Infamy or beautiful friendship

The Australian ^ | July 26, 2008 | The Australian / Greg Sheridan

[CarrotAndStick]

It is a high ambition of the Rudd Government to greatly deepen Australia's engagement with India. Well, it is about to get the opportunity to do just that. This week, the Indian parliament passed a momentously important vote of confidence in the Government of Manmohan Singh.

This vote could be a pivot point in modern history. It was all about India's nuclear co-operation deal with the US.

(SNIP)

India is not a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and is not one of the five accepted nuclear weapons states (the US, Britain, France, Russia and China). But it possesses a nuclear weapons arsenal, so the world will not trade in nuclear materials or technology with India. This has partly blighted India's peaceful nuclear energy program.

Under the deal India will separate its peaceful nuclear energy program from its weapons program. It will put the reactors devoted to the production of electricity under complete supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency and commit to a voluntary moratorium on further tests of nuclear weapons.

(SNIP)

The deal was stalled for a long time because the left parties supporting Singh, especially the communists, hated it as they saw it drawing India into the US's strategic camp. The BJP opposed the deal, saying it gave away too much Indian sovereignty.

(SNIP)

It is worth pausing to praise Indian democracy. We all have a huge stake in India's success. The confidence vote shows that even big, raucous democracies can make fundamental strategic decisions. With the resurgence of tyranny as a political ideology in Russia and China, it is absolutely critical that India succeed in combining democracy and development. And this vote gives that combination a huge shot in the arm.

The mechanics of the deal means that it will