American worldview

The article, 8216;Four men a tough promise,8217; by K. Subrahmanyam is a good appraisal of the...

8226; The article, 8216;Four men 038; a tough promise,8217; by K. Subrahmanyam is a good appraisal of the ongoing initiative by the American bipartisan group on nuclear disarmament. The author is right when he says that 8220;it is unrealistic to talk of a nuclear-weapon-free world unless it is preceded by delegitimisation of the weapon8221;. Any initiative by American statesmen on a subject like this is suspect, if one may say so, because they presume their country8217;s strategic concerns take precedence over the interests of the rest of the international community. In juxtaposing India8217;s interests with America8217;s, have these gentlemen ever given due consideration to our strategic concerns? Kissinger was Secretary of State during the 1971 Indo-Pak War and the Seventh Fleet was despatched into the Bay of Bengal to frighten us. And he later offered a lame excuse why his country did what it did then. American concerns for human values begin and end with their own country, and of course Israel. Did they utter a word when their country stopped Russia from delivering the cryogenic engine to us when we were pursuing our space programme? Is it that our space programme is suspect and theirs is not?

8212; Prasad Malladi

Nidadavole

Nationalist BJP?

8226; Strobe Talbot8217;s comments in Walk the Talk with Shekhar Gupta, Brajesh Mishra8217;s interviews and the speech made by the PM in Rajya Sabha, with the appeal to 8216;Bhishma Pitamah8217; Vajpayee, are a pointer to the fact that the BJP is opposing the deal along with the Left parties not in our national interest but to satisfy the egos of some of the party leaders. This deal could not go through because of the NDA8217;s defeat in the general election in 2004. One can understand the Left8217;s opposition, since they are more pro-China than pro-anything-else, but what of the BJP?

8212; R.P. Desai

Mumbai

Deal appeal

8226; Apropos of your front page report, 8216;Bhishma Pitamah, rise and back deal8230;8217;, the appeal of PM Manmohan Singh to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee to 8220;listen to the call of his conscience8221; and back the deal by rising above party politics, speaks volumes about the 8220;significance and urgency8221; of finally sealing the n-deal with the US. It also shows the UPA government8217;s frustration over its failure to get the Left to understand that the deal is in India8217;s national interest. Sadly, Karat 038; Co persist in the Left8217;s pro-China stand.

8212; S.K. Gupta

Delhi

Team UPA

8226; Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has done a Dhoni in what is supposed to be the last budget of the UPA government by provisioning doles and reworking the IT slab. He has put the UPA team in a strong position to win over his party8217;s rivals in the ensuing election game. He may be the most favourite, just like Dhoni who cornered the maximum amount of Rs 6 crore in the IPL bidding. But it remains to be seen whether the FM and his political team are ready for IPL-type moves in politics.

8212; V.S. Ganeshan

Bangalore

Budget silencer

8226; The loan waiver to the tune of Rs 60,000 crore announced for farmers by the FM in the Union budget is quite frightening. It is nothing but a political gimmick at the cost of the country8217;s exchequer. Sadly, no political party which is opposed in principle to the FM8217;s economic misadventure can afford to criticise him too harshly on this account. Which party can do without farmers8217; votes!

8212; Ganesh K. Sovani

Thane