A Tale Of Two Missiles

[stevedeshazer]

Hat tip to Jack Bogdanski of Portlandia.

Video at both links.

This one is O.K.: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/18/world/asia/india-missile/index.html

This one isn't: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/19/politics/pol-clinton-panetta-interview/index.html

http://bojack.org/2012/04/a_tale_of_two_missiles.html

[hack89]

1. One country violates multiple international treaties on WMD proliferation

the other doesn't.

One country sells missile technology in defiance of UN sanctions, the other doesn't.

One country has withdrawn from all international treaties and organizations that monitor nuclear programs, the other hasn't.

That is why you are not comparing apples to apples.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. Well India doesn't violate NPT and CTBT because it refused to sign.

So that is a bit of a disingenuous argument. Like Israel and to a certain extent Pakistan, India has been given a hall pass while those other Bad Countries are being threatened continuously with some sort of major harm should they achieve nuclear weapons capabilities.

[Vehl]

3. India has been very vocal about why it did not and will not sign the NPT/CTBT

As India has been repeatedly pointing out, the NPT and the CTBT allow the big five existing nuclear powers to build and have nukes/missiles while others are stopped from doing so. India called/calls for a treaty that bans ALL nuclear weapons...a call that the big five have refused to hear.

Why would India want to sign onto such hypocritical treaties?


Furthermore India also has a stated "No First Use" policy...Even America does not have such a policy. According to "No First Use", India can never carry out a nuclear strike unless in form of retaliation to nuclear strike on itself.

As hack mentioned, India's non proliferation record speaks for itself. NK otoh armed Pakistan and Iran, and China too allows Pakistan to repaint its own missiles and pass them off as Pakistani ones, in violation of the treaties its signatory of. I do not know how one can compare the world's largest democracy, with a Dictatorial regime(NK) and a religious theocracy(Iran).

[joshcryer]

4. The equation is simple.

if (country == antagonistic_to_the_USA) country.is_OK = country_is_OK else country.is_OK = country_is_not_OK;
if (country.is_OK) refrain_from_criticism() else criticize_with_pointless_strawmen();

This equation works surprisingly well.

[Warren Stupidity]

5. I don't disagree at all with India's position.

I merely pointed out that an argument that uses India's non violation of treaties it did not sign is not an honest argument.

While I loathe the governments of Iran and North Korea, they too have a national right to defend themselves, and the lesson of Iraq is that to do so you must have a nuclear deterrent. We killed NPT and CTBT when we invaded Iraq.