December, 02 2008, 02:34pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
India: * Reaction to Attacks * Nuclear Policy
WASHINGTON
VIJAY PRASHAD
Prashad just wrote the piece "The Fires in South Asia." He said today:
"Disoriented, the [Indian] state seeks easy solutions: more draconian
legislation, more fiery rhetoric, and more warmongering. The Congress
[Party]-led government is pushed from the right by the [Hindu
nationalist] BJP, which seems to want an instant attack on Pakistan, a
sort of Bush reaction to 9/11.
"Those in the government in charge of intelligence and security have
been sacked. ... In parliamentary India there is a measure of
accountability from the government, in contrast to our system, where
the people are accountable to the highest elected official." Author of The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World, Prashad is chair of South Asian history and director of international studies at Trinity College, in Hartford, Connecticut.
More Information
JACQUELINE CABASSO
Cabasso is executive director of the Western States Legal Foundation,
which monitors nuclear weapons policy, and is a contributor to the book
Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security?
She said today: "The situation between India and Pakistan is always
especially crucial because they both have nuclear weapons and because
of the instability of the region. The recent U.S.-India nuclear deal,
which was backed by Obama, Clinton and Biden -- Biden really pushed for
it -- has undermined non-proliferation efforts."
Cabasso recently won the Sean MacBride Peace Prize. For Cabasso's
acceptance address, as well as a recent Q and A "Will Nuclear
Disarmament Be on Obama's Agenda" -- see wslfweb.org.
She notes that the nuclear weapons industry is attempting to prevent any meaningful disarmament efforts and is organizing the First Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit which begins Tuesday.
A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.
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