India

There are sensible and foolish arguments against the U.S.-Indian nuclear deal. The foolish ones are those based on a theological approach to nuclear nonproliferation. The serious ones relate to the nature of the new U.S.-Indian "strategic partnership," and to wider U.S. strategies in the region.

The argument that India must not be rewarded for developing nuclear weapons is a foolish one. In the real world, there is no more chance of India giving up its nuclear deterrent than there is… more

The White House will soon start lobbying Congress to approve its recent nuclear deal with India. Even before President Bush returned home, his foreign policy team was touting the economic payoffs from access to the Indian market, India's democratic credentials and the common interest India and the United States have in checking China's influence.

The problem is that key members of Congress and the vocal nonproliferation pundits don't buy these arguments. They're already gearing up for a fight, claiming… more

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in Washington this week and, in addition to meeting with President Bush, will address a joint session of Congress -- an indicator of the dramatic change in the once-chilly relationship between India and the US.

Equally remarkable has been the upturn in the India-Pakistan relationship, which the Bush administration has helped promote.

But by doggedly opposing the projected gas pipeline from Iran across Pakistan to India, the administration is still forgoing a key opportunity to… more

The transformation in the relationship between India and Israel, from one that was at best cool and correct to one that is now hailed as a strategic alignment is among the striking changes in the post-Cold War landscape. This shift has been widely praised, particularly by Israeli, Indian and American commentators. They believe that its potential significance extends well beyond the dense network of transactions that has developed between the two sides, and out across the entire region of South… more

Both critics and admirers of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will agree on one thing: The man does not lack boldness or an appetite for risk-taking.

Consider some examples. In 1999, as army chief, he seized power from the elected -- if rather ineffectual -- government of Nawaz Sharif after the prime minister had tried to oust him.

After 9/11, Musharraf abruptly broke with the Taliban, which had acquired and retained power in no small measure thanks to support… more

India's failures are legion and impossible to ignore. Poverty and desperation abound. Infant mortality is unacceptably high. Schools and healthcare are substandard -- if available at all. Roads and other infrastructure are primitive or in poor repair. The Indian government seems unable to adequately protect the country's Muslim minority (about 12% of the population) from periodic pogroms, and violence against lower castes erupts regularly. Conflicts with Pakistan over Kashmir continue, made more alarming by the fact that both… more

One Monday this spring, a forty-three-year-old salesclerk at the Home Depot in Plano, Texas, scribbled some updates onto an old resume and took it to his local copy shop. To his education and work history -- a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering and technology, service in the U.S. Marine Corps -- he added a recent moonlighting job as a handyman and a new "career objective." Ten minutes later, in southern India, a middle-aged Hindu man in a cavernous… more