Around the Peace Center (India Joins the Nuclear Club)
Around the Peace Center
(India Joins the Nuclear Club)
by Vicki Linton
June 1998
Volume 35 Number 5
The world was shocked when India exploded three nuclear devices on Monday, May 11. In case anyone missed India’s entry into the very exclusive (declared) nuclear club, India set off two more devices two days later.
President Clinton decried India’s nuclear testing saying it “recalls the very worst events of the 20th century.” (Washington Post, May 14, 1998) Indeed, but what might be some of the other “worst events of the 20th century” that Clinton might list? The U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? The U.S. pursuit of an unfettered nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union? U.S. nuclear testing in Nevada and the South Pacific that not only helped in developing the immense nuclear arsenal the United States continues to maintain, but unleashed health effects on local populations that are still being documented? How about the U.S. nuclear testing that continues up to this day?
One suspects that President Clinton would not include the preceding in his list of the “worst events.” And therein lies the hypocrisy that has played a leading role in bringing the world to the nuclear state of affairs it finds itself in today.
The U.S., along with the other previously declared nuclear states (U.S., Russia, Britain, France, and China), claims the right to do what it fiercely condemns in other nations. It is no wonder that aspiring nuclear powers read this as “do what we say, not what we do,” and proceed to ignore the U.S.’s hollow calls for nuclear non-proliferation.
India’s justifications for becoming a nuclear power echo the statements of the U.S. throughout the “cold war” and right up to today for maintaining a vast nuclear stockpile. “We live in a world where India is surrounded by nuclear weaponry,” Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee stated on May 14. According to the Washington Post, “Vajpayee described India’s decision to resume nuclear testing...as motivated by a need to ensure the nation’s ‘security and self-defense’ and to update its nuclear technology.” Vajpayee said, “We will not use these weapons against anybody. But to defend ourselves, we will not hesitate.” (Washington Post, May 15.)
In fact India justifies its entry into the declared nuclear club by citing the nuclear tests and nuclear stockpiles of the U.S. and the other nuclear powers. And India justifies its testing by citing the fact the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (which India has not signed) sets no time-table for declared nuclear powers to destroy their arsenals.
Simply put, leadership can only come by example. It can not come through the hypocritical rhetoric of the powerful who believe they can do what they please while stopping others from doing the same.
We do not suggest that India has a legitimate justification for testing (and likely deploying) nuclear weapons. What we assert is that no country has a legitimate justification for testing and deploying, let alone using, nuclear weapons. If the U.S. wants to see a world free of nuclear weapons, it must begin by committing to rapidly reduce and eliminate its own nuclear weapons. Then it will have a solid basis for not only condemning other nations’ nuclear pursuits, but working with them to eliminate the nuclear threat once and for all, for the entire earth.
(India Joins the Nuclear Club)
by Vicki Linton
June 1998
Volume 35 Number 5
The world was shocked when India exploded three nuclear devices on Monday, May 11. In case anyone missed India’s entry into the very exclusive (declared) nuclear club, India set off two more devices two days later.
President Clinton decried India’s nuclear testing saying it “recalls the very worst events of the 20th century.” (Washington Post, May 14, 1998) Indeed, but what might be some of the other “worst events of the 20th century” that Clinton might list? The U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? The U.S. pursuit of an unfettered nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union? U.S. nuclear testing in Nevada and the South Pacific that not only helped in developing the immense nuclear arsenal the United States continues to maintain, but unleashed health effects on local populations that are still being documented? How about the U.S. nuclear testing that continues up to this day?
One suspects that President Clinton would not include the preceding in his list of the “worst events.” And therein lies the hypocrisy that has played a leading role in bringing the world to the nuclear state of affairs it finds itself in today.
The U.S., along with the other previously declared nuclear states (U.S., Russia, Britain, France, and China), claims the right to do what it fiercely condemns in other nations. It is no wonder that aspiring nuclear powers read this as “do what we say, not what we do,” and proceed to ignore the U.S.’s hollow calls for nuclear non-proliferation.
India’s justifications for becoming a nuclear power echo the statements of the U.S. throughout the “cold war” and right up to today for maintaining a vast nuclear stockpile. “We live in a world where India is surrounded by nuclear weaponry,” Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee stated on May 14. According to the Washington Post, “Vajpayee described India’s decision to resume nuclear testing...as motivated by a need to ensure the nation’s ‘security and self-defense’ and to update its nuclear technology.” Vajpayee said, “We will not use these weapons against anybody. But to defend ourselves, we will not hesitate.” (Washington Post, May 15.)
In fact India justifies its entry into the declared nuclear club by citing the nuclear tests and nuclear stockpiles of the U.S. and the other nuclear powers. And India justifies its testing by citing the fact the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (which India has not signed) sets no time-table for declared nuclear powers to destroy their arsenals.
Simply put, leadership can only come by example. It can not come through the hypocritical rhetoric of the powerful who believe they can do what they please while stopping others from doing the same.
We do not suggest that India has a legitimate justification for testing (and likely deploying) nuclear weapons. What we assert is that no country has a legitimate justification for testing and deploying, let alone using, nuclear weapons. If the U.S. wants to see a world free of nuclear weapons, it must begin by committing to rapidly reduce and eliminate its own nuclear weapons. Then it will have a solid basis for not only condemning other nations’ nuclear pursuits, but working with them to eliminate the nuclear threat once and for all, for the entire earth.
