India and the Nuclear Trade

Until now the Australian Government's policy not to sell uranium to non-signatories of the NPT has been a moot point.

With the vote in the Indian parliament last week it will presumably come under more pressure to follow the Coalition government and make a special India-exception to this long-standing Australian policy.

I can't see how to read such a development as anything other than a slap in the face to sagging international non-proliferation efforts but obviously the question is complex, particularly given the possibility the deal would ease the rate of increase of India's greenhouse gas emissions.

Greg Sheridan gets in early with an entertainingly hyperbolic stance.

In his speech, Singh listed 10 countries with which India has particularly good relations. Australia was not among them.

I suspect that very soon we will enter the top 10 with a bullet or sink to a previously unimagined place of infamy in the Indian mind. This Indian parliamentary vote was mighty important for us, too.

See also Lowy Interpreter.