The N-Deal

I don’t know how many of you have been paying attention lately, but this week in Japan 8 major global powers have assembled for the G8 summit. The purpose of this summit is for world leaders to come together to discuss climate change and how, as world powers they can positively impact the current climate situation.

A side-affect of this summit was a breakfast meeting yesterday morning between President Bush and India’s Prime Minister to continue discussion concerning a nuclear partnership between the two countries. I know in the US that people are divided on the proposed deal.

Some say that the thought of sharing nuclear knowledge with an Asian government is fundamentally a bad idea. Others are worried that India will use this partnership to further their standoff with not-so-neighborly Pakistan. Others see this only as a last ditch effort by Bush to put something positive on his international record before he leaves office.

There are also those that support the proposed deal. They see it as securing and ally in a volatile region of the world. Or as a great way to de-escalate the tension in the region by forcing India to pursue non-weaponized nuclear technology. Some even see it as a way of ensuring that the US interests in India’s budding economy is secured for years to come.

But what about India? It appears that the National government is reaching a crisis situation over the proposed deal. A vote of confidence in the current administration appears both likely and unavoidable as the country is torn between immediate need and future security.

It is no secret that India needs energy. There are constant interruptions in power and rolling brown-outs plague many regions. Ironically, this is not due to an over-reliance on technology or people having too many gizmos. It is simply too many people trying to power their lights and fans and demand far out drawing the supply. India needs energy infrastructure now. This new deal would accelerate the process of creating sustainable nuclear power to enable India to continue to ride the wave of this economic boom as well as extend that boom beyond the cities and into the very underdeveloped poorer areas.

But for India, this is a short-term fix. In agreeing to the deal, India would be forced to play second-fiddle to the whims of the US government for it really is an all give and very little take for the long term. Much of the development would be lining the pockets of Western companies and India would be forced to not only back down on their own military security (even possible nuclear disarmament while being surrounded by several very capable nuclear neighbors) but also other concessions that have very little or nothing at all to do with sharing energy technology. The US would not be held to such standards, for really they are giving up next to nothing yet reaping quite a bit of control.

Thus a political system that is already hampered by the demands of being the world’s largest democracy (1 billion people strong) is spending far too much time debating whether to make long-term concessions for the sake of short-term prosperity and far too little time addressing the plethora of other needs the country has. In a government of coalitions, this division could affect the ability (or inability) of factions to work together for years to come.

I honestly don’t know where I stand on the deal. I will say, however, that the deal is a lot more real due to waking up in the middle of the night because fans are no longer running or attempting to eat dinner with 11 kids by the light of two candles. I can also say that my Bible talks about loving my neighbor as myself and that I feel a high degree of cynicism that any government will ever heed that directive.

There are no simple answers here.