U.S. and India Agree: It's Easier to Blow Up the Planet Than Save It

Posted by Allison Kilkenny, True/Slant at 2:45 PM on July 20, 2009.

NEW DELHI -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton touted prospects for strengthening U.S.-India relations, despite sharp differences on carbon emissions, as they readied a pact giving U.S. companies more access to India’s expanding markets.

via Hillary Clinton, Indian Official Clash Over Climate Change Efforts.

Fear not, citizenry. The United States and India managed to put aside their dispute over how to manage carbon emissions and agreed to increase India’s supply of arms (including 126 multi-role fighter jets) and nuclear reactors, an enormous boon to corporations such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Electric, and Westinghouse Electric. 

The environmental fallout from nuclear reactors didn’t appear to come up despite the fact that other countries with nuclear reactors, such as France, haven’t quite figured out what to do with all that poisonous waste. By 2030, France’s highly radioactive byproduct will more than double, according to Reuters, but France still hasn’t found permanent underground storage for waste that can cause genetic mutation, illness, and most inconvenient, death. 

Additionally, UK regulators and environmental activists have recently expressed concern over the safety of new nuclear reactors, which includes the waste emitted from the European Pressurized Reactors (EPR,) flagship of the nuclear industry. Greenpeace claims the nuclear waste from EPR will be up to seven times more hazardous than waste produced by existing nuclear reactors. Fortunately for GE and Westinghouse, those minor environmental problems can’t slow the wheels of progress.

Meanwhile, the sale of 126 brand-new fighter jets will surely keep neighbor Pakistan up at night. The Indian military is also reviewing offers that include Russia’s MiG-35, France’s Dassault Rafale, Sweden’s Saab KAS-39 Gripen, and the European Typhoon. Lockheed and Boeing were surely pleased by the news considering John Murtha could only promise the firms a measly 12 additional F-22 contracts for the US military at a profit of $369 million (President Obama has threatened to veto this). The Senate has a separate proposal in legislation that would authorize seven new planes at $1.75 billion. Such agreements seem like pocket change when one considers the Indian fighter jets contract is reportedly worth $12 billion.

The U.S. and India had a much easier time negotiating a multi-billion dollar arms deal than determining an agreement to protect the environment. As usual, it’s much easier to blow up the planet than save it.

Tagged as: india, boeing, hillary clinton, pakistan, carbon emissions, general electric, lockheed martin, john murtha, westinghouse

Allison Kilkenny co-hosts Citizen Radio, the alternative political radio show. G. Gordon Liddy once told her her writing makes him want to vomit, which is the greatest compliment she's ever been paid, ever.