Natalya Zamaraeva — Pakistan-India: New Phase of Nuclear Tensions

“Pakistan reserves the right to safeguard its national security interests; the operationalisation of Indo-US nuclear deal for political and economic expediencies would have a detrimental impact on deterrence stability in South Asia,” the foreign minister of Pakistan said, describing the outcome of the visit of President Barack Obama to India in the end of January 2015. 

For the first time, the current political leadership in Islamabad officially broadcast their reaction in connection with the events in another country.The highly emotional statements revealed the backlog of complaints against both Washington and New Delhi.

Pakistan sees the signing of the Indo-American nuclear agreement as a violation of the balance of nuclear and conventional weapons. Taking into consideration national security interests, Islamabad adheres to the position that it cannot continue to rely on strategic stability and deterrence in the region anymore, thinking that this way the nuclear threshold can significantly decrease. It sees the building up of nuclear potential as one of the possible ways and means of equalizing the balance. In this connection, on January 29, 2015, Pakistan warned of a new round of the arms race in South Asia.

Looks like Washington cannot have a relationship with both Pakistan and India, but will have to choose. If the US chooses India, it will have to compete with Russia,which has a deeep foothold there already and cede Pakistan to China, further solidifying China's domination of Eurasia. Choosing Pakistan leaves India to Russia.

Looking good for the arms industry though.

New Eastern Outlook
Pakistan-India: New Phase of Nuclear Tensions
Natalya Zamaraeva, Ph.D. | Senior Research Fellow, Pakistan Institute for Near-East Studies

First appeared:http://journal-neo.org/2015/02/08/rus-pakistan-indiya-vitok-yadernoj-napryazhennosti/