US-India Nuclear Deal

The nuclear deal inked by the United States and India on Thursday was a doozy. In one stroke, Washington ended India's pariah status and drove a stake through the heart of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The Financial Times Deutschland leads off the editorial brow-wrinkling with a commentary beginning: "A pariah becomes socially acceptable." The move to accept India into the club of nuclear-armed states, the paper writes, "has a bitter odor of opportunism and hypocrisy, because for decades India has consciously opposed" the world nuclear order and ignored global criticism of its nuclear weapons program. The paper also publishes a brief interview with Oliver Meier of the US-based Arms Control Association. "The deal is a perfect example of the double standards of the Bush administration, which considers itself above global norms and treaties," Meier says. "The contradiction -- demanding Iran abandon its program on the one hand while granting India unconditional privileges on the other -- is a situation Tehran is already taking advantage of."

India and the US clinched the historic civilian nuclear energy cooperation deal with New Delhi presenting a plan for separation of its civilian and military programmes to Washington but asserting that the country's strategic interests would not be compromised. According to the separation plan, India will declare 65 per cent of its nuclear facilities for international safeguards and will not compromise with its military programmes and strategic interests.

The NY Times take