Neighbours in Arms: An American Senator's Quest for Disarmament in a Nuclear Subcontinent

by Larry Pressler

As chairman of the US Senate s Arms Control Subcommittee, Larry Pressler advocated the now-famous Pressler Amendment, enforced in 1990. Aid and military sales to Pakistan were blocked, including a consignment of F-16 fighter aircraft, changing forever the tenor of the United States relationships with Pakistan and India, and making Pressler a temporary hero throughout India and a devil in Pakistan . This book reveals what went on behind the scenes in the years when the Pressler Amendment was in force, through a cast of characters that include presidents, prime ministers, senators and generals in the US, India and Pakistan. It exposes the enormous power wielded by the military-industrial complex, which the author terms Octopus , and how it controls significant aspects of the American presence in the Indian subcontinent.

288 pages, Hardcover

Published July 20, 2017

Reviews

[Abhilash Gollapalle · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read for those who are interested to learn about the politics of nuclear weapons, especially in the PoV of India, Pakistan and the U.S.
The book is part autobiography and part non-fiction about how U.S. policy towards India and Pakistan changed since 1947, especially after both countries went nuclear. Although I do not agree with some of the author's views, I like how he supports his arguments, and offers differing view points. He even goes as far as specifically addressing the Indian reader to get a point across which he feels would be difficult for an Indian reader to grasp.
The author focuses on the scary amount of influence lobbying groups wield in American Politics, and this provides a very neat insight into lobbying as the concept is not prevalent in India the way it is in the U.S.
The book changed my view about American foreign policy, which I considered to be opportunistic and disloyal. But I've realized that the American government is not a monolithic structure but is comprised of various 'factions' with different interests at heart and different powerful backers.

[Mahesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

1) Senator Larry Pressler has always been a star for Indians for many reasons but mainly for his efforts in pushing Pressler Amendment for Nuclear Non-Proliferation.
2) This book also gives you an idea about American politics, and how the lobbying influences the American Local and Foreign policy.
Also gives you an idea of Senator Pressler's (mostly) centrist view towards life and politics.
3) And most importantly, if you want to understand how the cold war politics ended up expanding nukes to Indian subcontinent, and how Pakistan kept lying about its nuclear program and kept advancing towards it.

For these three main reasons I would recommend this book.

[Aryan Prasad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is mainly an autobiography of the author with special emphasis on the eponymous Pressler Amendment and India-Pak-US relation through the lens of Nuclear Proliferation. By introducing the Pressler Amendment, Pressler became very famous in India and infamous in Pakistan. The author have surely kept it in mind while writing the book and have made liberal use of "For the Indian Reader" to explain the details of the Octopus (Author's choice of expression for what many people call the American MIC) and American Election system.

While the material in the book is much valuable, it would have been arranged in a better way (even Linear narration would be an improvement over the current chaos) to let the readers take most out of it.

[mayank mittal]

3.5