Russian-US Contacts Continue Against All The Odds

Authored by Peter Korzun via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

"We stand for constructive, predictable and mutually beneficial cooperation," said Russian President Vladimir Putin at a ceremony in the Kremlin when Jon Huntsman, the new US ambassador to Russia, presented his diplomatic credentials. "The current level of the ties cannot satisfy us," he added.

The ambassador said in a statement released after the ceremony that he "looks forward to working to rebuild trust between our two countries and to strengthening the bilateral relationship based on cooperation on common."

Huntsman takes office at the time the bilateral relations are on a downward spiral of sanctions and accusations, reaching the lowest ebb since the nadir of the Cold War. The “diplomatic war” is raging, arms control is in doldrums with the future of two remaining major treaties in question. Europe is turning into a hotbed. The fate of the INF Treaty is unknown as the parties exchange accusations of non-compliance. A dispute over the Treaty on Open Skies may lead Washington to announce new restrictions on Russian military flights over US territory in the coming days.

The two powers view the world differently and the gap appears to be too wide to bridge. But a closer look at the recent events gives a glimmer of hope for the complex Russia-US relationship.

It was reported in late September that US officials were seeking ways to improve communication with Moscow and build “some degree of trust.” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian Izvestia newspaper that his regular meetings with Under Secretary for Political Affairs Thomas A. Shannon were of great importance and will continue despite of the fact that no tangible progress has been achieved so far. He said there were some certain results. The deputy minister did not elaborate.

It has been reported recently that Russian and US generals held a meeting in September to discuss the situation in Syria. It was the first contact of its kind. Col. Ryan Dillon, the Pentagon’s spokesman, said there would be more such meeting in future. Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met twice at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to talk privately. The situation in the Middle East, and Syria in particular, topped the agenda. US officials are now considering the prospects of reviving military-to-military contacts.

There has been a lot of speculation that Russia might not comply with the New START limits by the February 2018 deadline. On October 2, a US State Department report was published to say that Russia is in compliance with the provisions of the treaty. Last month, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry"s Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control Mikhail Ulyanov said Moscow intends to discuss with the US the possibility of the New START Treaty’s prolongation.

In February, President Trump decried the New START as an agreement favoring Moscow. Now he appears to change his position on the issue. The remarks by the Trump administration officials suggest the treaty will remain in force and the door remains open to pursuing an extension of the accord, which is set to expire in 2021.

Space exploration is one of the few areas where international cooperation between Russia and the US has not been affected by the deterioration of the bilateral ties. On September 27, Russian Roscosmos signed a joint statement with NASA at the 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia, to collaborate on a future spaceport orbiting the moon called Deep Space Gateway. Igor Komarov, the head of Roscosmos, said the first modules would be built between 2024 and 2026. The facility would serve as a gateway to both deep space and the lunar surface and would be developed, serviced and used in collaboration with commercial and international partners. 

Russia and the United States also discussed using Moscow"s Proton-M and Angara rockets as well as other spacecraft to help create the infrastructure of the lunar spaceport. The main works were slated to begin in the mid-2020s. Russia and the US work side by side on the International Space Station.

The recent flurry of international activity involving Libya makes it expedient for the two powers to explore the ways to cooperate on this problem and bring other Libyan forces to the negotiating table.

Moscow and Washington could discuss the ways to address this acute international issue at the UN Security Council.

The contacts are maintained against all the odds. The sides continue cooperate in some areas. The relationship has nosedived but it’s not all doom and gloom. There is still a chance for better times.

United States And Russia To Build NASA-Led Space Station

Content originally published at iBankCoin.com

The liberal science community has a moral dilemma on its hands following today’s announcement that the United States is partnering with Russia on a NASA-led project to build an orbiting lunar station.

On one hand, the international base for lunar exploration will serve as a “gateway to deep space and the lunar surface,” according to NASA.

On the other hand, Russia is involved – which means they’ll undoubtedly slit our throats in space, populate the surface of the moon, build a moon cannon – having read Heinlein, and fire silicon, magnesium, and aluminum-rich moon rocks at the United States. Once we are obliterated, Russia will invade the country and enslave all surviving Americans in moon-rock crushing factories.

Pretending not to be evil, Igor Komarov - Roscosmos’s general director, stated that Russia, the United States and other participants agreed it was important to work using unified standards to avoid future problems in space, citing Sandra Bullock’s movie “Gravity” in the process.

“Roscosmos and NASA have already agreed on standards for a docking unit of the future station,” the Russian space agency said.

AFP reports:

“Taking into account the country’s extensive experience in developing docking units, the station’s future elements — as well as standards for life-support systems — will be created using Russian designs.”

NASA said it planned to expand human presence into the solar system using its new deep space exploration transportation systems, the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.

– ‘Better to fly together’ –

Russia and the United States also discussed using Moscow’s Proton-M and Angara rockets as well as other spacecraft to help create the infrastructure of the lunar spaceport, the Russian statement said, adding that the main works were slated to begin in the mid-2020s.

“The station will be a serious platform for future research,” said Komarov - concealing his seething Red ambition, though boasting “That is a rather significant contribution.”

Igor Lisov, editor at Space News, told AFP of Russia’s potential contribution: “We are offering carriers for flights to a lunar orbiting station, we are offering our docking units or their components,” he said, adding Russia had vast experience in creating life-support systems.

Unfortunately, this will be our doom…

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Russia And The US Work Together To Build A Space Station In The Lunar Orbit

 Maybe all is finally forgiven in the ongoing battle to constantly turn the narrative back to the Russian election meddling, as the former Soviet Union and the United States attempt to work together to build a manned space station which orbits the moon.

Part of this long-term project to send humans to Mars, the NASA-led program will see the two countries working together to create a crewed spaceport in lunar orbit. The proposed crew-tended spaceport will orbit the moon and serve as a “gateway to deep space and the lunar surface.”

Russian and the US have agreed to put their heads together to make the new mission possible. The US space agency said earlier this year that it was exploring a program called the Deep Space Gateway, a multi-stage project to push further into the solar system.

While George W. Bush wanted to see humans on the moon again by 2020, Barack Obama scrapped that plan and focused his intention on plans to visit Mars, including a mission to test the necessary technology by capturing a boulder from the surface of an asteroid and bringing it into lunar orbit. Now with the Donald Trump at the helm, asteroid missions are no longer a top priority. The Trump administration wants to see a spaceport orbiting the moon, crewed visits to the lunar surface are once again on the menu.

Plans to return to the moon have waxed and waned depending on the US administration. NASA, however, has even bigger plans. The organization has ambitious intentions to send humans to orbit Mars by the 2030s, and subsequent plans to colonize the red planet.

On Wednesday the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced that a cooperation agreement had been signed at an astronautical congress in Adelaide.“The partners intend to develop international technical standards which will be used later, in particular to create a space station in lunar orbit,” the Russian agency said in a statement. The Russians and Americans would cooperate to build the systems needed to organise scientific missions in lunar orbit and to the surface of the moon, the agency added. “Roscosmos and Nasa have already agreed on standards for a docking unit of the future station. Taking into account the country’s extensive experience in developing docking units, the station’s future elements will be created using Russian designs.” –The Guardian

“To avoid future problems over technical cooperation, part of the standards should be unified – for a possibility for various countries to work on their craft and dock to the international lunar station,” Igor Komarov, Roscosmos’ general director was quoted as saying in the statement.

Russia and the United States also discussed using Moscow’s Proton-M and Angara rockets to help create the infrastructure of the lunar spaceport, the statement said, adding that the main works were scheduled to begin in the mid-2020s.

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Author: Mac Slavo
Views: Read by 1 people
Date: September 27th, 2017
Website: www.SHTFplan.com

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