News from India

The Communist Parties in the Indian governing coalition have withdrawn their support for the government over the civilian nuclear deal the government negotiated with the United States. The deal basically states that the Indian Government will get access to US civilian nuclear technology in exchange for opening up civilian nuclear sites to inspection (Indian military sites will be left alone.)

The Communists (pop quiz: the longest ruling elected Communist government in the world is where? If you said: 'the Indian State of West Bengal' then you're a WINNER!) want out because they don't want the US gaining too much influence in Indian affairs. This is kind of a common, sometimes returned to theme when it comes to Leftist Parties in India. The Indian Foreign policy establishment (and India itself) still remembers when Nixon sent the USS Enterprise into the Bay of Bengal during the 1971 Bangladeshi War of Independence, so relations with the US (never exactly warm until recently) can be a touchy subject.

Will this move threaten the ruling coalition? People don't seem to think so. It might be possible, but it appears the Government has struck deals with the Samajwadi Party and other smaller regional parties to ensure their majority holds over the deal. I'm betting it will- Singh seems to be a solid operator for India and there hasn't been tension (at least none that's reached the international media that I can find) him and Congress Party boss Sonia Gandhi (a sort of split leadership that could have, in other situations caused all kinds of trouble) so I'm not worried about it.