On October 1, 2008, Congress approved an agreement facilitating civilian nuclear cooperation between the United States and India. Proponents of the agreement underscored its strategic benefits, hinting that an alliance of the world’s largest democracies would effectively check a rising China. Nonproliferation specialists, however, criticized the deal. They argued that accommodating India’s nuclear expansion would undermine other countries’ willingness to strengthen and enforce nonproliferation rules, send an ambiguous signal to other would-be proliferators, and weaken international institutions and rules that underpin global security. Will the extension of America and India’s partnership into the nuclear arena advance both countries’ long-term strategic goals, and was the agreement worth the subordination of nonproliferation and other objectives? Is it likely to give rise to two contending great power blocs in Asia — the United States and India on one side, China and Pakistan on the other? Join us for a discussion of these important issues.