I wrote yesterday about the ridiculous inconsistency of the Administration’s response first, to the DPRK’s failed launch and second, to the non-response to the Indian Agni V launch shortly thereafter.
Well, it seems I’m not alone. Enter Walter Pincus, Columnist for the Washington Post. Writing yesterday in a piece entitled Washington Double-Talk on Nukes, Pincus sums up Washington’s varied reactions to the DPRK’s failed launch and touting of supposed ICBM technology which looks suspiciously like it has come from China, its non-reaction to the India launch, and the profoundly ill-advised U.S.-India 123 agreement for nuclear cooperation thusly:
“The hypocrisy attributed to Washington is that the United States talks about enforcing nonproliferation when it comes to countries it does not like but who have signed the treaty, but gives assistance to those countries friendly to it who have not signed the treaty. Both groups are violating the intent of the treaty.
That makes nonproliferation for the United States not a principle but a negotiable position depending on Washington’s view of its national interests. However, the United States appears not to want other, often unfriendly countries, to practice that same flexibility when it comes to nonproliferation.”
One word, Mr. Pincus: AMEN!!