Transcript
NICK BURNS: We’ve had diplomatic relations with India for 60 years, since Partition. For more than half of that the elephant in the room has been the prospect that India has felt it was not treated equitably by our country and others. And I think there is very good reason for President Bush to believe the time had come to remove that elephant from the room.
I would say, but I would defer to others here who are more expert on the nonproliferation regime and both Strobe and Bob have a lot of expertise in that, but my conviction has always been, this deal strengthens the international nonproliferation regime because it resolves this fundamental contradiction inherent in the regime. There are countries inside, like Iran, cheating. And countries outside playing by the rules of the club, but not allowed to join the club and India is the foremost example of that. It will make India a stakeholder in the international nonproliferation regime as the soon-to-be largest country in the world.
Furthermore, I think it answers this fundamental practical question that President Bush and Secretary Rice were grappling with at the beginning of their second term in office. Are we better off continuing to implement an ineffective and ultimately self-defeating proliferation regime against India or bringing India in?
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