In Pakistan two days later, Bush praised that country’s government as a “major non-NATO ally.” The U.S. president also cited the need to avoid repetition of past “proliferation problems” by Islamabad, and for more progress in crushing the Taliban and other “terrorist groups” operating in its territory, before a nuclear deal similar to the one with India can be considered for Pakistan. It is an offer that doesn’t leave Pakistan’s president Pervez Musharraf with any option other than to accept.

In the last two years, Washington successfully pressed the Pakistani rulers to end trade in nuclear technology with Iran, north Korea, and other countries U.S. imperialism has labeled “rogue states.” While in Pakistan, Bush also withdrew objections to a proposed 1,600-mile natural gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan and India.

Under the nuclear deal with New Delhi, the Indian government will classify 14 of its 22 nuclear plants as for civilian nuclear energy production. The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be able to inspect these now for the first time, even though India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The other eight facilities are slated for nuclear arms production and will not be subject to IAEA review.

Under the NPT, the U.S. and other imperialist powers, as well as Moscow and Beijing, are allowed a monopoly of nuclear weapons. The Israeli government, although it is known to have a nuclear arsenal and has never signed the NPT, has also been permitted to acquire whatever nuclear technology it wishes. At the same time, the treaty subjects other governments—primarily those of semicolonial countries—to dictates such as regular reports on and “inspections” of their nuclear facilities.

Closer ties to New Delhi provide the U.S. rulers with greater access to strategic sea routes from the Middle East to East Asia and North Africa and secure the second most populous country in the world as a bulwark against neighboring China. The June 2005 military treaty included plans to “expand collaboration relating to missile defense,” aimed at China. On February 27 India’s prime minister told parliament that with the nuclear energy deal “decades-old restrictions [are] being set aside to create space for India’s emergence as a full member of a new nuclear world order.”

According to World Bank figures, about half of India’s population of 1.1 billion does not have access to electricity. Nuclear power today supplies about 3 percent of the country’s electrical power. The figure is expected to reach 25 percent by 2050.

U.S. Congress must vote on the March 2 deal. Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts, senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the NPT has “protected the world from nuclear destruction for over 30 years” and making an exception for India “has blown a hole in the nuclear rules.”

In 1998 Washington had imposed sanctions against New Delhi for carrying out nuclear weapons tests.

IAEA head Mohammed ElBaradei greeted the accord as a “milestone, timely for ongoing efforts to consolidate the non-proliferation regime.” U.S. undersecretary of state Nicholas Burns said India deserved special treatment, defending its history of development of nuclear technology in line with U.S. interests. “Contrast that with Iran and North Korea,” Burns said the day of the signing. “Both acted against the wishes of the international community.”

French president Jacques Chirac signed a similar agreement with the government of India in February, and French energy companies want to gain an advantage over their U.S. rivals. “We are the only ones who can propose technology, equipment, everything to India,” said France’s ambassador to India. “Russia has less sophisticated technology and the Americans have not been constructing nuclear plants for ages.”
 
 
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