The docking of the USS Nimitz in Chennai port has challenged India’s independent foreign policy and its long-lasting tradition against imperialism, colonialism, and superpower hegemony. Supporters of Nimitz’s brief visit who praise it as a testimony to bourgeoning Indo-US strategic relationship should acknowledge the long drawn coercive history of Nimitz nuclear ship and the use of ‘gunboat diplomacy’ to restore US’ imperialistic interests.

‘Estranged democracies’ is how Dennis Kux once characterised relations between the US and India. For a large part of India’s independent history, Kux’s characterisation hit the nail bang on the head. A norm of suspicion with regards to the American’s seemed to have institutionalised itself within India’s strategic culture, and there were good reasons for this.

Indo-US relations are on the upswing since signing of the coveted nuclear deal during the US President’s visit to India in March. On the other hand, the Americans have not forgotten their old ally Pakistan altogether. The seriousness of the AQ Khan affair prohibits Americans from offering nuclear energy to Pakistan but on military front they are ready to help their ally considerably.

Whether to risk status quo environment- an appetite for it or an aversion to it- is a meaningful way to explain crisis decision making since it links the strategic and the psychological conceptions of choice. It portrays leaders as calculating goal-seekers while allowing them to have different personal decision making styles.

Wrapping up his three-day India sojourn, US President George W. Bush reiterated that the relationship between India and the United States was 'closer than ever before' and India is a natural ally for the US. Ally or not, after months of intense deliberations and days of hard bargaining, India and the US have inked a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation agreement in New Delhi in early March which allows India to access U.S. nuclear fuel and technology to meet its growing energy requirements.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), otherwise known to the world as North Korea has indicated its willingness to go to the fifth round of the six-party multilateral nuclear talks in Beijing in November 2005 as it had promised. However, the green signal came with a accusation that the United States has been using words and deeds contrary to the joint statement issued in September this year.

Chief nuclear negotiator of Iran, Ali Larijani has warned the country would resume enriching uranium and restrict United Nations inspectors from critical information if the United States and its allies used the "language of threat" by referring Iran to the Security Council. The negotiator's threat came as a confidential draft resolution circulating at the governing board of the global nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), known to the World as North Korea, has indicated that it has increased its ‘existing’ nuclear arsenal to counter a possible preemptive invasion by the United States. Earlier, the self-proclaimed nuclear power has accused the United States of seeking to topple the government at helm. It also feared that the joint US-South Korean military exercises could pose as a preparatory war against the country.

The US Congress has approved a $ 300 million military aid package for Pakistan in November last year, the biggest military aid package to Pakistan since the events of 9/11. President Bush has thus begun his second term by deciding to dole out ‘arms bonanza’ to Pakistan. The $300 million is a part of the foreign military financing programme (H R 4818 Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2005) totaling more than $4.7 billion, a major chunk of which goes to Israel ($2.2 billion) and Egypt (1.3billion).

The US President George W. Bush’s re-election poses at least one major question with regard to his foreign policy initiatives in his second term—whether the administration will see an overhaul in foreign policy-making or not. The President’s involvement with India-Pakistan has not been a major foreign policy priority for the administration during his first term. The issue, nevertheless, is an important strategic concern for the US. Both Bush and his Democratic rival John Kerry, sidelined the two South Asian countries in their election debates except over the issue of outsourcing.