India and the Obama Nonproliferation Team

According to the Times of India, President Barack Obama’s nonproliferation team — and especially Robert Einhorn, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s just-announced special adviser on nonproliferation — is “considered hardcore nonproliferationsist in the old Democratic mold.” In particular, Einhorn, Ellen Tauscher (under sec. of state for arms control) and Timothy Roemer (U.S. ambassador to India) are all seen as hostile to the U.S.-India nuclear deal.

But one Indian analyst dismissed fears that they might throw a wrench in the works, saying:

There is nothing to be alarmed about. We havegot most of what we wanted in terms of global sanctions on nuclear trade havingbeen lifted. Agreements already signed with Kazakhstan, France and Russia for uranium and reactors. Now the ball is in the U.S. court.

As I expected, France and Russia might turn out to be the big winners, in terms of actual contracts, on the U.S.-India deal. That’s not to say the deal won’t also have a strategic payoff. But as for rupees, it looks like they’ll be heading to Paris and Moscow.

Interestingly, though, despite the article’s worried angle, the sense in India seems to be that they’re out of the nonproliferation doghouse, and that Obama and Clinton, both of whom voted for the U.S.-India deal as senators, aren’t likely to put them back in it.

More World Politics Review