Friday, August 17, 2007

India's ELM and the deal

Watching the ELM (no - not the 'Dravidian homeland across the sea' - it means the presswallahs) on the nuclear deal sure is amusing. Look at these two stories in the Indian Express with some quotations
First that Oracle - Pratap Mehta cautions
Instead of focusing on the text, it is more useful to think about the conditions under which it will work to our advantage. The agreement’s soundness depends on your estimate of these conditions obtaining

And now the Op-Ed advises us
Critics who haven’t or won’t read the nuclear agreement. It’s actually sensitive to India’s needs - both the left and the right are being utterly dishonest in their refusal to see the answers to the questions they raise are written in stone in the 123 agreement.

Apart from the fact that both doses of advise are false (read Brahma on what the TEXT actually says i.e effectively no right to testing- and what CONDITIONS WILL ACTUALLY OBTAIN long term i.e. defense dependence); there are some common features in those that defend the deal

1- Start by telling people how it is all technical in nature (Tavleen Singh's ploy) - so the public thinks we must defer to experts
2- Advise people that only experts can correctly interpret text - and so politicians (of the Left and the BJP) should not politicize the issue
3- Once the experts have passed judgment (on both sides it must be admitted - but most experts oppose the deal)- announce that it is so complex that even experts disagree
4- Then deride the experts by calling them 'experts' who can arrive at no conclusion and refuse to think out of the technical box- proceed to tell public that the non-experts have it
5- As all non-experts are corrupt politicians - except the non-PM who is not a politician and not at all corrupt - announce that only his judgment and not that of other crooked politicians is valid. (Indian Express Op-Ed ploy deployed many times)
6- Tell people it is not the text but the 'conditions' that count - (the Pratap Mehta ploy)
7 - When 'experts' point out that 'conditions' may not be favorable - point out that India's interests are protected in the text - if only people read it.
8 - As text is complex - restart the loop at Step 1


When all else fails - play the energy independence (read - no more power cuts for you if deal happens, dear reader) card over the 'expert and their strategic reasons' card - (which no one understands anyway, dear reader)

Of course - the nation is going down the toilet - but who cares!

4 comments:

TallIndian said...

What I don't understand is why the Left is opposed to the nuclear 'castration' of India.

Surely, the Maoists would want India to sign the agreement so that they become another Panama, Iran, or Libya subject to US sanctions. Meanwhile the Chinese can arm Pakistan with whatever and whenever they wish.

karyakarta92 said...

Has the TOIlet paper reported yet regarding the menu for the breakfast that Shikhandi MMS threw for Prakash Karat? Maybe one of the other rags reported it & I somehow missed it (naturally since I'm hooked onto all kinds of "fundamentalist","fascist","Hindu nationalist" sources of information !).
Otherwise, this is a glaring omission by the dhimmi Indian MSM, for whom reporting on food is an essential ingredient in all news.
For example, the TOIlet paper came up with this gem on Yasser Arafat's death:
"He loved Daal Makhani".

It is a refreshing change to see the Indian communists & seculars do anything good for the national
interest, even if for twisted reasons.

This humiliating deal has to be scuttled at all costs & by all means.

I'm willing to live with a Sharad Pawar or Mayawati or Deve Gowda as PM of India on a temporary basis.

Governments can be changed, political parties defeated, policies altered - but it will be excruciatingly difficult to salvage national honour and sovereignty once it is surrendered by Shikhandi MMS to the Whites.

What a shame for the nation that an unelected man nominated by a foreign leader of 142 MPs is implementing the destruction of India as we know it.

And such arrogance to boot; to adamantly insist that the "deal is non-negotiable".
Why? How? Who says so?
It is time to rid the nation of this shikhandi PM.

sansk said...

Wait for next election. that is the democratic (sic) way of doing it.
If you have that srt of patience that is.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It is time to rid the nation of this shikhandi PM.

Anand Rajadhyaksha said...

One point seems neglected:

The 123 deal will get India N energy. This energy will drive growth, be cleaner etc etc..all the touts are touting it.

Assume that is so. But what we forget is that the US gets a handle on the brake that can stop India. What none disputes is that the US can withold supplies, weasel out for any reason that the US wants. Since the deal is in the context of the Hyde Act, India cannot do anything that would help Iran against the US. Who defines what that is? Right: the US.

Iran now, anything else tommorrow. Make India jump anytime Washington says so, be ready to concede anything anytime the US says so, or we starve for energy. And we cannot do anything on our own that would stop this dependence.

I am not talking about the freedom to test further nukes or issues of pride and suzeranty. Nor do I hold a brief for the left; I conside the commies cancerous to the interests of India. Whatever I have said is only voicing my concerns for India.

The US is not our friend. They are of the same genre as the Brits who; as legend has it, cut the thumbs of the weavers of Dacca so they could sell dhotis made on Manchester to Indians.

We shoudl scrap this deal. Not because the left suddenly sounds patriotic, but because we should consider our interests, as Indians, for India.