 "Illustration by Binay Sinha")
During the Korean War, the American military, led by a deranged Douglas MacArthur, considered nuclear strikes on China and Korea. (Those who think North Korea behaves in irrational fashion should consider its historical experience). MacArthur also thought the United States should pre-emptively attack the Russians, their ally against Hitler, before they developed nuclear capability.
This was briefly the background to Pokhran I under Indira Gandhi in 1974, abusing agreements with the Canadians who had supplied the technology and material on the assumption that these would not be used for weapons. Indira called it a peaceful explosion but that meant nothing: No
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