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India Joins Nuclear Market
figona brings news that India will be allowed to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). A waiver was approved yesterday that provided an exception to the requirements that India sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. This means India will be able to buy nuclear fuel from the world market and purchase reactors from the US, France, and Russia; something it has been unable to do since it began nuclear testing in 1974 (which inspired the creation of the NSG). The waiver does not include terms to cut off access if India resumes nuclear testing, but the US Congress drafted a letter stating their willingness to do so. Opponents of the waiver have called it a "non-proliferation disaster."
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is built on three pillars; non-proliferation, disarmament and peaceful use of nuclear technology. Only the third has had any real success; proliferation continues, with Israel, Pakistan, India, North Korea having gained nukes and South Africa, Libya and Iran having got most of the way. Existing nuclear powers have yet to disarm in any significant way, with the Brits making the most progress (fewest nukes out of any of the official powers) and we've still voted to renew our "deterrent".
The only thing remaining in the NPT for non-nuclear nations is some help on power generation. I can't see it lasting long; we may see countries withdrawing en masse in the future.
All intents and purposes. Not intensive purposes.
Anyone know why India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty? I'm not sure if this makes a significant difference or not but it's strange that India wouldn't join it and give some measure of assurance to other countries who could be supplying the technology. There must be a good reason why though.
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India has one of the largest resources for thorium. Thorium can be used in an alternative nuclear cycle that is much less wastefull and produces far less highly radioactive waste (not actinides). These reactors would probably not need solid fuel assemblies, like they are used in the west. What is for sale in the west is a technology that produces much more waste, has a risk of being turned into bombs (you can't with thorium) and keeps you dependent on delivery of very expensive fuel assemblies (that is how the nuclear companies make their money).
That last part is probably the intention: keep India (and all other buyers) dependent on a supply that you can take away again. It would be much better if India would sell some thorium reactors to the west, that would save a lot of hazardous waste.
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Look the Muslims of Northern India had held power before the British took over. So a section of the Muslim Elite thought when they throw out the British they can go back to being kings. Then they realized in a democracy if people started voting on religious lines the Hindus would always be a majority. These people (the Muslim League) were not willing to base their politics on something besides religion nor were they willing to be in permanent opposition (like the South African Whites party nowadays) so they came up with the brilliant idea of a separate nation for Muslims. It would be like if at the end of Apartheid the whites had demanded a separate white state in South Africa. The people of the two releigions had been living together for centuries and it was simply not possible to just separate them. Some so called Muslim majority areas which went to Pakistan were 51% Muslim, 49% Hindus and after partition the 49% had to just get up and leave. And large Muslim majority areas were there at the heart of India which India simply could not give to Pakistan or India would be reduced to a patchwork like Africa. So partition was imperfect,incomplete and stupid , Pakistan a country based on religion is a stupid idea for the 20th century (BTW that goes for Israel too.) But the partition and the corresponding riots/ethnic cleansing which happened crested a lot of enemity between people of the two religions ( I had an Uncle who stayed on in East Pakistan. He was Hindu but he had been a senior police officer under the British and simply didnt believe anyone could touch him but yup he was killed by Muslims during the riots. The rest of the family left with only the clothes on their backs leaving behind lands and factories) Riots happened on both sides but they were a lot worse on the Pakistani side. This was because Pakistan had declared itself a Muslim only state while India had declared itself Secular and still had large Muslim populations in its heartlands so it couldnt carry out the kind of ethnic cleansing Pakistan did. The result at time of Partition the areas that were Pakistan had a 24% Hindu population . Now its less than 4%. India on the other hand started out with a 18% Muslim population which is now 21%. Just in case if you are wondering whether I hate Muslims I dont My wife is Muslim. What I do hate are the Muslim League and its philosophy which caused the partition and am virulently opposed to any philosophy which says people of different religions cannot stay together. The sad thing is Pakistan having being founded by selfih elites who didnt give a damn how many people suffered just as long as they can grab political power has become a totally unstable and dangerous state. Even though the GDP per capita of Pakistan is higher than India it is skewed horribly. There is a class of feudal lords the Bhuttos, the Sharifs etc who own almost all the land not owned by the Army and win all the elections as if the people dont vote for them they will throw the tenants off their land. Most of the rest of the population are no better than serfs like in Imperial Russia over whom the Feudal politicians hold the power of life and death. The only way out of poverty is to join the Army which has had the unfortunate effect of making the Army the strongest institution in the country. The Army on its part can only maintain its prestige and its budget as long as there are conflicts so they have no interest in peace with India or Afghanistan. The feudal politicians have made a deal with the Army that as long as they keep giving half the budget to the Army they can steal the rest and the people can go to hell. No wonder the desperate people are willing to listen to anything (including Islamic fundamentalism) which promises them a way out of their misery. All in all a very bad situation even without China giving them Nukes to try and hamper India's progress. The only solution I see is for India to reabsorb Pakistan and Bangladesh (Given the much faster population growth that has happened in Pakistan and Bangladesh this would result in a cou
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