Krishna Ananth: Legitimising nuclear weapons

[Guest guest]

Last week I was invited by an assistant of http://www.unvienna.org/unov/index.html

Since he was born in Bagdhad/Iraq, studied in London, I couldnt resist to ask what he thinks when the US-army would come back from Iraq and the war is over? He laughed and replied, "nobody wants these soldiers to come back, these are all gangsters and criminals. Rather they will be sent to other places."/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

 

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C02%5C15%5Cstory_15-2-2006_pg3_6

VIEW: Legitimising nuclear weapons—V Krishna Ananth

His email is krishna_ananth@hotmail.com

 

 

The Left parties in India have taken a stand that could alienate them from a section of the middle class who, as members of the various blue-collar unions and associations, constitute their support base. But it is still good to see the Left standing up for an ideological and anti-imperialist cause

 

After pretending to be in an assertive mood, the Manmohan Singh government voted with the US and others in the IAEA against Iran. The Left parties soon decided to defer their participation in the Left-Congress coordination committee and have indicated that they may force a showdown within the ruling alliance. Anil Kakodkar, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, has stressed the need to keep the Fast Breeder Reactors outside the purview of US inspection and made it clear that this is necessary to ensure that India achieves the minimum nuclear deterrence it needs.

 

These developments may appear rational but all of them point to the threat of a nuclear arms race across the world and in this sense are bad news for the minority that wishes for a nuclear weapons-free world and from thereon for a world without war.

 

 

Look at Iran’s reaction to the IAEA vote on Saturday, February 4. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that “Iran will teach its attackers a lesson”; he said to the IAEA to “issue as many resolutions like this as you want and make yourself happy” and added: “We don’t fear the Security Council. It’s not the end of the world.” Iran’s confidence emanates from the fact that its nuclear facilities are supported by Russia and China. Could it be that Ahmadinejad is already sitting on a nuclear weapons facility? Well, this is unlikely because nuclear weapons and delivery systems cannot be developed overnight and in such secrecy.

 

However, Ahmadinejad’s brave anti-US posture must, in the natural course, make those who dream of an end to US hegemony and those who detest George Bush, the war-monger, look up to the Iranian president. And in that context express disgust with the Manmohan Singh regime’s decision to kow-tow the US and its allies. The generation that grew up detesting the US and participated in umpteen demonstrations and other agitations against successive regimes in the US — the Vietnam War some 40 years ago and now against the invasion of Iraq — must feel happy that they are not alone.

 

However, this section is indeed a minority in India. Information on the vote and the debate on the IAEA and such matters are still confined to the intelligentsia, which is also the middle class in India. Very few members of this class are anti-US today. A large majority of our middle class continues to look at the US with awe. In their quest for a US visa they do not mind humiliation. You will find them waiting endlessly, rain or shine, around the US embassy or the consulates to obtain a US visa.

 

It is simply foolish to expect them to oppose the Manmohan Singh regime for having voted along with the US in the IAEA. The Left parties, in this context, have taken a stand that could alienate them from a section of the middle class who, as members of the various blue-collar unions and associations, constitute their support base. But it is still good to see the Left standing up for an ideological and anti-imperialist cause. The fact that the Left is right is borne out by the abuses hurled against it in the mainstream media.

 

Be that as it may. The anti-US position notwithstanding, the Iranian reaction should cause some concern in that it seeks legitimacy from this anti-US stand to develop, possess and stockpile nuclear weapons. It is the logic that drove the Soviet Union and the US to embark upon a nuclear weapons race in the name of deterrence. The outcome of this is clear. The world is becoming an increasingly unsafe place by the day.

 

The 20th century, we all know, witnessed so much destruction and loss of lives due to wars — exceeding the sum total of all wars and battles in the past several hundred years. We are moving into an era where each state considers developing and possessing nuclear weapons to be its right; in some cases we agree to support them because of what is considered their sovereign right or because they are against the US attempts to establish its hegemony. However, in the process, we end up agreeing to make this world a far more dangerous place than it was when World War II ended.

 

A world without wars is possible only when states agree to disband their armies and dump arms and ammunitions. That was a dream that many inspired by the politics and culture of the 1960s, symbolised among others by John Lennon, cherished. There was, indeed, a deep-rooted anger in that generation against the US establishment. The anger was also directed against all regimes that amassed weapons. That generation and that school of thought considered it morally wrong to posses such weapons of mass destruction and argued that the peace movement will have to start, sustain and grow from a morally superior position.

 

In short, each nation must, from a morally correct position, declare its opposition to others possessing nuclear weapons. India could have done this and led others if only the BJP-led NDA had not done what it did in Pokhran on May 11, 1998. Having done that, we lost our moral authority to tell others not to develop nuclear weapons as did the US on August 6, 1945. Manmohan Singh, perhaps, does not believe in the logic of moral superiority even if his party persists in the claim of having inherited Gandhi’s legacy.

 

VK Ananth, a former affiliate of The Hindu, is now a freelance writer. His email is krishna_ananth@hotmail.com