Congress gave final approval Wednesday night to a landmark agreement between the United States and India permitting civilian nuclear trade between the two countries. A vote in the Senate, passed 86-13, was the last legislative hurdle in a process that began with a 2005 agreement. The deal ends a three-decade ban on US nuclear trade with New Delhi which was inaugurated after India tested a nuclear weapon in 1974. It will give India access to US civilian nuclear technology and fuel in return for inspections of its civilian, but not military, nuclear facilities. Keep up to date with the latest developments and sharpest perspectives in a world of strife and struggle.
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The toD verdict: Hailed as a coup for both India and the US, the agreement's regional implications are less favourable.
Changing the nuclear rules for India may make Pakistan more insecure. Like India, Pakistan never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (unlike Iran, North Korea, Libya, Israel and South Africa). Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani responded soon after the Congressional vote: "Pakistan will now make efforts for a civil nuclear deal and they (the world community) will have to accommodate us," indicating Islamabad may seek a similar arrangement with China. Despite an upcoming round of peace talks, relations between the two countries were strained after India accused Pakistan's intelligence services of participating in the July bombing of its embassy in Kabul.
India's second string of bomb attacks in a week
Serial bomb explosions ripped through India's remote northeastern state of Tripura on Wednesday, killing four and injuring about 80, authorities said. The prime suspect is the Indian Mujahedeen group, which was connected to attacks in Gujarat earlier this year, and last November in Uttar Pradesh.
The attacks are further confirmation of the growing terrorist threat facing the world's largest democracy. Two motorcycle bombs exploded in Gujarat and Maharashtra in western India on Monday night, killing four people and wounding several others. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently acknowledged "vast gaps" in intelligence on terror networks operating in the country. Meanwhile the opposition BJP has unveiled its campaign platform for forthcoming national elections. Concentrating on domestic security, the theme signals that politics in India is increasingly pegged to terrorism and counter-terrorism.
British anti-terror law could face EU opposition
A controversial law to give British police the power to detain terrorism suspects for up to 42 days without charge has come under attack from Europe's leading human rights organization. The Council of Europe issued two reports Wednesday questioning whether the proposed law breached European rights conventions. One report concluded that the bill could "lead to arbitrariness, in breach of ... right to liberty and security and right to a fair trial."
The bill, currently working its way through parliament, provoked a fierce debate between proponents of extended detention and civil libertarians. Recently criticised by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the law could be nullified if a case challenging it is brought before the European Court on Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Petraeus sees dark times ahead
General David H. Petraeus, interviewed in London this week, gave a bleak assessment of the fight against insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "[T]he going may be tougher before it gets easier," he said. Although some members of the Taliban have come over to the government's side in recent years, the size of the insurgency has swelled since 2006. A recent UN report detailed rising civilian casualties as a result of the ongoing conflict in the country.
Petraeus is due to take up his new post as commander of all American forces in the middle east and Afghanistan on later this month. Credited with reducing the violence in Iraq, he is hoping to replicate that success in Afghanistan, including engaging other countries in the region. The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, has said he is seeking help from Saudi Arabia to organise talks with elements of the Taliban.
General David McKiernan, the top US military commander in Afghanistan echoed Petraeus' assessment on Wednesday, saying that more troops and other aid was urgently required.
Rendition in east Africa
A new report from Human Rights Watch claims that at least 10 victims of the 2007 Horn of Africa rendition program still languish in Ethiopian jails, with the whereabouts of several others also unknown. Around 90 people fleeing Ethiopia's offensive in Somalia were arrested by Kenyan authorities and then unlawfully rendered to Ethiopia in early 2007, where they effectively disappeared. The report details US government complicity in the renditions, with several of the detained claiming they were interrogated by US officials in Addis Ababa. The report is released on the day that America's new Africa Command officially launches. Despite a professed focus on soft power, critics are concerned about a growing American military presence on the continent, particularly one that appears overly focused on issues of terrorism.
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