Posted on 05/12/2008 9:11:05 PM PDT by Arjun
Another democracy threatens the Mideast
By MIDDLE EAST TIMESPublished: May 08, 2008
The 60th anniversary of Israel's founding has understandably focused much of the attention of Middle Eastern analysts on this old and familiar problem. But if they think this remains the prime security issue for the region, they may be looking in the wrong direction.
India this week successfully completed the testing program of its nuclear-capable Agni-3 missile, designed and developed by the state-owned Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
The third test launch took place May 7, and flew 3,000 kilometers to its targeted impact site in the Indian Ocean south of the equator from the Dhamra base in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. The full range is 3,500 kilometers, which would bring Shanghai most of southern China into its range.
Welcome to the new security landscape of Asia, with China and India now capable of repeating what in the bad old days of the Cold war used to be called "the balance of terror" between nuclear superpowers.
Since India and China are each dependent on Middle Eastern oil exports which pass through the Indian Ocean, good relations between these two Asian giants is of prime importance to all Middle Eastern countries. And having less than comfortable memories of living under a similar state of nuclear deterrence between two superpowers during the Cold War, the Middle East is going to have to get used to it all over again.
Of course, the relationship between India and China is far more open and friendly than that between the United States and the old Soviet Union. And there are further nuclear complications in the region involving Israel and Pakistan and the possible nuclear ambitions of Iran.
India has already brought into operational deployment the 700-kilometer-range Agni-1 missile, which is presumably targeted on Pakistan, and the 2,000-kilometer-range Agni-2 missile, which can reach Iran and much of the Gulf. Even before its expected "stretch" to a 5,000 kilometer range, the new Agni-3 missile is capable of hitting targets across the entire Middle East, as well as deep inside China.
Like the nuclear weapon the Agni-3 is intended to carry, the missile is a product of home-grown Indian technology. By contrast, Pakistan's shorter-range missiles depend on Chinese and North Korean technology. Indeed, the Indians are frustrated at the lack of any progress on the vaunted American promise of technological cooperation on space and rocketry. And the U.S. still bans any country from using an Indian launch vehicle to launch a satellite that contains even a single U.S.-made component.
Despite American foot-dragging, India is a nuclear power with the missile capabilities to exert wide regional influence. It also deploys the most formidable navy in the region, which will be even more capable once the fleet of new French-built Scorpene submarines take to sea. The Middle East is going to have to learn to live with another democratic superpower flexing muscles in its back yard.
Well!I guess that’s what happens when you play the race card like the Clintons have done during this primary against Obama.
Sorry about the previous post I made but I clicked on the wrong link.This should have gone to the previous post.
The Islamists are just angry taht there will be no more Razziahs or Jihad against Sindh.
The solid booster stage of the GSLV satellite launcher that India has had since the late ‘80s gives it an ICBM that can take a payload to anywhere on earth. Last month’s ten-in-one satellite launch is akin to an MIRV.
The Agni test mentioned in the article is politically sensitive... if its range crosses 6000 km, it gets attention from India’s allies. But make no mistake, it doesn’t take much to convert those geo-synchrous satellite launchers into potent “global-coverage” ICBMs.
These Middle Easterners are decades late in their worries.
Is this true? If so, it's laughable, considering the number of American satellites the ChiCom space programme has put into space for them.
I dont think this is actually true. NASA itself is sending a payload on the Indian moon mission. Maybe it was true in the past.
These people never wrote this article when the chinese were developing their missiles!! And now they are afraid that India is actually providing a counter balance ?? What a buncha morons.
Well, it’s good — by the middle of this century, India should be pushing the ME around — for far too long Indian workers have gone there to build up THOSE countries and been treated like dirt. Payback time...
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