By: M. Daniells

MAD-Mutually assured Destruction, the basis of the Cold war arms buildup and the reasoning behind the continuing rush to be the first on your continent with the ability to destroy yourself and your neighbors is the priority of every third World nation and tinhorn dictator on earth. India is no exception.

As debates continue in the Press over the NPT (Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty) the essence of the agreement becomes apparent. If we (the US) likes you, considers you somewhat “stable” or even remotely ‘democratic’ you can have a bomb, but if your government is not in favor in Washington then we don’t want you to have the opportunity to “Push the Button.”

Recently, besides the big news of North Korea’s thumbing its nose at its detractors and its obvious stockpiling of plutonium, India has been in the news for many of the same violations, But India has none other than the well regarded Carnegie Foundation speaking on its behalf.

Simply put, the report from the Carnegie group says that India (as a democracy) cannot stand idly by while big bad China and little, thorn in its side Pakistan are backed by nukes. The argument was made for four decades in the US and the former Soviet Union if they can kill us two times we must be able to kill them 10 times. The same facetious argument is being made now by India, North

Korea and Israel.

Although the US has made demands that unfriendly nations sign the NPT, promising not 0 make weapons, and has suggested a “freeze” on its friends and allies, the arms race continues unabated.

Recently New York Senator Monihan stated that India may face the same fate as the former Soviet Union a breaking up along ethnic lines that would leave the country unstable and unrecognizable, and, as in the case of the former Soviet republics, stockpiles of bombs and missiles under the control of new and not necessarily democratic or western friendly governments. And, there is no Yeltsin or Gorbachev that we know of, in India

Even India is not really much of an military or cultural ally, dependent as she is on Russia spare parts to keep her military supplied and apparently as harsh as her Chinese neighbors with dissenters especially these who are members of religious minorities.

India doesn’t want power in the hands of Pak friendly Kashmiris or China friendly Tamils or tribal and militant factions of Assam, Nagaland, Khalistan or the now independent Bangladesh. But India’s nuke program is a fact. How the west deals with it is yet to be seen, but to expect any of the Asian or Arab countries to stem the tide of bomb building is unrealistic. Even the destruction of his country hasn’t stopped Saddam nor has the Gulf war created a Kuwaiti or Saudi democracy, Cries for end to aid and blockade of ports is laudable but economic pressure only works if it is consistently observed. The presumption of the demands the U.S, makes are laughable in a world where economics are based on gun running. And, where the U.S. is still dependent on defense plants for much of its own economic wellbeing. Better learn to Duck & Cover Duck and cover is the lesson that the post WWII generations of U.S. schoolchildren learned along with their Dick and Jane readers. My elementary school drilled often fire drills where we lined up, 2×2, Went to the nearest exit, silently left the building and remembers, “Last one out close the door”. The other familiar drill was the air raid or Duck & Cover the siren would ring throughout the whole city and school children were instructed to Duck & Cover put your head down, crawl under your desk and cross your arms in front of your fate. Later the whole ridiculousness of this exercise became apparent as the reality of the power of a nuclear bomb and its attendant radiation were learned Duck & Cover then become a source of the gallows humor and nihilism that I grew up with, and the phrase quickly metamorphasized into ‘Duck & Cover and kiss your rear goodbye.” India, Duck and Cover!.

Article extracted from this publication >>  April 16, 1993