"I congratulate PM Manmohan Singh for his conviction and commitment.... Three decades of isolation have ended."

CORPORATE America is investing millions of dollars in an intense lobbying effort to convince lawmakers in Congress to ratify the Indo-US civilian agreement, fearing it might otherwise lose opportunities to earn megabucks in an Indian nuclear industry poised to open its doors to foreign investments.

INDIA has broken the regional chains and emerged as the new geostrategic force in the world. The paradigm has shifted, the world has adjusted, the rules have changed and the nuclear isolation has ended. That it all happened largely on India's own terms makes the achievement that much more significant.

In his hotel room in Vienna, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon sat tensed waiting for the outcome of the plenary session of the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) on September 6. He was conscious of the irony.

BY MUKESH RANJAN

In politics, timing is everything. The timing of the release of a letter

President Bush has failed to achieve so many of his foreign policy goals, but last weekend he proved that he can still get what he really wants. The administration bullied and wheedled international approval of the president's ill-conceived nuclear deal with India.

The Bush administration is beginning a race against time to win congressional backing for a landmark deal with India after convincing more than 40 other countries to allow international nuclear trade

Critics are more worried about bomb than energy
Our Political Bureau NEW DELHI

EVEN as the Manmohan Singh government celebrated the end of three decades of nuclear isolation, critics of the nuclear deal criticised the waiver for

The cat is finally out of the bag. It is now official that the Bush and Manmohan Singh administrations have no common or agreed understanding on vital aspects of the Indo-U.S. deal for civilian nuclear cooperation.