After the US-India deal and the possible China-Pakistan deal (which, the US is now officially opposing, by the way), a US-Israel deal was always going to be a possibility. The price? Unknown, but CTBT ratification appears to be part of it, the latest CTBTO newsletter gleefully reports:
Mark Hibbs of Nucleonics Week reports that if the U.S. Senate ratifies the CTBT, Israel will follow suit in an effort to get the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to lift its trade embargo against Israel. According to diplomatic sources, senior officials have urged Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to ratify the CTBT to help make the point that Israel’s nonproliferation credentials are stronger than India’s. The latter has received an NSG exemption thanks to strong U.S. backing, but has yet to sign and ratify the CTBT.
Nucleonics Week, Volume 49 / Number 48 / November 27, 2008, p. 7 (subscription only)
Incidentally, I’m not entirely sure what this newsletter is (it’s not Spectrum) but it just started showing up in my inbox and usefully contained a story I had heard about on a not-for-blogging-basis.
Anyway, the prospect of a US-Israel deal in return for CTBT ratification might leave the CTBTO very happy, but I’m not sure their neighbours in the IAEA feel exactly the same way.