Editorial: When two wrongs don’t make a right

Friday, May 29, 1998 | 11:33 a.m.

IT shouldn't be too surprising that Pakistan decided to respond to India's nuclear tests with five underground detonations of its own.

"Today, we have settled the score with India," Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said. "India is an expansionist power. The world should have sanctioned India fully ... but they didn't."

Ratcheting up the tensions even more is Pakistan's declaration that it is placing nuclear warheads on a long-range missile. As in India, after news of the tests spread, it set off celebrations across the nation.

In contrast, the reaction in the United States was notably somber. President Clinton quickly, and correctly, condemned Pakistan's actions. As it did with India, Clinton said the United States would impose sanctions on Pakistan.

"Two wrongs don't make a right," Clinton said Thursday. "It is now more urgent than it was yesterday that both Pakistan and India renounce further tests, sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and take decisive steps to reduce tensions in South Asia and reverse the dangerous arms race."

And just as Pakistan's reaction was predictable, don't expect U.S. allies to help out the United States and levy sanctions of their own. In fact, if America's allies had come down heavy on India after it detonated its nuclear devices, the further escalation by Pakistan could have been averted.

Instead, two weeks ago in England at a summit of the so-called Group of Eight -- the seven largest industrial nations and Russia -- Clinton was able to muster only a group statement criticizing India, as the other nations demonstrated their weakness, refusing to institute punitive measures against India.

Sanctions obviously carry a price, for the nation they're aimed at punishing and also for the nation levying them. In the case of India and Pakistan it will mean lost revenue for some American companies doing business with those nations.

The Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act is triggered if a nation other than the five declared nuclear powers -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- performs a nuclear test. The law prohibits the sales of arms, stops American aid and loan guarantees, and stipulates that U.S. banks refrain from lending to its government entities.

But it's unclear if U.S. action alone will have much of an economic impact abroad, according to comments made by analysts after India's detonation. "Unless there is a broad initiative among allies, the sanctions will end up hurting the U.S., not India," Jeff Schott, a senior fellow at the Institute of International Economics in Washington, told the New York Times.

The United States should be especially chagrined at the weak response from its European allies, who also were no-shows in confronting Iraq over U.N. inspections of suspected weapons sites. Even Great Britain, which stood strongly by the United States in the dispute with Iraq, issued only a tepid response after India's nuclear tests.

The Group of Eight, waving a piece of paper expressing its indignation, only made India laugh and angered Pakistan into testing its nuclear devices. Pakistan may believe it has settled the score, but in reality it has only escalated the arms race by enticing other nations to develop a nuclear weapons capability.

But Pakistan alone does not deserve blame. If America's allies had shown some guts and stood up to India in a unified fashion, in all likelihood Pakistan would not have gone forward with its foolish action.

Considering the weak response from America's allies, trying to contain the nuclear genie will be almost impossible. With friends like these, who needs enemies?