No country should possess them. We are worried at the attempt of the power-elite to create a hysteric wave of national jingoism and nuclear chauvinism among the Indian masses to divert their attention from the burning problems of their lives. Unless we are serious about denuclearization of military forces by ALL countries, talk of nuclear nonproliferation is just not very persuasive. Lovins included an article he wrote in 1995 for the Christian Science Monitor, in which he pointed out the fatal mistake of believing there can be peaceful nuclear power separate from nuclear weapons. Civilian nuclear power is now known to be a peculiarly convenient route to bomb-making.
Nuclear power is unmanageable and unaffordable, kept alive only by government subsidies.
India's and Pakistan's bombs could open the door to a terrifying future, as other nations, many with bombs already on the shelf, scramble to join the nuclear club. Or these Asian explosions could just provide the shock we need to solve this enormous problem at last. Other nations cannot retreat from that direction until we do. We can ask them to face the world without nuclear arms, to stop generating bomb materials under civilian or military auspices, to turn their resources toward meeting their populations' basic needs, to build national pride on accomplishments that are actually worthy of admiration, only when we have the honesty and wisdom and courage to do so ourselves.