Pakistan was once part of India until the British partitioned it in 1947 due to unending Islamic-Hindu conflict. That conflict continues to the present - you may recall that recently they nearly went to war over Kashmir and it was only narrowly averted.
Now that it seems likely Iran will have nuclear weapons, Saudi Arabia and other nations have threatened to develope them.
Nuclear proliferation is growing out of control. It's too bad because some of these unstable or demonic governments will not be deterred by MAD. Besides, allies can't always be depended upon - friends become enemies and enemies become friends. Sadly, the toothpaste is out of the tube.
This thread disturbs me to a certain extent in the attitude towards Indian Muslims.....Please do not get me wrong. I describe myself pro Hindu and anti nobody. I am not pro Muslim ..
By the nuclear agreement India received nothing spectacular.
They had the nuclear know how from 1960 onwards. The decisions to keep the program small were carried out on purpose with the scare of nuclear accidents in a densely populated country. All the agreement does is to open up the India market to American nuclear industry. about time..
I don't know why people fixate so much on China. China is increasing trade with every country. China would have more trade with India that US in next 2/3 years..So playing off India against china is not really gonna work even if Indians might play along to a certain extent to dangle carrot in front of Americans. Nothing more than that... the Indian establishment would take care of their interests in China just like the US would...
India does have 140+ million Muslims..They do have a larger representation in the government..But that is a positive point..They have a stake in the system..Muslims in India have enough political power and clout that they would not need to go swell Osama's ranks...Giving the Muslims representation is essential to the success of the Indian experiment.
As any other country India is full of all kinds of people..communists and lefties and what not...But in a democratic setup everyone has to commit to the common system. As long as they don't come shooting you their opinions are just fine.....
I just telling my 20yr son who was reading this with me about how they almost started a nuclear war with each other. Bush quietly sent Rumsfield over there to explain to them what would happen to each other if that happened. You know what? The crises quietly disappeared. Rumsfield must have spun quite a realistic scenario to make it go away.
Talk about a Legacy, Bush without fanfare probably stopped the destruction of two large countries and the deaths of over a billion people.