New Cash Cow?

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in it."

--From Hamlet (II, ii, 206)

There may well be method here, but I don't see it. GWB has signed into law the "U.S.-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act." This law carves out an exception in previous U.S. law--the Atomic Energy Act--to allow civilian nuclear trade with India in exchange for Indian safeguards and inspections at its 14 civilian plants.

Considering the Indians already have 14 civilian plants, why do they need further access to fissionable U.S. materials? Further, trade usually implies a quid pro quo. This seems a lopsided trade benfitting only one party--India. How does America profit?

President Bush assures us this "will make the whole world safer." But the International Herald Tribune notes, "The deal also could be a boon for American companies that have been barred from selling reactors and material to India. 'India's economy has more than doubled its size since 1991 and it is one of the fastest-growing markets for American exports,' Bush said." A new cash cow?

The House and Senate overwhelmingly approved this bill, which exempts 8 military plants from inspections. Further, India refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

What does this all mean, especially in light of the fact that Iran and North Korea (No more iPods for you, you naughty boy, Kim Jong Il) are the latest whipping boys because they will not allow inspections of their nuclear facilities. As a consequence of that denial of access, U.S. policy has declared those two countries to pose grave threats to U.S. security. Yet U.S. foreign policy now permits India to expand its nuclear weapon inventory--without full transparency--with the blessing of the U.S. Congress and administration. Strange days.

Presuming a grounding in realpolitik, always a shaky proposition with this administration, the only sense I could make of it is that the Bush policy is designed to counteract global warming in a way that wouldn't actually require him or his associates to suffer any immediate losses. When Pakistan, India and China, or any combination thereof, start popping nukes, then the resultant nuclear winter will introduce a new Ice Age, thereby reducing the criticisms aimed at the administration's lack of concern for global warming. (Stock tip: Thinsulate.)

Perhaps this scenario is the result of my ingesting too many rum babkas. But what actually goes on in the policymaker's minds is beyond my comprehension, even on the best of days.