balaji@uscvax.UUCP (Balaji Narasimhan) (11/27/85)
There was a brief report on NPR's "All Things Considered" yesterday, Monday,
the 25th, to the effect that India's nuclear programme has advanced 1000%
since the time of the nuclear explosion in '74. [It was not clear how one
measures such "advances"; however, it was clear that the report was not
referring to "peaceful" uses of nuclear energy.] Further, the report added,
south asia is one of the areas where significant nuclear proliferation is
taking place.
I would like to see a discussion of the following and related issues in
this newsgroup.
The current status of the nuclear programmes ("peaceful" or otherwise)
in the subcontinent?
The technological levels of the armed forces of the region?
What are the likely geopolitical consequences (regional as well as global)
of any or some of the countries in the region developing nuclear weapons?
What percentage of the GNP is spent on the armed forces by each country in
the region? What has been the trend over the years since 1947?
The morality of a subcontinental arms race (nuclear and non-nuclear)?
The morality of huge military spending in a region where most of the
people are, to understate the facts, very poor.
What is our (mostly Indian readers of this newsgroup) role in all this?
I'm aware many readers of this newsgroup have strong opinions about the
nuclear arms build up and the new generation weapons programmes
(sold under the label SDI in the US) in the west. I hope to hear
equally strong opinions on these issues, and constructive
suggestions for ways to reverse the subcontinental arms race.
Balaji