do likewise.
But now the criticisms may focus on this question: By enabling India to build an unlimited stockpile of nuclear weapons, would this agreement set off a new Asian arms race?
In the end, the major players in the Bush administration feel it's OK for India to have a large nuclear arsenal as long as its not directed at the United States, and that there might even be benefits, for instance, to deter against China.'
"It is very difficult to make the case to the international community and to the Iranians themselves that we are serious about proliferation," said Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "And that's what Iran has said: 'You people don't care about proliferation, you care only about the character of the regime, and therefore why should we make any concessions?' "
"[N]ow that the two sides have agreed on specific terms, the skeptics said the deal could allow India to expand its arsenal even further and possibly encourage a regional nuclear arms race."
And the wag-the-dog aspect:
And here's another question: Were Bush and his aides so eager for some good headlines -- for a change -- that they gave away the store?
"In New Delhi, American and Indian negotiators working all night reached agreement on the nuclear deal at 10:30 a.m. Thursday local time -- only two hours before Mr. Bush and Mr. Singh announced it -- after the United States accepted an Indian plan to separate its civilian and military nuclear facilities. . . .
The children are driving the bus aspect:
One has to assume that the administration was so interested in concluding a deal that it was prepared to cave in to the demands of the Indian nuclear establishment.' "
'For them, this is the Holy Grail of international acceptance, and we sold it for pennies on the dollar.
The oversite-abdicating Congress best flush this one. I cant see anyone being an advocate for this deal.