A US-based group on Thursday strongly criticised Australia's reported decision to sell uranium to India saying it violated Sydney's international nuclear non-proliferation commitments.
"The Australian government fully appreciates how central India is to our future," Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said in a speech at the University of Western Australia, his alma mater, while making a strong push for closer ties in social, economic and defence sectors.
India is planning to soon sign new and updated mineral pacts with about a dozen countries in Africa. The Ministry of Mines is in discussions with Cte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Business Standard has learnt. Negotiations are ongoing with around a dozen countries, and more will be added to the list soon.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Friday said the "strict safeguards" India has to follow to obtain uranium supplies from Sydney will have the same effect of that country signing the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
Not committing himself to the Indian request, Howard had said that his country wanted more details on the Indo-US nuclear agreement.
Pressure from the Soren clan is only one of the challenges Champai faces as he readies himself to helm the predominantly tribal state.
The idea of weaponization got a fillip from an unexpected quarter. In the last week of October 1985, Rajiv met US President Ronald Reagan. Reagan told Rajiv, 'Pakistan has already made a bomb.' When Rajiv started talking about disarmament, the US president cut him short, 'Don't talk theory, think of your own protection.'
"We estimate that Pakistan now has a nuclear weapons stockpile of approximately 170 warheads. The US Defense Intelligence Agency projected in 1999 that Pakistan would have 60 to 80 warheads by 2020, but several new weapon systems have been fielded and developed since then, which leads us to a higher estimate," the Nuclear Notebook column published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on September 11 said.
The move, which is likely to allow the Chinese to mine the mineral-rich area of Gilgit Baltistan rampantly, has triggered another wave of protests and violence by the local communities.
India is one of the few countries in the region that enjoys good relations with both Israel and Saudi Arabia, and IMEC would allow it to recreate the old Spice Route to Europe. All this is in jeopardy now, notes Rajeev Srinivasan.
China on Tuesday angrily denounced the nuclear-powered submarine deal announced by the US, UK and Australia, saying the pact violates the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the three countries are travelling "further down the dangerous and wrong path."
The first five months of 2023 have witnessed at least six major events/trends that augur badly for global economic and socio-political prospects, points out Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
Last week, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) held a ceremony marking the induction of the Chinese-made fighters into its arsenal.
Membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group ensures continued availability of fuel sufficient to operate India's nuclear plants.
The reversal of Trump's policy with regard to Iran, like the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, may not be a matter of just turning the clock back, but one of patient negotiations, with uncertain consequences in the post-COVID-19 world, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Muraleedharan said that terrorist groups such as Al-Shabaab have put in place elaborate revenue collection networks, to support their terrorist activities.
The partial withdrawal would mean that Iran would stop exporting enriched uranium stocks as stipulated by the 2015 agreement.
Chastened by the Kargil conflict, Pervez Musharraf will be remembered for gradually lowering the profile of terrorism and seeking a realistically negotiated settlement to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, notes Ambassador G Parthasarathy, who served as India's high commissioner to Pakistan when Musharraf seized power in a coup in October 1999.
A member of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, this uranium-rich country has indicated that it was willing to cooperate in nuclear energy.
India had enough weapons-grade plutonium by 2014 to possess an estimated arsenal of 75 to 125 nuclear weapons, according to a prominent US-based think-tank.
India's attempts to make some headway in the Great Game in Central Asia may be the reason behind Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Kazakhstan, says Rediff.com's Nikhil Lakshman, who is travelling with the PM to the Kazakh capital of Sanya
The Australian government's decision to sell uranium to India is one of the many changes in the evolving India-Australia relationship, says Harsh V Pant.
'Why was Top Gun: Maverick made? 'And the only reason I can think of is that the new film was made to emphasise and re-establish Tom Cruise's superstar status,' notes Aseem Chhabra who watched the Top Gun sequel at its premiere in Cannes.
India has built two top-secret facilities in Karnataka to enrich uranium in pursuit of its hydrogen bomb dream.
After decades of research, China has made a breakthrough in extracting uranium and plutonium from spent fuel, state-run CCTV announced on Monday.
'I would like to request the AERB, UCIL and DAE to introspect. The world is changing, so is India. The wave of development and modernity will not stop for those who continue to live in the past. The future belongs to the youth who believe in the values of honesty, transparency and efficiency.'
The Appropriate Arrangement will allow Canadian companies to export nuclear material, equipment and technology for peaceful uses to India, in accordance with Canada's nuclear non-proliferation policy and under safeguards applied by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Last week, two BSF troopers from Rajasthan, members of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Congo, were killed by protestors. Do we need to lose lives fighting in a country not ours, in a war that is not ours and for a cause that is not ours, asks Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd), who served in the UNPKF in Congo.
Australian premier Tony Abbott on Friday said Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister should not be blamed for the 2002 riots in the state as he was just a "presiding officer" who has been cleared in "endless inquiries".
Dr Kakodkar's strategic stubbornness ultimately got India what it wanted though the negotiations with the US went to the wire, notes Shivanand Kanavi.
After 20 months of hectic negotiations, Iran and six major powers have reached a historic deal to limit Teheran's nuclear programme in return for lifting of sanctions. Let's understand closely what the deal is all about.
The US dismissed a report suggesting that India is covertly enriching its nuclear weapons capabilities, describing it as "speculative".
'He is not that crazy.' 'He is driven by a deep sense of Russian power have been diminished.'
It currently has between 140 and 150 nuclear weapons in its control and stockpiled around 200 to 300 kilogram of plutonium.
Pakistan's High Commissioner to Australia, Abdul Malik Abdullah, said if Australia is willing to export uranium to India then it should sell it to Pakistan as well.
Senator Joseph Biden argued that an out of control Pakistan with nuclear weapons is far more dangerous to the United States than Iran seeking 2.6 kg of enriched uranium. "This is complicated stuff. The fact of the matter is that the Iranians may get 2.6 kg of highly-enriched uranium. But the Pakistanis have hundreds -- thousands of kilograms of highly-enriched uranium," Biden argued in a debate among Democrats seeking the party's nomination in Philadelphia.
