To the editor: The Trump administration’s resolution to greenlight the growth of Saudi Arabia’s civilian nuclear program is doubtful, to say the least (“Standoff with Iran prompts a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia,” July 22). This settlement surrenders one of many key items of leverage we needed to encourage Saudi-Israeli normalization, and probably undermines a longstanding U.S. coverage in opposition to nonproliferation within the Center East.
America actually wants Saudi Arabia’s cooperation to comprise the hostile Iranian regime, however U.S.-Saudi safety ties have been already in each international locations’ mutual curiosity earlier than this settlement. It appears unwise to make a present this large, even to a strategic accomplice, with out a tangible define of accompanying oversight mechanisms.
Moreover, for the lifetime of me, I can’t perceive why American financing and funding ought to prioritize increasing nuclear vitality on the opposite aspect of the world when the US itself badly must increase home nuclear infrastructure. Main fossil gasoline initiatives stay as politically contentious as ever, and lots of renewables are too costly or unreliable to be viable out there with out critical authorities subsidies.
Nuclear energy guarantees the clean, reliable energy that our nation wants now greater than ever. It’s previous time to undertake the “all-of-the-above” strategy relating to vitality, and that begins with modernizing our strategy to nuclear vitality at residence.
Charlie Henry, Palm Desert
