Joining the big boys' club

摘要

"We're going to come down on those guys like a ton of bricks," blustered Bill Clinton in May 1998, when India exploded five nuclear bombs under its north-western desert. Six years on, and some of the last bricks are being lifted. Underneath, India looks unscathed and relations with America, according to a joint statement on September 21st, have "never been as close". That is not saying very much; but it does mean improving ties have survived America's ever-closer alliance with Pakistan as well as India's change of government earlier this year.