Cynical Nerd has an excellent analysis of the Indo-US nuke deal. This is a fresh perspective from which to look at the isssue. In his own words,

In this post, we approach this issue on its own merit thus effectively de-linking with the Iranian vote issue.

Wonderful. It is sad that the Iran vote issue–although it is very significant as a foreign policy item–has garnered overwhelming attention while the nuclear deal is hardly discussed. What this means is we’re placing more emphasis on diplomacy and almost ignoring an issue that affects the nation’s defence interests–Cynical Nerd’s conclusions support this statement:

Conclusion #1: FMCT will never be signed by existing Nuclear Weapons States.
Conclusion #2: This ain’t ‘voluntary’ but obligatory.
Conclusion #3: The U.S. wants to dilute India’s strategic program by spreading the scientific resources and research funding thin.
Conclusion #4 (ed): Need to take in the Armed Forces and principal Opposition parties into confidence
Bottom line: We feel that the issue has been negotiated in a hasty manner to time it just before the arrival of President Bush’s ‘South Asia’ visit. The real intention of the United States is still not clear as we don’t buy the ‘Making India a Superpower’ statement by Condi Rice. History shows that existing Superpowers simply don’t make other Superpowers. If the U.S. genuinely wants a strong partner in Asia, it does not make sense to try to put a cap of India’s relatively small strategic forces. On the fossil fuel side, the U.S. dos not want India to pursue oil deals with regimes which it considers ‘hostile’ thus making India over dependent on a more ‘friendly’ Saudi Arabia. Thus we believe that the agreement merits more discussion and transparency on the part of the Indian government.

Mandatory reading.

Your thoughts?