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Nuclear balance to tilt in India's favour after US help
Khalid Hasan for Daily Times The nuclear balance in South Asia is bound to be destabilised when the United States and India discuss missile defence, later this month. According to Stratfor, a Texas-based news and analysis service, India and the United States will discuss the expansion of defence cooperation, specifically in the area of missile defence, on January 15 and 16. The talks will take place under the auspices of the Indo-US Defence Policy Group. US Assistant Secretary of Defence Thomas Payne will lead the US delegation, while the Indian delegation will be headed by Sheelkant Sharma, joint secretary for disarmament in the Indian External Affairs Ministry. While the arrangement with India will not affect the US nuclear balance with Russia, that would not be the case should an ABM system drop into the stand-off between lesser nuclear powers such as India and Pakistan. In India's case, a decent Anti Ballistic Missile system might be enough to decisively shift the balance with Pakistan. What to the United States is just the kind of "little rogue" that the new ABM system is designed to thwart, is to India the primary opponent in a nuclear stand-off. India and Pakistan are not locked in a balance of mutually assured destruction per se - their arsenals are too small - but they face mutually assured pain sufficient to dissuade either from launching a first strike, says the analysis. This is a little further development of the natual alliance among the U.S., India, and Israel. Of the three, it's problematic which one will use an antimissile system for real first. My guess would be Israel, next month, but next time Lashkar e-Taiba decides to shoot up the Indian parliament, the Indos could end up using theirs, too. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-01-07 |
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