“The problem is not that India has too many nuclear weapons, it is that they do not have enough.”

This little gem was quoted from one of the architects of the recent US-India nuclear deal. How scary.

It was probably mentioned in reference to China’s “burgeoning” threat to India. The funny thing is, China is a country that acquiesces to international law when it comes nuclear weapons: it, unlike India, is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNFP). This means that as of 1992, China ended production of weapons material. The side deal the U.S. has made with India has no equivalent guarantee. In fact, the deal encourages the production of nuclear weapons material, by only requiring India’s civilian reactors (i.e., power-generating reactors) to undergo inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), while its eight military reactors (i.e., weapons-producing reactors) get a free pass.

On top of this, India also gets to reap benefits only previously available to NNPT members. It can now import “nuclear fuel and technology” from any country looking to sell. Both the US and Canada are on that list. One of the technologies India will be looking to enhance through trade is the fast-breeder reactor. This kind of reactor makes building nuclear weapons a breeze, and India already has one installed in one of its top-secret military plants where the IAEA can’t get to it. As of now, India officially has a nuclear weapons arsenal of 110. How many more do they need?

Think about the capacity for destruction one of these weapons has. In WWII, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were obliterated with just one bomb apiece, and the ripple effect lasted for decades. Of those who survived the bombings, countless numbers ended up succumbing to radiation sickness and cancer. These realities show that these weapons do much more than obliterate physical targets-they obliterate any sense of stability a country has. It is a mark on a society that can never be fully erased.

The NNPT currently has 188 members. With this number of countries supporting the tenets of nonproliferation and disarmament, it would seem that human life has a higher value than any amount of uranium-238. The US dealings with India are a slap in the face, not just to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki or members of the NNPT, but to all people. Let’s hope India catches on.