And now you have Pakistani regulars and irregulars and war veterans Afghans, who have taken over the entire movement in Kashmir. They are waging a different kind of campaign that focuses on targeting high value objects. |
China is pleased the deal will place restraints on India's nuclear program but concerned at the showcasing of the new strategic partnership with Washington. |
China's real advantage over India is leadership and vision. |
Despite two years of peace negotiations, Pakistan is refusing to have normal trade with India. Unless that attitude changes, you can't build interdependence, which is an essential building block to any kind of political resolution of problems. |
India's security will be hugely undermined, unless the trend continued. |
The Bush administration is keen to revive the U.S. civilian nuclear industry. It seems to me the only way the nuclear power industry in the U.S. can be revived is to get India to place some multibillion-dollar nuclear reactor contracts. |
The easy parts have been done. |
The essence of this strategic partnership is to provide a countervailing influence to China ... to act as a restraint on the exercise of Chinese power. |
The global nuclear reactor and fuel business, controlled by a tiny cartel of state-guided firms, is the most politically regulated commerce in the world, with no sanctity of contract. |
The least an over-romantic India can do ... is heed to the (former U.S. President Ronald) Reagan dictum: trust but verify. |
There's still a deep undercurrent of mistrust. |
This gives the Pakistani economy fresh air to breathe; it has room to recover. |
Unless the United States rolls back its demands, it is almost certain that no formal nuclear agreement will be ready for signature when President George W Bush arrives in New Delhi on March 1. |
While it is clear India wants to be America's friend and strategic partner, it is less obvious whether the U.S. wants to be India's friend or merely capitalize on this country's growing geopolitical importance and abundant market opportunities. |