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 that India was a natural ally for the US. Ally or not, after months of intense deliberations and hard bargaining, India and the US have inked a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation agreement in New Delhi in early March, allowing 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.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, has warned that 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 circulated at the governing board of the global nuclear watchdog, the 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 accused the United States of seeking to topple the government at the helm. It also feared that the joint US-South Korean military exercises could pose 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).