The concern is no longer if, but when

When India and Pakistan tested their nuclear weapons in 1998, a wise and experienced diplomat gave me a sober prediction. Australia would respond with outrage, he said, but the US would acquiesce to these new nuclear powers, and the rest of the world would follow. India and Pakistan would therefore pay no substantial penalty. On the contrary, he predicted that India would gain immense new status and self-confidence as a nuclear power. How then, he asked, could we ever expect to persuade Iran and North Korea to stop building nuclear weapons? Would the whole global non-proliferation framework crumble?