Sound reasons for Australia to refuse to sell uranium to India
The arms control reasons for refusing uranium sales to India are serious. The first is the damage that could be done to the NPT system…..A second reason is that Australian uranium used for power generation could free other sources of uranium for use in Indian nuclear weapons, possibly fuelling a nuclear arms race with Pakistan..
We need to strengthen, not weaken, nuclear deterrent, Sydney Morning Herald, Andy Butfoy, January 21, 2011 Australia has a sovereign right to choose its customers. REPORTS that Delhi is pressuring Canberra to sell India uranium are predictable. The arguments for selling have been well rehearsed, and vested interests have long been encouraging Australia to cash in on the opportunities being dangled before it. But to understand why, one has to go beyond the spin produced by the Indian government and the nuclear industry….…in 1974, after years of saying it wanted nuclear technology only for civil purposes, India tested a nuclear bomb. The test was given the preposterous label of a “peaceful nuclear explosion”…..
Fast forward to the 1990s. The international community pushed for a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty prohibiting nuclear tests. Canberra said the ban was central to the nation’s interests and declared there were no excuses for any country to refuse to sign. However, India tried hard to kill the treaty.
Then in 1998, as if to rub salt into the issue, and apparently driven by chauvinistic domestic political pressures, India engaged in a series of nuclear tests, triggering counter tests by Pakistan.
Despite this, in 2005 the principle of allowing free access in nuclear trade only to NPT members was sold down the river by US president George W. Bush. Here Bush was heavily under the influence of his neoconservative associates…….
The neocons got their way and the NSG granted India an exemption from the rules of nuclear trading……….
The arms control reasons for refusing uranium sales to India are serious. The first is the damage that could be done to the NPT system. Already China is using the US-Indian deal as a precedent for expanding nuclear ties with Pakistan. And why not take the point further and sell uranium to Israel? Where would we draw the line? Where will this stretching and pulling leave the NPT?
A second reason is that Australian uranium used for power generation could free other sources of uranium for use in Indian nuclear weapons, possibly fuelling a nuclear arms race with Pakistan……….we need to strengthen, not weaken, the system designed to deal with the threat…..
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1.This month.
Zoom webinar – “Nuclear Winter: The Environmental Consequences of a Nuclear Exchange.”
April 7th at 11:30 am PST / 2:30 pm EST
Nuclear Winter: The Environmental Consequences of a Nuclear Exchange”
Join us for an informative webinar with renowned atmospheric scientist, Professor Brian Toon, as he discusses the environmental risks and global impacts of a nuclear war. Despite the potential damage caused by the blast from even small nuclear weapons, many countries continue to invest in and expand nuclear arsenals. Professor Toon will provide a scientific assessment of civilian fatalities, agricultural failures, climate concerns, and complications with food supply that would follow any international nuclear conflict. We need to plan how to prevent nuclear conflict and avoid catastrophe. Politicians and military planners must be made aware of global climate and agricultural complications that would ensue. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from, and engage in, this vital conversation
The Road to War brings a sharp focus to why it is not in Australia’s best interest to be dragged into a war with China which will almost inevitably go nuclear very quickly. The filmmaker has interviewed some of Australia’s senior foreign policy analysts who have vast experience behind them in analysing what really is going on here as the United States rattles its sabres with China. And sets us up to be its proxy, like the poor Ukranians have been fed into the Meatgrinder. So America can remain the Top Dog. The Road to War reveals how the United States through its spy base at Pine Gap and by stationing six nuclear capable B52 bombers in the Top End (without permission from the traditional owners) is making Australia a prime nuclear target if the current war of words suddenly melts down into full scale war.
The Road to War shows the implicit connection between Carbon emissions (the US military uses a whopping 70% of America’s annual petroleum to move its armies and vast War Machine around the globe to its 800+ military bases..but under a loophole wangled at Kyoto, the US military does not have to report its C02 annual emissions). The Road to War starts screening at selected cities and regional centres in March. See the trailer end for details.
Antinuclear 
If Auz feels that there is nothing wrong to sell the cake to a communist china that can continue to violate human rights in a gigantic way, and not to the largest democracy in the world, its surely time for labor party to have their collective heads examined..
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Ben does have a good point here indeed. Australia’s government and uranium corporations turn a blind eye to the disgrace that is China’s human rights record, and including their dumping on nuclear wastes on the lands of their ethnic minorities.
However, many, many Australians do not agree with Australia’s export of uranium to China or anywhere.
As for India, it’s not looking too good on human rights now, as the move to set up a giant nuclear plant at Jaitapur is also trampling on human rights.
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