Stacking the Deck
Stacking the Deck
If Bush can have utter contempt for the piece of paper that is the Constitution of the United States, what would prevent him from throwing away the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in his dealings with India? Not a damn thing would prevent such an action on his part.
As was demonstrated with Iraq, the purpose of the UN is to serve the political ends of the Bush administration. The NPT is only meaningful if it prevents others from obtaining what the US government doesn't want them to have. In this case, Iran's legal right as a signatory of the NPT, to enrich uranium as contrasted to the nation of India.
And speaking of India. This latest deal between the US and India (and awaiting a vote of approval in the senate) has some serious repercussions. The first is not the utter disregard for the NPT. Nor is it about making Pakistan a client-state to India. That will matter much later. The deal Bush seeks to make with India is all about China.
Bush is interested in pulling India ahead of China in the race to become the next super power. But from where I am sitting, nuclear weapons aren't the only things that will allow India to compete against China. It is true that India is siphoning jobs from the US through the process better known as outsourcing. Of course so too is China.
And on the road to becoming the next super power China has something that India does not, a successful manufacturing infrastructure. China builds the products the world consumes, not India. India is who you call when you have a problem with the products built in China. Clearly it was manufacturing that helped the US become a super power, and it is more than likely that it is helping China.
There are other things to consider in determining which nation will supplant the US as the next super power. A few that come to mind are trade imbalances, foreign investment, and which foreign government is replacing the US as next the debtor nation. I'll give you three guesses, and two of them don't count.
I have to admit that there is one reason to support Bush in his quest to make India the next super power. There is something reassuring about living in a country that was the world's oldest democracy that came to be the client state to the world's largest democracy. It seems like a perfect fit.
But then again, what do I know? I just draw cartoons.
posted by M A F at 9:52 PM
6 Comments:
That's a funny monkey that dances on China.
Well draw cartoons and offer well thought opinion. I can see it now China making a rush on local oil resources and then to the middle east, maybe even the US trying to secure oil reserves in sub saharan Africa - lets hope they don't butt heads over this!!!
George, HCF!
Damien, China holds the potential for creating a middle class the size of the entire US population. Ideally so to does India, but they lack the infrastructure of China.
The move is a calculated one, to be sure, and designed to send China a message.
I am not sure GWB really knows what the message he carried from the neo-cons actually is, but that's beside the point.
These two nations are poised for conflcit in Asia in the next 50 years. As both economies grow and demand for resources increases, it seems almost inevitable that war will break out between the two.
Bush's unilateral disregard for the NPT is mostly an acknowledgement that the treaty is all but dead anyways. Too many nuclear genies are wafting around for the treaty to have any effect, except on the signatories who choose to follow its provisions.
Mike, from all indications China has the upper hand. India might be a "democracy" but China is the more industrialized nation.
I had to delete the above comment as I am not currently interested in puchasing a "Fleshlight" from nicolew
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