While Turkey’s nuclear ambitions are not new, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's nuclear rhetoric is in the backdrop of Turkey's deteriorating regional security situation.
Rajiv Nayan replies: The NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) does not prohibit the development of nuclear submarines or the transfer of nuclear materials used as propellants in naval reactors/nuclear submarines. The CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty) is not relevant for nuclear submarines or related materials. The NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group) guidelines do have restrictions for enriched materials and facilities for the purpose. However, NSG is a control and not a prohibition body.
Even after five decades of its entry-into-force, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is largely seen as a Cold War era instrument that has failed to fulfill the objective of creating a pathway towards a credible disarmament process.
G. Balachandran replies: No party to CSC has raised any objection to India’s accession on the ground that CLNDA is inconsistent with the provisions of CSC. The CSC too does not impose any obligation to which India may have an objection. Finally, in case of a nuclear incident in India, CSC may provide additional resources for compensation.
The standoffs in Doklam and North Korea offer insights on how crisis stability remains subject to the complexities of deterrence, especially in theatres with multiple nuclear-armed states, and what this entails for disarmament.
The pivotal question is whether a judicial intervention, in the absence of any political stimulus, can make a meaningful difference to the disarmament movement.
The collective silence of the guardians and the state-parties by no means signifies the NPT’s good health, especially when they continue to emphasise upon the slow pace of disarmament and enduring pressures on the non-proliferation regime.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN 978-11-0705-662-6
Price: Rs.895/-
The book describes India as a unique case of an outlier surviving outside the regime’s overarching system, as a nuclear-capable state with prolonged record of resistance (and selective adherence), but ending up seeking opportunities to engage with its normative structures. The ideological and policy shifts that had shaped India’s transformative journey from a perennial outlier to one seeking greater integration with the regime, though, also exemplifies the underlying strategic paradoxes and dogmatic incongruities. The book assesses how these dynamics will determine India’s role in global anti-proliferation and its status in the emerging global nuclear order.
Nuclear India@25 and the Adapted Nuclear World Order
India’s track record as a responsible nuclear weapon country is reflected in its policy of nuclear restraint.