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Russia's Moon And Mars Exploration Ambitions Hobbled By A Lack Of Money (phys.org)
MarkWhittington writes: Phys.Org reports that the ambitions of the Russian Space Agency continue to exceed its financial wherewithal to carry them out. A Russian rocket is due to launch the first element of the European ExoMars program, which consists of the Trace Gas Orbiter and the Italian-built Schiaparelli lander, in March. Both are due to arrive at Mars in October. After that, Russia's space exploration plans are a bit hazy, hobbled by a lack of money.
Basically like everything else in the world?
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
This issue has been known since The Art of War. The first chapter can be summed up as two rules which Sun Tzu stresses are of far greater importance than any battlefield tactics:
1. Don't get into a war unless you are confident you can win in.
2. Even if you're confident you can in it, don't get into a war unless you are confident you can win it quickly - because war is horrendously expensive, and a prolonged campaign may leave your treasuries empty and people in poverty even if you are victorious in the field.
He was not an advocate of the fair fight.
Seriously? Right now, when Amnesty International is complaining that Russia is committing some of the most egregious war crimes that the world has seen in decades, you're going to complain about the US killing people? The US, the country that sat out the whole conflict until Daesh started committing genocide, and has thusfar resisted pressure from all of its allies in the region to send in ground troops or even establish a no-fly zone?
Really?
Sometimes the double standards amaze me. The US takes out one MSF hospital in Afghanistan and the world is aghast and enraged. Russia takes out four hospitals in a single day, including coming back to double-tap an MSF one later in the day, adding to the near obliteration of the hospital system they've nearly conducted in Syria thusfar. And most people's reaction? Crickets.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of the US. I was out there protesting both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But seriously people, the hypocrisy here can be cut with a knife.
The War of 1812... the good 'ol days when the federal government actually tried to save New Orleans.
If they need more money they need to focus on killing people in faraway lands and none of this silly exploration.
Russia is already doing just that in Syria. Every day Russian war planes deliberately target civilians opposed to Assad's dictatorial regime. This past week Russia deliberately targeted several hospitals in Syria.
Russia has tried to claim it's upgrading its weapons systems, but every time they do they come out the next month with downward revisions on the money available to purchase such weapons or put the programs on hold due to the corruption inherent in their society.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
A large percentage of the residents of Crimea were already Russian citizens, so it obviously had relevance to them.
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But nice attempt at astroturfing it as if it weren't an annexation. The United Nations does not recognize the 2014 referendum as valid.
It was an annexation with popular support. For what happens without said support, see Donbass.
You can't just move a bunch of people into an area, annex it without permission of the government from whom you are annexing it, and then call it "annexation with popular support". Otherwise, there are a few European countries well on their way to Syria declaring them "annexed with popular support".