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Open (Not Ukraine) Thread 2023-50
News & views (not related to the war in Ukraine) …
And a 'told ya so':
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Lavrov was on the offensive today at the Raisin Dialog Conference held in New Delhi. Several of his answers need to be archived then trotted out whenever needed to explain Russia’s actions. There’s much I’d bold for emphasis but will refrain. A video’s available in Russian at the above link:
Question (translated from English): I am asking this question as a citizen of India. We tend to say that we live in a problem region and do not choose those who are our neighbors or partners. Sometimes for India, these are inconvenient allies or friends. But we don’t go to war on them. What is causing Russia to wage a protracted war over NATO expansion?
Sergey Lavrov: I assume that the people gathered here are political scientists who are interested in and follow what is happening in the international arena. In this case, they should have a good understanding of the reasons for our concerns over the past 20 years about the West’s policy towards Russia.
Yesterday, French Ambassador to Israel E. Danon, who personally participated in the discussion between Western leaders and Mikhail Gorbachev, confirmed that the North Atlantic Alliance did indeed give the Soviet Union guarantees not to expand to the east. Then he added that this does not mean that Russia has the right to do what it is doing in Ukraine.
But between their lies that they won’t expand NATO and the events that began a year ago, there are plenty of facts that should not be overlooked. They continue to lie not only after verbal promises, but also about commitments made on paper.
During the OSCE summit in Istanbul in 1999, a political declaration was signed at the highest level, the fundamental principle of which fixed the indivisibility of security and was that although countries have the right to choose their allies, no state can strengthen its security in the Area of the Organization at the expense of the security of others. Another important principle that was signed by the presidents and prime ministers in this declaration states that no country and no organization has the right to claim a dominant military role in the OSCE area. If you read these principles anew, it becomes clear that NATO has violated all these obligations. All these principles were reaffirmed verbatim in 2010 at the OSCE summit in Astana.
We started asking questions about their commitment not to strengthen their security at the expense of our security, asking if they could stop expanding NATO. They replied that it was just a political commitment. We have suggested that since this is only a political commitment, let us make it a legally binding treaty on the indivisibility of security. Do you know what they told us? They looked us in the eye and said that legally binding security assurances could only be provided to NATO members. We pointed out that US President Barack Obama signed this document. No, we were told, it’s just a political commitment, forget it.
There was another legally binding document. I am referring to the UN Security Council resolution that approved the Minsk Agreements. It is surprising that all those who signed the Minsk Agreements, except for President Vladimir Putin, have publicly confirmed that they never intended to implement this UN Security Council resolution.
There is a failure to comply with oral, written and legal obligations. All this was accompanied by the training of the Ukrainian army by NATO instructors, Ukraine received more and more weapons. Former Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, former President of France François Hollande, former President of Ukraine Petr Poroshenko, and Vladimir Zelensky said that the Minsk agreements were needed to buy time and get even more weapons.
If you look at the reports of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, you can see that they recorded a sharp increase in shelling of Donbass at the very beginning of February 2022, 20-30 times more than before.
We defended our security and the Russian people who were denied the right to use the Russian language in education, in the media, culture and anywhere else. Immediately after the coup d’état and the rise to power of the neo-Nazi regime, Ukrainian legislation officially abolished everything related to the Russian language. People who did not accept the coup in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, asked to be left alone and said that they were not going to follow this policy, were declared terrorists. The regime started a war against these people. The Minsk agreements were designed to stop this.
In fact, it was not very difficult to implement the Minsk agreements. It was about a special status for a small part of the country in the east of Ukraine. Much smaller than the territory that is now under the control of the Russian army. But they didn’t want to do that. Because the special status that was to be granted to this small territory implied the right to use the Russian language. And this in itself was considered a taboo for the Nazis, who seized power in Ukraine through a coup d’état. This status implied the right to have local police (which is not unusual), as well as the coordination of the candidacies of judges and prosecutors appointed to this region. By the way, this is almost exactly the same status that was promised to the Kosovo Serbs in 2013, two years before the Minsk agreements. We are talking about the Community of Serb Municipalities of Kosovo. The same approach and trick: to deceive Serbia in the case of the Community of Serb Municipalities of Kosovo and Russia in the case of the Minsk agreements. A special status for Serbs in Kosovo and for Russians in Ukraine. In both cases, it was the EU represented by Germany and France, as well as the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs. How they were not going to implement the Minsk agreements, because they did not restrain what they promised the Serbs in Kosovo.
Question (translated from English): This war or military campaign (whatever you call it), no amount of bombing can change hearts and minds. That’s the worst way to do it. Instead, they “strangled” the opposition and further complicated the negotiations. When will all this come to an end?
Sergey Lavrov: Tell me what year this conference appeared?
Question (translated from English): It has been held for the eighth year.
Sergey Lavrov: So you started in 2014?
Question (translated from English): Yes.
Sergey Lavrov: Have you been interested in what has been happening in Iraq and Afghanistan during these years? Have you asked the U.S. and NATO if they are confident in what they are doing?
Now German Chancellor O. Scholz, German Foreign Minister Alexander Berkok, French President Emmanuel Macron and others say that for the first time the Helsinki Final Act was violated. Apparently, they do not remember 1999, when Serbia was bombed. At the time, Joe Biden was a senator and boasted that a year before the bombing of Serbia, it was he who advocated such an approach and believed that they should bomb them completely. Iraq was destroyed as a state after US Secretary of State Catherine Powell showed a test tube with a certain powder, and then a few years later former British Prime Minister Thomas Blair said that it was a “mistake”.
You believe that the U.S. has the right to declare a threat to its national interests anywhere on Earth, as it did in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya and Syria, 10,<> miles across the Atlantic Ocean. They have the right to do so, and you don’t ask them any questions.
Russia has not just been warning overnight, as they have done in Iraq and elsewhere, but has been warning for the past decade that they are doing things that could end badly. This happened not overseas, but on our borders and territory, where Russians have lived for centuries. If it’s not a double standard, then I’m not a minister.
Question (translated from English): I have another question. This is not about Iraq or Afghanistan, but about the fact that protracted wars to protect such interests do not bring success. The Americans did not succeed, why do you think that you will succeed?
Sergey Lavrov: You lead such a solid audience. I can’t understand why you don’t understand.
Question (translated from English): What is the ultimate goal?
Sergey Lavrov: The war against everything Russian in Ukraine. Can you imagine that English was abolished in Ireland, French in Belgium, German in Switzerland, and Swedish in Finland? Can you imagine that? Of course not. But no one lifted a finger (neither little finger nor middle finger) when the Russian language was completely abolished in Ukraine. We knocked on all the doors: the OSCE, the Council of Europe – why don’t you tell them to do something, to behave normally. In all eight years, I don’t remember raising this issue at your conference.
Question (translated from English): In fact, the question is that on the other side they believe that the end of the war will come when Russia stops fighting and, possibly, moves on to negotiations. Is there an ultimate goal that you or the other side are pursuing? Where will this all lead? The countries of the region feel the impact of what is happening. Food, fertilizers, energy…
Sergey Lavrov: The countries of the region are influenced not by what we are doing in Ukraine, but by the West’s reaction to our actions there after we warned them for decades to stop expanding NATO and supplying weapons to Ukraine, preparing it for war against us.
Yesterday I took part in the Group of Twenty Council of Foreign Ministers. Our Western “friends” shouted into microphones that “Russia must.” All the delegates from developing countries said they “want to stop the war” if Russia is ready for negotiations.
If you are really interested in politics and the root causes of this particular situation, then you would know that US President Joe Biden, US Secretary of State E. Blinken, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, head of European diplomacy Jean-Borrell, have repeatedly repeatedly repeated that Russia must be “defeated in a bigger battle” and inflicted a “strategic defeat” on it. This, in their opinion, is an existential issue for the West in the context of global domination. Dumb approach.
At the G20 summit, it was only about what to do with Ukraine, about the final declaration – whether it will be or not. I asked our Indian and Indonesian friends who have chaired recent summits (as well as those who hosted the G20 before them over the years) whether the final declarations have ever reflected the situation in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan or Yugoslavia.
The G1999 was formed in 2008 at the level of finance ministers and central bank governors, and in <> it became a summit. Everyone didn’t care about anything except finance and macroeconomic policy, for which the G<> was created.
At present, whatever the West does, the implication is that it is its right, and when Russia, after years of warnings, began to defend itself, there is nothing more “interesting” for the summit than the situation in Ukraine. It’s a shame.
Such a policy is doomed to failure. If they say it’s vital to them, it’s vital to us.
Question (translated from English): But there are many countries that want peace so that this war ends. They would like to see some boundaries set and negotiations begin. But what is the ultimate goal? This war cannot last forever, or may start again in twenty years. And Afghanistan will happen again and again.
Sergey Lavrov( translated from English): You know, you would be an ideal propagandist in the style of the USSR, calling for peace and an end to hostilities.
I’m trying to explain that it’s not black and white. The suffering of others is not related to what we are doing in Ukraine to protect ourselves. They are associated with sanctions, the policy of blackmail and diktat promoted by the West. US Secretary of State E. Blinken, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy J. Borrell, European ministers travel around the world and tell other countries how to behave – support sanctions, vote, as they are told, etc. If they are such big democrats, then we need to respect the right of other countries to take their own position.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin explained in detail, before we launched the special military operation, why we were doing this and that we had no other choice. The West condemned this. Treat others as adults, rather than telling them what position they should take. Developing countries were virtually silent until the West began to blackmail them and threaten them, to apply measures to those who did not impose sanctions against Russia. Many of my friends in the developing world have told me how this happens. Americans are telling developing countries how to vote. They agree to vote, as they are told, because they believe that this can be explained by the provisions of the UN Charter, etc. But they think that they will receive it in return. The Answer of the Americans is “you will not be punished.” It’s called a “fair deal.”
I have quite a few friends in New York. Spoke to them during my trip to the 2022 UN General Assembly, and many, if not most, of them said they fully understood what was going on and that we shouldn’t be angry with them about their opinions in the voting. They cited the arguments used by the Americans when they persuade them to speak at the General Assembly against Russia. The arguments are very straightforward: do not forget that they have bank accounts in such and such banks, and their children study at Stanford University. Straightforward.
I am sure that many in this room know that this is true.
Question (translated from English): I agree that it is impossible to selectively apply bombs and sanctions. No matter how many bombs you drop, you can’t achieve a positive result. Irreparable damage will still be done and innocent people will die. The same with “targeted” sanctions, they will cause collateral damage. Obviously, both sides must sit down at the negotiating table and find a solution. A line must be drawn somewhere, and diplomats must get a chance again.
Sergey Lavrov: Dear friend, you surprised me. If you raise this issue, you should do your homework.
Everyone asks when Russia will be ready for negotiations. The West continuously says that it is not yet time for them, because Ukraine must win on the “battlefield” before the negotiations begin. No one asks Zelensky when he is going to hold them. When preparing this topic for today’s meeting, you should have taken into account that in September 2022 he signed a decree according to which it is a criminal offense to negotiate with Russia while President Vladimir Putin is in power. Maybe we should raise this issue? Can you invite him and ask him what he’s doing?
Question (translated from English): How will Russian-Chinese relations affect Russian-Indian cooperation? Between India and China, contradictions persist along the state borders in the Himalayas and the Indian Ocean. In connection with the changes in Russian-Chinese relations, more joint exercises are held near Japan and India. How does Russia assess the strategic value and benefits of deepening relations with China and its impact on Russian-Indian interaction?
Sergey Lavrov: We are never friends against anyone. Russia has excellent relations with both China and India. Cooperation with India in the official documents signed by the heads of the two states is characterized as a specially privileged strategic partnership. I do not know whether any other country with our Indian friends has the same status, officially recorded on paper. But we see it as a reflection of reality. Be it the economy, technology, military and military-technical cooperation, culture, humanitarian and educational ties.
Our relationship with China has never been so good in history.
Russia is interested in these two great nations being friends, and we are helping this. We try to be helpful. The creation of the RIC “troika” (Russia, India, China) was the initiative of my esteemed predecessor, Yevgeny Primakov. This marked the beginning of the process that eventually led to the formation of BRICS. Now this format is in demand. More than 20 countries want to join BRICS. The formation of this organization became possible largely due to the decision to create a “troika” of the RIC.
I can assume that you hear about BRICS more often, but the “troika” (Russia, India, China) also continues to function. We had a meeting in 2021, and this year we also plan to hold a meeting at the level of foreign ministers. This will be the 19th trilateral meeting. There is cooperation at the level of experts in the fields of economy, trade and technology of our countries. Employees of think tanks and academia regularly hold joint conferences. They were supposed to meet this spring, but our Indian colleagues asked for a short delay. In my opinion, the more often we meet, the better.
The RIC serves as a platform for Indian-Chinese cooperation with the participation of Russia. These countries do not always have the opportunity to discuss their issues in a bilateral format. The RIC platform is designed to give them more common ground. BRICS is another such platform.
We fully supported India’s accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. This has allowed India and China to gain additional opportunities for interaction and the search for common solutions. Let’s continue to follow this line. Never engaged in “games” with someone against other countries.
Unfortunately, this approach is widespread among other external players. For example, in the context of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy, the U.S.-British-Australian AUCUS, and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, Quad, which is now being militarized in circumvention of its economic goals. The initiative promoted by our American colleagues – ASEAN + QUAD – is openly aimed at destroying the East Asia Summit (EAS). In other words, it will be the EAC without China and Russia.
I am convinced that these issues should be discussed more openly and honestly. This creates risks for the region. Russia has always advocated uniting peoples, which is what we are doing for many countries.
Question (translated from English): How did the war affect Russia’s energy policy? Will it be reoriented to Asian countries? If this happens, will gas be supplied to India?
Sergey Lavrov( translated from English): The war that Russia is trying to stop and launched against us with the use of Ukrainian citizens, of course, influenced Russia’s policy, including in the energy sector. Speaking about what has changed, we can say directly: we will no longer rely on any partners in the West and will not allow them to blow up gas pipelines again. By the way, Russia asked for an investigation, but our request was instantly rejected, and the Americans called it stupid.
Everyone saw the reaction of Europe and America when S. Hersh published the results of his investigation. Germany was humiliated physically and mentally. Everything that is happening now is aimed at reducing the importance of Europe, turning it into a subordinate “player” of the United States, undermining the competitiveness of European countries and, obviously, destroying economic ties between Russia and the EU. It’s true. It’s their choice. This is confirmed by the relevant rhetoric about the importance for the West of what is happening in terms of its ability to dominate the international arena. Everything falls into place.
Russia’s energy policy will be aimed at reliable partners, including India and China.
Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 3 2023 16:55 utc | 109
Georgian authorities are resisting U.S. pressure: the law on foreign agents will be adopted (EurAsia Daily, February 27, 2023 — in Russian)
The majority in the Georgian parliament will support in the first reading both versions of the draft law on foreign agents—the “Georgian” and the “American”—after which the documents will be sent for examination to the Venice Commission. This was stated by the Chairman of the ruling party Georgian Dream Irakli Kobakhidze on February 24.
At today’s meeting, the Bureau of the Parliament has made a decision to determine the leading and mandatory committees for further consideration of the new legislative initiative “On the registration of foreign agents”.
Kobakhidze expressed confidence that one of the drafts would eventually be adopted in any case as a law.
He also stressed that it is unacceptable to compare the proposed drafts to Russian legislation, according to the Novosti-Georgia news portal. According to Kobakhidze, the first version was developed by the Power of the People movement independently, and the second is a translation of the U.S. FARA law.
“They said that the Georgian version was Russian, now the American version is called Russian. This is more than a lie,” Kobakhidze said, noting that, as a result, State Department Spokesman Ned Price has been misled.
Misled! Haha. Very diplomatic.
“We have decided that we will support both bills in the first reading… Both the ‘Georgian’ and ‘American’ versions will be adopted, after which both documents will be sent to the Venice Commission. We are requesting an accelerated procedure, after which the bill will be finalized based on the version that will receive a more positive assessment,” Kobakhidze said.
He did not say what would happen in case of a negative review, but noted that the Venice Commission is providing a legal opinion and cannot prohibit the adoption of a law.
The Power of the People movement, which is part of the parliamentary majority together with the ruling party, previously initiated a bill “On the transparency of foreign influence”. Today, at the meeting of the Bureau, another version has been presented, called “On the registration of foreign agents”. In the second version, the status of foreign agents is proposed to be assigned not only to the media and NGOs, but also to any individuals and legal entities receiving funding from abroad, with some exceptions. Individuals who violate the law, refuse or delay registration will be imprisoned for up to five years, legal entities will be fined.
One of the leaders of the Power of the People, Dmitry Khundadze, said that the law, based on one of the two drafts, will be adopted before the end of the spring session.
The European Union has already stated that the adoption of such laws is incompatible with the implementation of recommendations for Georgia to obtain the status of a candidate member of the European Union, with the norms and values of the EU. The U.S. has also expressed concern. U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan argues that “foreign aid is already transparent”. According to the U.S. Ambassador, “Georgia does not need this law”.
Well, if the U.S. Ambassador says so, I guess the sovereign and independent Georgia really does not need this law. I mean, if Georgia stops doing what the U.S. Ambassador tells it to do, something bad may happen. It may even fall under the influence of some foreign country!
“The purpose of these laws is completely different from U.S. law… These laws are designed to prevent Georgians who are helping other Georgians, Georgians who are trying to solve problems and provide services to their population, whether it is related to climate change, business associations, youth or people with disabilities. Legal assistance to those who in some cases definitely need it. Thus, these laws appear to be clearly in line with Russian legislation aimed at stigmatizing civil society. It is aimed at suppressing dissent, and when you look at what is happening in Russia right now, you will see that Russian legislation is very effective in suppressing civil society and dissent,” Degnan said.
Chairman of the Georgian Dream Irakli Kobakhidze and Head of the Georgian Dream parliamentary wing Mamuka Mdinaradze note that the representative of the U.S. State Department is lying when he criticizes the bill on foreign agents:
“If a person lies, what difference does it make who he is… ‘Ned Price is lying too?!’ you’re asking with surprise, as if Price is not a person and cannot lie… You have raised some issues to the level of faith that, for example, if he is a representative of our partner country, then he cannot lie,” Mdinaradze said.
Posted by: S | Mar 3 2023 18:23 utc | 116
Moon of Alabama is perhaps a little short on reporting about the moon https://russian.rt.com/science/article/1117917-luna-25-lunnaya-programma-intervyu
“The Seventh Continent of the Earth”: scientific director of the Russian lunar program – about the expedition “Luna-25”
Against the background of increased scientific interest in the natural satellite of the Earth, the second lunar race begins in the world. This was stated in an exclusive interview with RT by the scientific director of the Institute for Space Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian program for exploring the moon on automatic spacecraft, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Lev Zeleny. According to him, the Russian mission “Luna-25”, which should be launched as early as July this year, may be the first expedition to the poles of the Earth’s satellite. Its task is to study the lunar soil from the little-studied polar regions. Zeleny also said that the next Russian lunar expeditions will be carried out completely on the domestic elemental and technological base.
— Lev Matveyevich, Roskosmos reported that the launch of the Russian automatic station Luna-25 is scheduled for mid-July. This project is part of the Russian lunar program, designed for the period from 2021 to 2040. What scientific and practical tasks is the Luna-25 mission intended to accomplish?
– First of all, let me remind you why the mission has such a name. The fact is that at one time the USSR conducted 24 expeditions to the Earth’s satellite. The last of them – “Luna-24” – took place in 1976. Continuing this numbering, we want to show that we rely on the experience of our great predecessors. Luna-25 is our first lunar expedition after almost 50 years. First of all, within the framework of the mission, it is planned to restore the technology of soft landing on the surface of an atmosphereless body, which is the Moon. This is not an easy task: over the past decades, several vehicles have already crashed while trying to land on the moon. And as part of the Soviet lunar program, only the ninth apparatus in a row was able to gently land on the Earth’s satellite in 1966. Prior to this, the devices either flew past, or also crashed.
We consider Luna-25 as a test mission, it will carry a somewhat lighter set of scientific instruments in order to reduce the weight of the apparatus and increase reliability. However, the mission will also have to solve scientific problems, since we are talking about the first ever landing in the vicinity of the South Pole of the Moon. Prior to this, all space powers landed their vehicles at mid-latitudes, because in this case the tasks of the flight are greatly simplified and the conditions for the operation of the module are improved. At the pole, the natural environment is completely different than in the middle latitudes, the difference is as strong as on Earth. It is much colder at the lunar poles, but also much more interesting, because the mid-latitude Moon was already well studied in the last century. At the same time, remote studies show that under the surface of the lunar poles there may be some reserves of water ice. This will have to be confirmed by direct measurements, which became one of the tasks of the Luna-25 project. In addition, the device has instruments for studying the interaction of the lunar surface with the solar wind – this is a plasma stream that comes from the Sun. It is deflected from the Earth by a magnetic field, while the Moon does not have such protection and is directly affected by this flow. The moon is covered by a very interesting shell – a dusty exosphere, which is also planned to be explored. The moon, however, does not have such protection and is directly affected by this flow. The moon is covered by a very interesting shell – a dusty exosphere, which is also planned to be explored. The moon, however, does not have such protection and is directly affected by this flow. The moon is covered by a very interesting shell – a dusty exosphere, which is also planned to be explored.
We were the first to talk about the importance of studying precisely the poles of the Moon back in 2009-2010, and now scientists in other countries have come to the same conclusion. Today, the missions of India, the USA, and China are aimed at approximately the same areas of the Moon. If everything goes according to plan and the Luna-25 mission apparatus makes a successful landing in July, then we will be ahead of other states. Of course, all scientists want to be the first, this motive has not been canceled.
– Was it necessary to create new equipment specifically for the Luna-25 mission?
Our colleagues from NPO Lavochkin have developed a new approach for the mission. After all, vehicles have never landed at the poles of the moon before – and this is a completely different ballistics and flight conditions. It is very difficult to choose a landing site, because it must be flat, without slopes. For example, if the device lands on the edge of the crater, then it will roll down, because there is a noticeable gravity on the Moon. In addition, the radio visibility of the Earth is important in order to maintain communication, which can be prevented by a mountain or a crater. It is also important that the landing site is well illuminated by the Sun, since there are areas at the poles where the light does not reach at all, for example, inside deep craters.
– Did you need to look for a replacement for some imported components?
– Initially, the European Space Agency (ESA) took part in the Luna-25 mission, which supplied some of the equipment that was not the most important. At the beginning of last year, ESA withdrew from the project, but by that time all the equipment was ready and we did not have to replace any components, especially since ESA’s participation was not very large-scale.
However, if we look ahead, then for the missions “Luna-26” and “Luna-27” the problem of import substitution already arises. For Luna-27, the European partners had to make two very important blocks – a cryogenic drilling rig, which would allow to “look” under the surface of the Earth’s satellite to a depth of about one and a half meters in order to find inclusions of water ice, and a high-precision landing system that would allow the device exactly sit in a pre-selected place. Now we are developing these systems ourselves and have already advanced quite far. So the next expeditions, “Luna-26” and “Luna-27”, will be carried out completely on the Russian elemental and technological base.
– Initially, the launch of the Luna-25 station was scheduled for 2014, then the dates were constantly shifted. As a result, the launch should take place nine years later. To what extent is this a typical situation for astronautics?
— Not really, unfortunately, although everyone has such delays. For example, last year was marked by the launch of the American James Webb Telescope, which has already made several important discoveries possible. But its commissioning was also postponed for several years, while the cost of the project has grown significantly compared to the original estimate.
The postponement of the start of the Luna-25 expedition from 2014 turned out to be unexpectedly long, there were problems with the development of some blocks, and a certain lack of funding complicated the work. The main difficulties arose with the device, which should determine the height of the spacecraft above the surface during a soft landing and give commands to decelerate the engine. Now these problems are mostly solved.
– NASA has been working on the Artemis lunar program for several years. Last fall, the Orion spacecraft was launched to the Moon and returned to Earth in December. It is reported that the goal of the mission is to return a man to the moon by 2025. Why is it now that both Russia and the United States seem to be resolving the tasks that were already solved in the last century?
I sometimes ask myself this question myself. Even 20 years ago, when I was studying solar plasma, and the Moon seemed a boring and already closed topic for science, I would not have believed that the time would come when the attention of scientists around the world would again be riveted to the Earth’s satellite. Now the second lunar race is really beginning, in which China, India and other countries participate. The fact is that the scientific and technical sphere is characterized by cyclicity, development goes in a spiral.
Then the lunar and space race in general ended – the Americans were sure that they had emerged victorious from it, but we believed that the Soviet lunar machines gave an asymmetric, but more than worthy answer … For about 20-30 years, everyone forgot about the Moon – the world the scientific community switched to other tasks.
However, gradually interest in the natural satellite of the Earth began to recover. New devices that explored the moon made it possible to make a number of discoveries. For example, the American Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which also carried the equipment created at our institute, showed that there are many unexplored things on the Moon.
For example, comets could bring water to the Moon, and they are considered the main distributors of organic compounds in the solar system. So it is possible that on the Moon we will be able to find organic molecules that once fell on the Earth and became the fundamental basis for the emergence of life.
In addition to purely scientific interest, there are also practical motives for studying the moon. In fact, the Moon is the seventh continent of the Earth, it is very close to humanity even because it was created, like Eve from the rib of Adam, from our planet: its significant fragment was knocked out in a collision with a large celestial body flying past.
Posted by: Oblomovka daydream | Mar 4 2023 11:48 utc | 147
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