A Bush White House Grandslam

Fire of Liberty

The editors over at National Review Online has a good editorial on how President Bush has knocked a grand-slam out of the park with the most recent agreement in which India will classify 14 of its 22 nuclear reactors civilian (Allows IAEA checks) in return we'd provide them a secure market to purchase nuclear reactor parts and fuel. Take a look:

It takes a high degree of naivety to think that the deal will somehow affect the calculus of Iran, North Korea, or other would-be nuclear powers. Those states have their own reasons for wanting the bomb, and the thought of Kim Jong-Il or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad poring over the U.S.-India agreement and shouting "“Eureka!"” as he spots the loophole that lets him build his nukes is charming but absurd. India, for its part, will continue its nuclear-weapons development, deal or no deal. We'’re not worried about that — but if you are, President Bush hasnÂ’t changed anything for you.

Far from undermining U.S. interests, the deal will likely bring important benefits. The priorities of the United States and India overlap in many areas, from trade (U.S. exports to India grew by over 30 percent in 2004, while Indian exports to the U.S. rose by roughly 15 percent), to the struggle against Islamic terrorism, to concern over the rise of Chinese power — which could be checked, if China ever bared its teeth, through a strategic partnership between Washington and New Delhi. And with IndiaÂ’s economy growing at 8 percent per year, it will have a powerful thirst for energy. ItÂ’s consistent with our desire to keep oil prices low — and favorable to our national security — for India to slake that thirst without cozying up to Middle Eastern oil producers, and particularly Iran, with which it has traditionally had warm relations.

I'd say that you've got to give it to the President for pushing ahead with this agreement because it shows that he's means what he says when he makes speeches that say if you're democratic, responsible, and not threatening your neighbors or others with total annihilation then we'll work with you. Hopefully this is one of many more good things to emerge in this growing strategic/economic relationship between the US and India. Let's hope President Bush make a return visit in the near future. (He's got to see the Taj Mahal - I guess that's for pure social and not for a working visit.)