Indians Soar While N Koreans Sink:
So, can someone remind us why the Iranians are being punished and the N Koreans are being vilified over their nuclear programs when others can develop and expand capabilities to cheers and praise for positive accomplishments.
India reported Thursday that it had successfully launched a missile with nuclear capability and a 3,100-mile range, giving it the ability to strike Beijing and Shanghai. With the successful launching of the missile, called Agni 5, India joins a small group of countries with long-range nuclear missile capability, including China, Britain, France, Russia and the United States.
India’s Agni 5, a multimillion-dollar project, can hit targets in all of Asia, Africa and Europe. This is one hell of a ICBM, weighing about 50 tons, measuring 17 meters long, capable of ascending 480 miles skyward, while topping speeds of 4,200 miles per hour. This bad boy travels faster than a bullet. BTW, It can also be launched from a roadside mobile platform. "We have achieved exactly what we wanted to achieve in this mission," Avinash Chandra, mission director for the test, told the Times Now news channel on Thursday.
We'd be very interested in the US State Dept.'s reaction to India's actions, but especially China's considering it is they who'd be most threatened by India's new and now proven capabilities. Why Beijing is not complaining to the UN over India's progressive nuclear activities like the perennially bitching Israelis is a bit mind boggling. How come the Europeans aren't running to the Security Council for some resolution of condemnation for the Indians activities.In our opinion, the silence of those that should be publicly concerned is deafening.
North Korean is now pissed more than ever and have decided to retaliate in the face of international condemnation over its failed rocket launch. This will surely increase the possibility of the reclusive state moving ahead with a third nuclear test.
Can you blame them? Hardly, as the new guy Kim Jong-un apparently sees the writing on the wall. There is a small select club of nuclear armed powers that intend to keep its membership limited. Evidently, the North Koreans and the Iranians disagree since they both seem hell bent on proceeding with their programs despite threats, sanctions and isolation.
The international community lead by the US and the P5+1 (with the Israelis hiding in the background) appear to be somewhat disingenuous as they send mixed and near unintelligible signals to nation states looking for ways to develop their energy policies and national defense strategies. The double standard being maintained by the West and those they've deemed acceptable is most confounding to anyone trying to understand its blatant inequitable approach to managing nuclear proliferation.
In a world where credibility is king it is important that every sovereign state has one set of clear concise and comprehensive rules to abide by. Watching the Indians proudly boast of their ability to level any foe within their expanding reach of nuclear destruction, while the Iranian economy is strangled for even being suspected of contemplating building a bomb brings the "US/Israeli Union" efforts into question.
Hence, moving forward emerging powers will unlikely ask for permission nor allow their exploration of energy and defense technologies to be monitored and controlled by entities beyond their own borders. The West may have overplayed its hand by forcefully negotiating from a position of strength as opposed to simply negotiating in good faith. When the world can see and hear everything you do and say, one would be wise to have a consistent message.
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