U.S. wants Israel, India in anti-nuclear arms treaty

Reuters ^ | Tue May 5, 2009 8:50pm BST | Reuters

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel should join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the global pact meant to limit the spread of atomic weapons, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.

Speaking on the second day of a two-week meeting of the 189 signatories of the pact, Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller also defended a U.S.-India civilian nuclear deal, which developing nations have complained rewards New Delhi for staying outside the NPT.

"Universal adherence to the NPT itself, including by India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea ... remains a fundamental objective of the United States," Gottemoeller told the meeting, which hopes to agree on an agenda and plan to overhaul the treaty at a review conference next year.

Speaking to reporters later, she declined to say whether Washington would take any new steps to press Israel to join the treaty and give up any nuclear weapons it has. Israel neither confirms nor denies whether it has what arms control experts assume to be a sizable atomic arsenal.

The administration of President Barack Obama was encouraging all holdouts to join the treaty, she said.

Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have never signed the treaty. North Korea withdrew from it in 2003 and tested a nuclear device in 2006.

At the NPT meeting, developing countries have criticized the endorsement of the U.S.-India nuclear agreement by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, an informal club of the world's top producers of nuclear-related technology.

The group agreed in September to lift a ban on nuclear trade with India, imposed after New Delhi's first nuclear test in 1974.

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

There's no way Obama will get India to sign the NPT, but Israel might crumble under the US onslaught to do so.

[BullDog108]

I agree that there is NO WAY India will buckle, but what makes you think that Israel will?

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

US military aid, and the fact that the Arab armies surrounding Israel all use American hardware, for the most part.

Obama could use this as a stick to goad Israel.

[Boogieman]

I see, so they want Israel to join this treaty, and effectively neuter themselves against unchecked Iranian nuclear-backed aggression. For some reason I don’t think that Israel is going to be very excited at that prospect.

[BullDog108]

We shall see. Personally, I have faith in Bibi...

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

Hopefully Bibi will be able to stand up to Obama.

[Above My Pay Grade]

Typical, idiotic gun-control mentality that leaves the good guys defensless and the bad guys (who will never abide by laws or treaties) with all the firepower.

I recently saw an article about Israel agreeing to sell some high tech weapons to India. I’m hoping Israel and India will continue to forge an alliance to protect themselves against the threts they both face from their Islamist neighors. They sure can’t count on us to protect them, while Hussein is in the White House.

[skinkinthegrass]

U.S. wants Israel, India in anti-nuclear arms treaty

...but only for (non) Islamic Regimes.

"When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators." - P. J. O'Rourke
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually, run out of other people’s money.” - Margaret Thatcher
"There are two sets of rules. One set for the rulers and another for the rest of us." —Richard Yancey, former IRS tax collector

[LibLieSlayer]

No chance in either case... now his buds on the evil side... they will agree to anything... but they lie... hussein understands the lie of the muslim... being one of them and all.

LLS