Getting close through nuclear cooperation

Al Ahram, p.11, (5-3-2006)

By: Hazem Abdel Rahman

Did the US administration begin to restore its political fitness and its ability to take the initiative, advance policies to open the door for cooperation with other countries and expand understanding at the expense of reducing the military operations, and the consequent violence and terrorism? The nuclear agreement with India was only the first step and we have to wait to see if it will expand or not.

We should not miss the civilian nuclear energy agreement between the US and India. This agreement could not have been concluded unless India has become so advanced in this field that it would be able to cooperate with the US  in civilian nuclear energy projects in such a way that would enable it to benefit from this cooperation in industry, production and civil life. At the same time, it would enable the US to say to the world that through this cooperation it can curb the Indian rush towards producing nuclear weapons. This is the point on which Bush will depend in his address to the lower and upper houses of the US Congress to convince them to approve the deal.

Moreover, the deal will promote cooperation, ties, friendship, visits and information exchange between scientists and experts of the two countries at several levels. I think this aspect of the agreement will allow the US to acquire a full, detailed and accurate picture of the Indian military nuclear program, meaning, the value of the agreement is not limited to the civilian nuclear cooperation and generating energy sources alternative to oil for India to run its growing number of factories and lighten its cities and houses. Thus, India could reduce demand for oil whose already flaring prices may not increase. Importantly, the agreement will allow the US to be acquainted accurately with India’s military plans and strategies.

In other sense, this agreement amounts historically to the Treaty of European Security and Cooperation signed between the previous USSR on the one hand and the US and Western Europe on the other in 1975. The treaty resulted in avoiding war in Europe and nuclear armed struggle between the US and USSR.

What does this mean? It means that the agreement will create goodwill between India and the US through exchanging information. Such information would be used by the US as a weapon against China and Pakistan which represent two nuclear powers competing with India. Hence, Washington would act as an arbiter among the three powers. Some would pose this question: What would India gain by this?

The Indian gains are related to two things: peaceful application of nuclear energy and India’s readiness to expand the gains to other fields.

So, the US agreement with India is not limited to India, for it has dimensions which go beyond that and even beyond the limits of China and Pakistan.

This agreement comes while the issue of the Iranian nuclear program is raised. In this way the US puts pressures on Iran as if it was saying: if you have a political system like the one in India where it is managed by political experts, I am ready to cooperate with you in the field of civilian nuclear energy. The same thing applies to the nuclear program of North Korea.

If we took into consideration that France has recently made a similar agreement with India during Chirac’s visit to it, what does this mean? It means that the major powers began to adopt a policy which expresses their willingness to cooperate with the regional powers that they may be able to develop their ability in the field of civilian nuclear energy. In this way they draw attentions of countries away from having nuclear weapons. The major powers think that if it is impossible to prevent any country from accessing nuclear facilities, at least attentions should be directed towards civilian nuclear projects through cooperation in the field.

Bush’s current Asian visit is historically compared to Nixon’s visit to China in the early 1970s when the US recognized China as a state. Since then, the Chinese economy began to flourish greatly reaching to unprecedented levels currently.

Will India be able to do the same? And can this Indian experiment be repeated with other countries through cooperation?

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