Physicians for Social Responsibility and The Economist Urge Rejection of U.S.-India Nuclear Deal

Referring to the agreement as “dangerous to international peace and security,” the Nobel Peace Prize-winning American organization, Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), together with its Indian counterpart, Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD), called on the governments of the two countries last week to reject the U.S.-India nuclear deal promoted by its leaders.

Although the deal does not need the approval of the Indian Parliament, the country must first negotiate a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and garner an exception in its guidelines for nuclear trade with the 45-country Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). This could potentially take several months, but, if completed, the recently finalized text of the 123 authorization agreement (with its loopholes big enough to drive a Mack truck through) would then be submitted to Congress for a final vote.

With these two opportunities in mind, the well-respected magazine, The Economist, declared that “rule-bending [for India] puts at risk the anti-nuclear regime that everyone else's safety and security is built on. Governments at the NSG and the IAEA that are unhappy with this need to find the courage of their convictions, and block it.”

The newspaper explains:

America's readiness to make an Indian exception to all the rules risks snapping two of the joists that support the global non-proliferation structure. At the IAEA, India wants the right not just to say which reactors can be inspected, but when. Such unprecedented laxity in India will make it hard to get others—for example, Brazil, which already does some uranium enriching of its own—to accept the tougher inspections that the IAEA wants as standard for all NPT members.

Likewise, the hard-won clarity of the NSG's trade ban has helped maintain support for the NPT, despite the cheating antics of a few. Mere talk of fudging the rules last year encouraged Russia to break them, citing spurious “safety” concerns as an excuse to sell India uranium fuel. China, unhappy at America's coddling of India, is exploring more nuclear co-operation with Pakistan—which in turn threatens to match India, should it step up weapons production or test again.

PSR and IDPD likewise called upon the members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) reject this agreement as contrary to their objectives and also urged the UN Security Council to support NSG guidelines and the improvement of international legal rules for the prevention of nuclear proliferation and the promotion of nuclear disarmament.