INDIA, FOSSIL FUELS, NUCLEAR REACTORS AND WE THE PEOPLE

(sigh, doggone it)

All this ado about President Bush's overture to India regarding nuclear technology is making me crazy. The geopolitical implications of this are possibly huge, and we have to be hopeful that we're going to come out on the positive end here rather than the negative. I have to admire Bush for his courage in pressing for this accord with India even though he himself admits that pushing it through Congress will be a hard sell. It's troubling, however, with the hostilities between India and Pakistan over Kashmir and with both India and Pakistan having nuclear capabilities, that we may be poking the mule from the wrong end. The result could be horrendous. There are so many factors coming into play here -- the "I'll let you see mine if you let me see yours" mentality; the so-called positioning of India into the nuclear club which requires international controls; the stupidity of NOT requiring that India's weapons program be subject to peeks from the outside; how our worldview is perceived as a result of this initiative; the possibility of easing emissions from fossil fuels from this huge, populous country; the certainty of entering into a pissing contest with Iran, North Korea and possibly Pakistan over the "unfairness" they most definitely perceive here (do we really care about this????NOOOOOOOOOOO). BUT.................
At the same time, why aren't we spending a few George Washingtons and pushing for a quieter initiative in that country of over 1 billion people where birthrates are soaring? Wouldn't a nice aside be to offer up a plan to encourage (OMG) birth control? Is this too simplistic overall to even be considered? Of course, this is not on the level of nuclear capability, but it's certainly ONE of the answers to easing the world's gluttony for petroleum, foodstuffs, natural resources in general. We should have taken the opportunity to advance the cause for peace and future reduced need for oil with a little common sense: controlling population in this shrinking world we inhabit is likely to emerge as THE common denominator to our survival.

(sigh again)