Atomic Buddha - fuelling New Delhi

In 1970, the NPT recognised the overlap between electric power generation and the construction of weapons, and attempted to place controls on the spread of nuclear fuel and technology. The NPT was created in the framework of the Cold War’s guarantees of Mutually Assured Destruction, where nuclear umbrellas offered by the United States and the Soviet Union, respectively to its allies and clients, was all the insurance nations needed to protect themselves from any potential aggression.

The NPT has four elements.

The first prohibits its signatories, all 184 of them, from attempting to build nuclear weapons. Note the 184 excludes the UN’s permanent five (who are “beyond the NPT”) and three states (India, Israel and Pakistan) that have never signed the treaty.

The second element promises those same (184) states a carrot for affixing their signature to the NPT: they’ll have the right to acquire peaceful nuclear technology, subject to an inspections regime.

The third part gives the UN’s permanent five a blanket exemption from such undignified and unwarranted inspections.

And the fourth element vaguely promises that the five nuclear states will somehow, someway, someday willingly disarm themselves and joyfully discard any vestige of military might they may have. Fat chance.

Given the NPT was never reinforced by sanctions (let alone by the threat of force) against those who signed but chose not to comply, the treaty was doomed from the start and was never much more than a mere inconvenience to those nations who opted to acquire nuclear material or technology on the sly.

The champions of the NPT have averted their gaze when it comes to the farce that the NPT has become. Most recently, a proud signatory, the Jihadist Republic of Iran, admitted that it has been and continues to seek nuclear capabilities. Laughingly, the mad mullahs would have the world believe that Teheran merely wants uranium to light up homes and fire up mosques when in fact the truth is a touch different. North Korea is another terrific example of a nation signing the NPT, but merrily going about arming itself to the teeth, at the expense of feeding the mouths of its people.

The issue of nuclear proliferation is scrutinised in William Langewiesche's The Atomic Bazaar. The book will appeal to Hindu haters, anti-Americans and pro-Pakistanis. And of course to those Australians who believe that India’s economic future lies in harnessing wind energy. These groups seem united in their determination to impede the modernisation of the Awakening Buddha.

Langewiesche attacks the United States policy on proliferation (it says it’s grossly ineffective) and refuses to chastise European appeasement of rogues getting their greasy paws on nuclear technology (it hints that we should deal with this as the new reality). And he’s mute on what should be done to Pakistan in the light of A.Q. Khan’s atomic achievements.

This book is not about nuclear weapons in the hands of nation states, rather it’s about the proliferation of such weapons in the hands of non state actors, namely terror groups. Even so, anti-proliferationists will no doubt dredge it for mud to hurl at India.

Reading Mr Langewiesche’s book reminds me of an average school boy landing a date with the smartest and prettiest girl in the neighbourhood, only to realise that while landing the date is great news, he has nothing in common with the girl. Yes, going out together does wonders for his social standing and it looks good, but it doesn’t feel right. It’s missing something. And so does this book.