Engaging India

``Do you think the US would have invaded Iraq if Iraq had possessed nuclear weapons and the means for their delivery? ``

Depending upon their perception of threat - yes. with the collapse of the Soviet Union there no longer exists a nuclear arsenal with the power to make the Americans (now first among equals) hold back or sweat. And no, China is not half the threat to America a lot of people believe it to be because of a shift in global politics... and economics.

``Do you think the Bushmonkey hasn`t said in public that he listens to the voice of a bigger Father than Bush, Sr.? And the Chimp is controlling the largest nuclear stockpile in the world. ``

My point exactly - how comfortable do you feel with ``the Chimp`` sitting on top of it? And dont forget, one of Bush`s grand dreams is to revive Star Wars, the automatic defense mechanism that will save north America from attack. So whats to keep his from listening to the voices in his head?

Response#23,Ballukhan.... You are reasonable.I agree and consent quitely without protest but without enthusiam, acquiesce.

``.....The war averted as Pakistan India wanted to avoid not due to some boasting by American officials.........``


Madani Saheb,

I think we need to get out of our illusions regarding the sagacity of the Pakistan Army.........the fact is that Musharaff was forced to abnadon his original Kargil Plan when Nawaz Sharif made the statement......and he paid for it later. Musharaff had already factored in the Nuclear threat and he was infact ready with his bombs all the time.....he was inches away from the war and the nuclear exchange....and he had made his intentions for first use very clear...it was not a bluff...he was dead serious about it......and Nawaz Sharif knew that it was not a bluff.....

Looking back I think those who support Musharaf`s ``Nuclear Bluff`` as a ``tactical master stroke`` are infact living in a fool`s paradise...............they do not realize how Musharaff had kept the lives of millions of Pakistanis at stake only to get over the humiliation of the past wars........fortunately he was restrained by America and could only fume at India in the wagah border stamping-of-the-boots style ...........all this brings us back to understand the necessity of putting the Military under the Civilian rule.........OTH, the Indian Generals were equally willing to have a go at Mush.....they were only restrained by the Civilian government.....Imagine if we had no civilian rule in India.......then a nuclear holocaust was a certainity

``.....The war averted as Pakistan India wanted to avoid not due to some boasting by American officials.........``


Madani Saheb,

I think we need to get out of our illusions regarding the sagacity of the Pakistan Army.........the fact is that Musharaff was forced to abnadon his original Kargil Plan when Nawaz Sharif made the statement......and he paid for it later. Musharaff had already factored in the Nuclear threat and he was infact ready with his bombs all the time.....he was inches away from the war and the nuclear exchange....and he had made his intentions for first use very clear...it was not a bluff...he was dead serious about it......and Nawaz Sharif knew that it was not a bluff.....

Looking back I think those who support Musharaf`s ``Nuclear Bluff`` as a ``tactical master stroke`` are infact living in a fool`s paradise...............they do not realize how Musharaff had kept the lives of millions of Pakistanis at stake only to get over the humiliation of the past wars........fortunately he was restrained by America and could only fume at India in the wagah border stamping-of-the-boots style ...........all this brings us back to understand the necessity of putting the Military under the Civilian rule.........OTH, the Indian Generals were equally willing to have a go at Mush.....they were only restrained by the Civilian government.....Imagine if we had no civilian rule in India.......then a nuclear holocaust was a certainity

Response #18 Thanks Mr. Harimau for putting questions. I could have done same but as a gentle older man my demeaner is too kind.The answer are obvious.
I am tired of expaks and NRI pontifficating about things from usa about things here. They have arrogance and pathetic humor and they feel grand they are smart and madani is stupid. I am not stupid and not going to feel good becuse my relatives are killed in 2 millions by atomic exchange or after words by nuclear diseases. Madani Sahib knows that socialist design of Chernobayl burned for weeks and godman only 50 people died and 10,000 people died in same times in car and bycyle accidents and nothing happened. They have NO originality is problem. They follow his masters voice and stupid prosocialism which has wasted 100 years in vain. Socialist travel from no where to no where. Raskals always support terrorists ( real terrorists to aninal rights groups all just they want god damn to protest). Damn they are like trained parrots and carry silly radical thinking gulping organic coffees and reading some strange poetry and cosuming organic wines. What they want is damn protest , yes karachi crowd managements have professional angry people they are good damn good they earn 100 rs by hard work. These people make confusion in minds of young men and women inducing them in sex, drugs , silly talking and insulting elders and saner gentle people like me, all other bad stuff at cost of poor parents. That is big PROBLEM. Instead of going to real study and doing real jobs and creating wealth they resent as others are successful and they want to take away hard work fruits and give it to poor producing lots children. They unnecessary worry about worlds problems instead of doing work and then giving money to their pet projects. They want to take money of hardworjking person to give it to their poors and oppressed and handicapped.
Yes I agree lots of bombs will add more stability and world will be balanced by several bombs supporting world. just like more supports foot bridge or building.
Only china knows how to deal with professional whiner they whip and put in prison. They stopp chattering so this groups do not try to make trouble in China. Good for china.
Harrimau has asked peroper questions.
I will thank you for site you gave by mr. Raja Perikar. It is excellent. I was originally apprehensive as it was south asian women forum. I am weary of women organizations as they have attitude ( I mean bad attitude) about their fathers and brothers and uncles and male dogs and male cats. I just avoided all stuff and went to Music section and its so great I could not believe in womans forum. I had little knowledge about music. But it cahnged my all views of looking at music. I studied Thaats i like like puriya Thaat etc, was able catch little basics. When I use to know very very little I was swelled then I began to understand some thing realised I know nothing. I spent still hours look at how notes are arranged etc. It has become hobby to me.
Good 2005 for all.

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Happy new year to Chowk readers, writers, inter-actors, and staff. May you see many more.

Mohammad Gill

Ref amrita #17

[And while the temptation is great to think that those of us non-whites who are worried about extinction by nuclear physics are playing right into the cunningly alarmist hands of a West hell-bent to keep us out of the nuclear club, common sense should inform you that it is not safe for any nation to keep a nuclear arsenal in the world in which we live today, a world that is rapidly going to pot even as I write, where no secret (nuclear or otherwise) is safe from purchase.]

Do you think the US would have invaded Iraq if Iraq had possessed nuclear weapons and the means for their delivery?

Ref amrita #11

[As a full blown pacifist, what I would really like to see is the destruction of all nuclear stockpiles across the world. I don`t feel comfortable with the thought that any Tom Dick or Harry could blow us all up without a second`s hesitation just coz he heard voices in his head or God told him to do it or whatever the excuse for the week is.]

Do you think the Bushmonkey hasn`t said in public that he listens to the voice of a bigger Father than Bush, Sr.? And the Chimp is controlling the largest nuclear stockpile in the world.

As far as nukes are concerned, the more the merrier. The US and China felt that Pakistan should be allowed to develop nukes to counterbalance India. India should counterbalance China by giving nukes to Taiwan and North Korea. And some to Indonesia to piss off Australia. A few to Mexico and to Brazil and certainly to Venezuela to prevent their oil being taken over by the US.

A blurb is a short excerpt from a review by a famous person/writer/organization of the book in question and printed on the cover of the book. For example, the blurb that I quoted is by Outlook Magazine, a socio-political weekly print magazine from India, which reviewed ‘Engaging India’ and appeared on the back cover. It’s that part of the cover, which is supposed to make you (the reader) sit up and say, Oh my God, does Sean Connery/Salman Rushdie/Salon.com think that about this book or this writer? I absolutely must buy it! Once upon a time I believe the blurb was less commercial and more a token of one writer’s admiration for another. Nowadays, publishing houses get one writer from their “stable” to review another and instead of ever publishing the review, prefer to quote the most complimentary lines – and the more famous the writer reviewing the book, the more prominently it is displayed on the cover. As you can see, you really shouldn’t have gotten me started on this topic…

As of right now nuclear deterrence works, but the question is, for how long? There is a passage in the book when Talbott is astonished that India and Pakistan take the Cold War model as something to be admired, even as he remembers the trauma of growing up in those years when everyone was operating under the assumption that a nuclear holocaust was only a button away. And while the temptation is great to think that those of us non-whites who are worried about extinction by nuclear physics are playing right into the cunningly alarmist hands of a West hell-bent to keep us out of the nuclear club, common sense should inform you that it is not safe for any nation to keep a nuclear arsenal in the world in which we live today, a world that is rapidly going to pot even as I write, where no secret (nuclear or otherwise) is safe from purchase. Or has everyone become so inured to the massive loss of life across the globe every day that no one really cares?

As for nuclear bombs “only” killing a couple of million or so – how would you feel if your mother, father, sibling, husband, child or other loved one was among that million or two? It is not altogether surprising that South Asians, hailing from one of the most populous areas on the planet are increasingly callous about human life. It seems to be almost a requirement for citizenship – do not apply if you cannot watch death by starvation in public. However, I digress.

The point I am trying to make is that nuclear disarmament is no bad thing and we should all be working toward it. My main problem with Mr. Talbott stems from the fact that in spite of his very genuine concern about the topic, he refuses to see that disarmament should be universally applicable and not as per the NPT, which would leave 5 countries with their nuclear weapons intact.

Oh well, Merry Christmas and peace to the world!

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re: M.B.Z.Isphahani # 13

Don`t use L K Advani, RSS, and Godse`s names to accuse Hindus of crimes they did not commit. Distort your language as much as you want. Don`t so blantantly distort your facts.

thanks for article. Kindly explain what is meant by ``blurb`` ?.
Unfortunaqtely my country is faced to to engaged with eastern neighbour. It has not been joy to pakistanies to live with india. India has destroyed and broken the country. Our relation with time will as mexico and usa. Usa also broke mexico and taken over large areas. Our nation is idealogical state based on religion and even self interests are sacraficed in idealogical fever.
It was interesting to read what American official says. I do not believe usa averted nuclear war or exchange. The GHQ of my country made calculations of our strength and our weaknesses and decided to forgo the atomic exchange.
I personally have doubts about capacities of both parties. Yield of Pak tests were 33% and 100% for indian imploson for tests. India claimed to have tested fusion device the yield was too small to be credible of thermonuclear device. he fusion device normally yields in megatons of equivalent TNT. British observers said 300 Kiloton and 1000 Kiloton for pak. and indian capacities. The capacity of both opponents is so small even American defence minister ( in exchange he said 2 million people will die) could not put much fear in either parties. Its nothing compared to 2 to 3 millions slaughtered by hindus and muslims. Pakistan produces much more people than million is nothing to fear. In japan there was destruction of 25 square kilometers and not much beyond. Nuclear disease killed more but not in millions but in thousands.
Russian and American bombs are credible as they are in megatons and can destroy cities but hiroshima type destroy few square miles.
What I have heard from military people in loose talks is following.
GHQ was faced with Dilemma. We have bombs but where to send and what it can do to win war? The answer they came is its loosing proposition. Even with 23 full fledged 1000KT capacity you can not provide decisive stroke, if they are sent and properly delivered not much destruction is possible due to wide spread population and distribution.
Ghq was conveyed by Indian side what they will do that stunned GHQ to silence.
Indian Govt conveyed in case of exchange we will target few places but with missive retaliation.
Indian govt gave proof to GOP it has aleady compromised communications ( they provided taped exchange of generals), that was shattering at political circles not with GHQ
Spillway gates and power generators of Tarbella will veporise
Spillway gates of Mangla will veporise
Sukkar Barrage will be blown
Karachi Harbor will be destroyed.
Sui gas fields will be damaged extensively ( in 71 they were damaged), key compressor units along Sui ( norther and southern) and gas pipe lines crossing Indus will be nuked ( they have been blown by domestic terrorists on regular basis.
Airfields at Badin, Sargodha,sukkar will be subjected nuclear attack.
Indian armies will cross in Sindh downwards of Rahimyarkhan.
If Tarbella and Mangla breach, country will starve and it takes time to build.
With out Karachi all foreign import export will come to halt and with no pakistan flag carrier vessels no body will dare to come to trade. GHq was very much worried about southern Sindh as there are splitist tendency which can lead to again breaking of country. Sindh is Ukrane of pakistan and indian can use that card and they conveyed to GHQ. I think American always want to treat them self as more mature and prevents war between India and pakistan. They could not prevent 48.65,71 wars but they try to take credit. It is also tendency amoung intelluctual class to be afraid if west says you should be afraid. There is clear cut lack of intelligence and inferiority complex in expaks and NRIs. I personally found it offensive. Indian politicians and pakistani army or govt in shadow of army make decisions which they find reasonable.
Is nuclear war possible? It may be logical as Indians are rigid about central issue of Kashmir and pakistan is also same way. Pakistan is idealogical state and army and nationalism based on religion is the spirit keeping nation alive and forwarding. Pakistan has inherent problems as majority is Punjabi and others little have far more land than punjab much more. Pakistai army will not use nuclear arms as India can retaliate massively and decisively. My feeling is that my country will not use nuclear arms except in one case. It will not use N.Arms for Kashmir, the investment and losses will be written off slowly without saying or much fanfare. If GHQ feels Indians are dabbling in Sindh and encouraging JIYE Sindh types by subversive ways they will use N.Arms even at destruction of it self of even pakistan. East pakistan was different case, racially dark different, culturally diverse and troublesome but sindh is different case. Its like Ukrane for Russia. If sindh is lost it puts gods fear in Heart of army. Its punjabs underbelly. If you try touching underbelly of cat its like tiger. Even if Sindh problem arises in future best way to avoid N.exchange is to keep mum for india and special freeze army movements which threatens southern Punjab or Sindh border with India.
The war averted as Pakistan India wanted to avoid not due to some boasting by American officials.

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As a full blown pacifist, what I would really like to see is the destruction of all nuclear stockpiles across the world. I don`t feel comfortable with the thought that any Tom Dick or Harry could blow us all up without a second`s hesitation just coz he heard voices in his head or God told him to do it or whatever the excuse for the week is.

As I dont live in la-la land, I understand this is highly unlikely. So we will have to just wait like Einstein said for the end of the third WW so that we can fight the fourth with sticks and stones.

As far as this book is concerned, I really liked it - because it was the most a person could think outside his box when his box resembles the one Strobe Talbott lives in. I found it honest and entertaining and if I didnt fully agree with him here and there, well, i didnt write it did I?

Harimau, Ballukhan, Khamkhwa, Inquirer, Dost-mittar, Nikki7777, kaalchakra - thank you for writing in.

Harish - what can i say? I was surprised no one had written it yet. But its nice to see i actually beat someone to it. Sorry. As for ``civilization``, someone remarked the other day that it was nice to see young America-educated MPs on delegations abroad coz they were least likely to make diplomatic eyes glaze over with the usual ``ancient civilization`` speeches at the drop of a hat.

So thanks for reading all of you...

Re: kaalchakra #8

Everything in life is cyclic. No civilization can stay on the top forever. The west was in the dark ages for a 1000 years after the fall of the Roman empire. The ancestors of the same people that have built this magnificent civilization in Europe and USA, were the most ignorant and backward people obsessed with religion. The islamic world is currently in its dark age for almost 1000 years. At one time, muslim scholars were in the forefront of knowledge. Today the same islamic world produces homicidal maniacs like Osama and Saddam and the people are obsessed with religious fundamentalism.

Similarly, we hindus went through a bad patch roughly around the same time as the Christian world, when we adopted a rigorous caste system and became obsessed with religious mumbo-jumbo. The only difference is that we did not have a renaissance. Rather the west came to India and helped us pull out of our situation. We were quick learners and recognized our weaknesses. For the past 200 years, we have systematically fixed our weaknesses first in terms of social/religious norms and then as an independent nation. We still have a lot to do but at least we are on the right path. Incidentally the west is trying to do the same with the Islamic world today but it is very, very difficult there. That is why you see so much violence in Islamic societies today.

#4 by khamkhwa. on December 22, 2004 6:51am PT

Ofcourse, I have some cousins in LAhore who would have also been annihilated if Mush the rascal would have dropped a single bomb anywhere on India.
Incidently, are you willing to see the annihilation of your family in Pakistan just because Mush wants a good fight with the Indian army again???

Dost-Mittar

Nuclear explosions have benefitted both India and Pakistan.

Nikki`s concept of `managed strength` hearkens back to India`s original religious insight - before the inequities of caste system put a long curse upon our society. Continuous moral and intellectual development, maintenance of superior military might, building of commerical strength, and providing for the ample production of economic goods - ALL THESE FOUR are the required ideals and goals of any society.

For too many centuries we devalued one or the other of these equally important goals and ideals. First we became ignorant, then we became cowards, then we lost control over our trade and commerce, and then we became uncompetitive and de-skilled in the production of material goods.

Few civilizations took as heavy a beating as we did. Time has exacted an extremely heavy price for our mistakes.

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There are times when I have to change my views in the light of the events that follow. My views about India`s nuclear status is one of them. I thought that the Indian nuclear explosion was an unmitigated disaster. It achieved no additional security wrt Pakistan or China, made a covert situation overt and made India into a pariah state.

How wrong I was! The pariah status did not last long. It made the world, aka the USA, forced to engage India which it had until then totally ignored as a two-bit player. More than anything else, it gave Indians a sense of pride and confidence that they had lacked. India may not be shining but Indians have certainly shunned their defeatist tendencies, insularity and developed a can-do attitude in dealing with the rest of the world.

And it was due in no small measure to Jaswant Singh, who proved to be the best foreign minister of India ever, including the long tenure of Jawahar Lal Nehru in that position.

#4,khakhwa:
Jaisa naam vaisii baat!

[ that the SOB Musharaff could not cause the murder of my brothers in Pakistan ]

ballu khan...

...abay O do takay ka miraasi...don`t call us your brother and don`t call our president cum ceo cum chief of staff cum whatever takes his fancy a SOB...only WE can call him that and some more but not you ....samjha?

Read this and thank the almighty that the SOB Musharaff could not cause the murder of my brothers in Pakistan and India that he hoped for in order to avenge his personal humiliations in the past wars with India.......


The Day A Nuclear Conflict Was Averted

During the 1999 Kargil crisis, Clinton`s forceful diplomacy pulled Pakistan back from the nuclear brink


Strobe Talbott
YaleGlobal, 13 September 2004



On the brink of a catastrophe: Indian artillery pound Pakistani infiltrators in the Kargil region of Kashmir. Pakistan was reported to be readying its nuclear weapons until President Clinton intervened

WASHINGTON: During the first week in June [1999], just as Milosevic was acceding to NATO’s demands over Kosovo, Clinton turned his own attention to India and Pakistan.


In letters to Nawaz Sharif and Vajpayee, the president went beyond the studied neutrality that both prime ministers were expecting—in Pakistan’s case with hope, and in India’s with trepidation. Clinton made Pakistan’s withdrawal a precondition for a settlement and the price it must pay for the U.S. diplomatic involvement it had long sought. Clinton followed up with phone calls to the two leaders in mid-June emphasizing this point.

The United States condemned Pakistan’s “infiltration of armed intruders” and went public with information that most of the seven hundred men who had crossed the Line of Control were attached to the Pakistani Army’s 10th Corps.

In late June Clinton called Nawaz Sharif to stress that the United States saw Pakistan as the aggressor and to reject the fiction that the fighters were separatist guerrillas. The administration let it be known that if Sharif did not order a pullback, we would hold up a $100 million International Monetary Fund loan that Pakistan sorely needed. Sharif went to Beijing, hoping for comfort from Pakistan’s staunchest friend, but got none.
Pakistan was almost universally seen to have precipitated the crisis, ruining the promising peace process that had begun in Lahore and inviting an Indian counteroffensive.

On Friday, July 2, Sharif phoned Clinton and pleaded for his personal intervention in South Asia. Clinton replied that he would consider it only if it was understood up-front that Pakistani withdrawal would have to be immediate and unconditional.

The next day Sharif called Clinton to say that he was packing his bags and getting ready to fly immediately to Washington—never mind that he had not been invited. ..He warned Sharif not to come unless he was prepared to announce unconditional withdrawal; otherwise, his trip would make a bad situation worse. The Pakistani leader did not accept Clinton’s condition for the meeting—he just said he was on his way.
“This guy’s coming literally on a wing and a prayer,” said the president.” That’s right,” said Bruce Riedel [NSC aide], “and he’s praying that we don’t make him do the one thing he’s got to do to end this thing.”

It was not hard to anticipate what Sharif would ask for. His opening proposal would be a cease-fire to be followed by negotiations under American auspices. His fallback would make Pakistani withdrawal conditional on Indian agreement to direct negotiations sponsored and probably mediated by the United States. Either way, he would be able to claim that the incursion had forced India, under American pressure, to accept Pakistani terms.

After several long meetings in Sandy Berger’s office, we decided to recommend that Clinton confront Sharif with a stark choice that included neither of his preferred options. We would put before him two press statements and let Sharif decide which would be released at the end of the Blair House talks. The first would hail him as a peacemaker for retreating—or, as we would put it euphemistically, “restoring and respecting the sanctity of the Line of Control.” The second would blame him for starting the crisis and for the escalation sure to follow his failed mission to Washington.

On the eve of Sharif’s arrival, we learned that Pakistan might be preparing its nuclear forces for deployment. There was, among those of us preparing for the meeting, a sense of vast and nearly unprecedented peril. When Clinton assembled his advisers in the Oval Office for a last minute huddle, Sandy told him that overnight we had gotten more disturbing reports of steps Pakistan was taking with its nuclear arsenal. Clinton said he would like to use this information “to scare the hell out of Sharif.”

Sandy told the president that he was heading into what would probably be the single most important meeting with a foreign leader of his entire presidency. It would also be one of the most delicate. The overriding objective was to induce Pakistani withdrawal. But another, probably incompatible, goal was to increase the chances of Sharif’s political survival. “If he arrives as a prime minister but stays as an exile,” said Sandy, “he’s not going to be able to make stick whatever deal you get out of him.” We had to find a way to provide Sharif just enough cover to go home and give the necessary orders to Musharraf and the military.

The conversation had already convinced Clinton of what he feared: the world was closer even than during the Cuban missile crisis to a nuclear war. Unlike Kennedy and Khrushchev in 1962, Vajpayee and Sharif did not realize how close they were to the brink, so there was an even greater risk that they would blindly stumble across it.

Adding to the danger was evidence that Sharif neither knew everything his military high command was doing nor had complete control over it. When Clinton asked him if he understood how far along his military was in preparing nuclear-armed missiles for possible use in a war against India, Sharif acted as though he was genuinely surprised. He could believe that the Indians were taking such steps, he said, but he neither acknowledged nor seemed aware of anything like that on his own side.

Clinton decided to invoke the Cuban missile crisis, noting that it had been a formative experience for him (he was sixteen at the time). Now India and Pakistan were similarly on the edge of a precipice. If even one bomb were used…Sharif finished the sentence: “. . . it would be a catastrophe.”
[Clinton] returned to the offensive. He could see they were getting nowhere. Fearing that might be the result, he had a statement ready to release to the press in time for the evening news shows that would lay all the blame for the crisis on Pakistan.

Sharif went ashen.
Clinton bore down harder. Having listened to Sharif’s complaints against the United States, he had a list of his own, and it started with terrorism. Pakistan was the principal sponsor of the Taliban, which in turn allowed Osama bin Laden to run his worldwide network out of Afghanistan. Clinton had asked Sharif repeatedly to cooperate in bringing Osama to justice. Sharif had promised to do so but failed to deliver. The statement the United States would make to the press would mention Pakistan’s role in supporting terrorism in Afghanistan—and, through its backing of Kashmiri militants, in India as well. Was that what Sharif wanted?

Clinton had worked himself back into real anger—his face flushed, eyes narrowed, lips pursed, cheek muscles pulsing, fists clenched. He said it was crazy enough for Sharif to have let his military violate the Line of Control, start a border war with India, and now prepare nuclear forces for action. On top of that, he had put Clinton in the middle of the mess and set him up for a diplomatic failure.

Sharif seemed beaten, physically and emotionally. He denied he had given any orders with regard to nuclear weaponry and said he was worried for his life.
When the two leaders had been at it for an hour and a half, Clinton suggested a break so that both could consult with their teams. The president and Bruce briefed Sandy, Rick, and me on what had happened. Now that he had made maximum use of the “bad statement” we had prepared in advance, Clinton said, it was time to deploy the good one. ..Clinton took a cat nap on a sofa in a small study off the main entryway while Bruce, Sandy, Rick, and I cobbled together a new version of the “good statement,” incorporating some of the Pakistani language from the paper that Sharif had claimed was in play between him and Vajpayee. But the key sentence in the new document was ours, not his, and it would nail the one thing we had to get out of the talks: “The prime minister has agreed to take concrete and immediate steps for the restoration of the Line of Control.” The paper called for a cease-fire but only after the Pakistanis were back on their side of the line. It reaffirmed Clinton’s longstanding plan to visit South Asia.
The meeting came quickly to a happy and friendly end, at least on Clinton’s part.

Adapted from Strobe Talbott`s ``Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy and the Bomb`` (Brookings Institution Press). Talbott, former Deputy Secretary of State is the President of the Brookings Institution. Copyright © 2004, The Brookings Institution.

The US would have had to engage India as a counterweight to China. Instead of telling the world to go to hell, Vajpayee announced a test ban after Pokhran II. And that idiot Natwar Singh is supposed to have said that Pokhran II was a mistake. Bullcrap!

What India needed to do back in 1998 was to open the Bombs `R Us store. After a couple of years of crap from the US, after Pakistan has been caught selling nuclear technology, what could the US do except make it manifestly clear that it still intends to cripple India in some way or other? Like it did offering older, refurbished PC-3 Orion aircraft to India but offering brand-new ones to Pakistan.

Sell The Bomb to North Korea and Taiwan. That ought to set off a nice nuclear spiral in East Asia with China unable to take over Taiwan and Japan producing about a 1000 plutonium bombs.

Amrita,

You pipped me to the post! Was getting my review ready.

This was a comprehensive review. Talbott`s Time experience shows in the high readability quotient of the book. So does his clear love for Jaswant, and counterparts of his negotiating team on the Indian side. But Talbott also comes out as a rather formidable negotiator.

It also has some very interesting takes on his occassional interactions with Clinton...and the track two ``engagement`` with India and Pakistan...as he finally says...had ``Jaswant winning more than him.``

It was also exciting revelation in the book: Jaswant Singh had predicted the coup before it happened!

I thoroughly enjoyed his dissection of Jaswant`s circumlocutory language...one comes to mine...when Jaswant uses the word ``civilisation``....It shows how much he must be serious about the idea if he were to use the adverbial in speech!

Harish