Mohan,
Appreciate the information on computers and Compaq in particular. You got the wrong articles. Here is the first one.
7-blast fallout may be explosive
Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar
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NEW DELHI 28 MAY
PAKISTAN'S nuclear test shows India's euphoria over its own explosion was sadly misplaced. We have not become a great power on par with the US, we remain on par with lowly Pakistan. We remain two poor countries with delusions of grandeur, close to mutual incineration.
The Pakistani test has increased the political risk of all investors in the subcontinent. Pakistan will become a basket case. India will face higher interest rates and risk premiums abroad, killing some projects. Nervous portfolio investors will flee.
Some Indian diplomats hope Pakistan's test will dilute the focus of sanctions against India. They hope the issue can now be settled by both countries signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
But two former diplomats, Muchkund Dubey and Shankar Bajpai, say that nuclearisation of the subcontinent now threatens the entire life-style and security of the western powers, which will not settle for the two countries signing CTBT. They now want to stop India and Pakistan from converting their new capacity into warheads or delivery systems, tightening sanctions to achieve this. Since neither India nor Pakistani will easily give way, there could be a long impasse, which devastates Pakistan's economy and damages India's.
Other optimistic diplomats say Pakistan will be smashed Indonesia-style by sustained sanctions, and this will not suit the US. Besides, a bankrupt Pakistan might be tempted to sell nuclear technology to fill its coffers (or at least threaten to do so). All is now uncertain, save that tensions will rise within the subcontinent and with the west.
Finished completely is the notion that exploding a nuclear bomb will make India a permanent member of the UN security council. Pakistan is now just as qualified on this count, and nobody in his senses can imagine Pakistan being admitted to that club.
The tests of both countries demonstrate how close they both are to an unstoppable holocaust. India may have 80 bombs to Pakistan's 8, but in nuclear war there are no winners. If we destroy 80 Pakistani cities and they destroy eight of ours, both countries will become radioactive rubble. Any politician in New Delhi or Islamabad who presses the button will himself be vapourised within minutes. Dead men win no victories. India's superiority in the number or size of of bombs is meaningless in strategic terms. India cannot use the bomb without committing suicide.
After the Pokhran test, there was much talk in India of command-and-control systems, sophisticated weapons, nuclear submarines. Instead, the two countries need to ensure that they never fight a war.
They need to reduce arms expenditure and conventional forces. Above all they need to focus on becoming economically strong. Without economic strength, they will never be even middling powers, leave alone great ones. |
