October 16, 2007 (LPAC) -- U.S. President George Bush went so far yesterday as to telephone Indian PM Manmohan Singh in Abuja, Nigeria, where Singh is on an official visit, because Bush is concerned about the viability of the controversial U.S.-Indian nuclear deal. Singh told Bush that there are "certain difficulties" in operationalizing the deal, Singh's Media Advisor Sanjaya Baru said according to The Hindu. Last week, Singh had indicated that the deal might fall through, but that "was not the end of life." A new statement from the PM's office said that Singh "explained to President Bush that certain difficulties have arisen with respect to the operationalization of the India-U.S. civil nuclear cooperation agreement."

Last week, Lyndon LaRouche issued a policy statement calling on India to suspend the deal on the basis that any agreement with the U.S. while Cheney is in office is inherently untrustworthy. LaRouche also stressed that a test of the trustworthiness of the Bush administration would be its adoption of the proposal made by Russian President Putin at Kennebunkport, Maine for U.S.-Russian cooperation on missile defense in the spirit of Reagan's SDI, which LaRouche authored and advocated.

Singh also told Bush, that while India is ready to take the Doha Round trade talks further, the developed nations must consider the vulnerability of developing sector farmers to lower tariffs. "India can, by and large, live with what is on the table and has concerns only on agriculture," Singh told Bush.