Cornerstone of Chinese space station approaches liftoff

[ChineseTiger1986]

You have little understanding of history. Russians are in a class by themselves. Ever heard of the Soviet Union? The Warsaw Pact was not "Western" in any sense. Today, the Russians are not part of the European Union. Also, the Russians are clearly not a liberal democracy.

Russia is not considered Western by the mainstream. Its population centers are east of Eastern Europe. Its history is full of Czars (e.g. dictators; derived from the Roman word for Caesar) and then the Communist Soviet Union. Explain to me how Russian culture is Western. Only recently have Russians been allowed to vote and the winner is always Putin or a Putin crony.

I think he meant that Russians are White Christians, therefore they are Westerners.

 

[no_name]

Russian choosed to be different from western europe. Their religion was orthodox brand of christianity. That's like Iran choosing Shia Islam over sunni Islam, which back then was what the other arabic states were using.

 

[Nomenclature]

I was reading an article on Foreign Policy yesterday and it says China is spending $1.3 billion annually on our space program, exactly the same as India's space budget and much less than Russia's $3.8 billion. If that's true we're seriously underspending on this area given the size of our economy.

Oh, and if one believes analysts in Pentagon a significant part of China's space budget is actually military budget under disguise. I guess Pentagon's claim, if true, would make Chinese space program the most cost-efficient one in the world.

 

[siegecrossbow]

I was reading an article on Foreign Policy yesterday and it says China is spending $1.3 billion annually on our space program, exactly the same as India's space budget and much less than Russia's $3.8 billion. If that's true we're seriously underspending on this area given the size of our economy.

Oh, and if one believes analysts in Pentagon a significant part of China's space budget is actually military budget under disguise. I guess Pentagon's claim, if true, would make Chinese space program the most cost-efficient one in the world.

Either way more should be spent on the Space program. The benefits are endless once a breakthrough is reached.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

Russian choosed to be different from western europe. Their religion was orthodox brand of christianity. That's like Iran choosing Shia Islam over sunni Islam, which back then was what the other arabic states were using.

True, genetically Russians are more Aryan who also differ significantly from the typical Westerners.

I've seen a lot of Russian nationalists who complain that the West always has the attempt to hijack their history by claiming that Russia's historical ruling class Rus was a Germanic tribe. Many Russian nationalists tend to believe that Rus was originally a Scytho-Sarmatian tribe.

 

[Martian2]

I think he meant that Russians are White Christians, therefore they are Westerners.

If he wants to say they are White Christians, I don't have any problems with that. However, he cannot say that they are Westerners. Otherwise, he would have to explain why the United States has a plan to obliterate a fellow Western nation, which would not make any sense.

Also, no mainstream person would consider Russians as Western under Stalinist Russia, Khruschev's Russia (e.g. the guy who banged his shoe on the U.N. lectern threatening to bury the West and responsible for the Cuban Missile Crisis), or Putin's Russia (e.g. invaded and annexed 20% of Georgia).

----------

Why Obama Can't End Nukes - Newsweek.com

"The Doomsday Dilemma
By John Barry and Evan Thomas | NEWSWEEK
Published Apr 3, 2010
From the magazine issue dated Apr 12, 2010

This Spring, Barack Obama will push toward his goal of a nuclear-free world. But the stiffest resistance may be at home.

For many years, America's master plan for nuclear war with the Soviet Union was called the SIOP—the Single Integrated Operational Plan. Beginning in 1962, the U.S. president was given some options to mull in the few minutes he had to decide before Soviet missiles bore down on Washington. He could, for instance, choose to spare the Soviet satellites, the Warsaw Pact countries in Eastern Europe. Or he could opt for, say, the "urban-industrial" strike option—1,500 or so warheads dropped on 300 Russian cities. After a briefing on the SIOP on Sept. 14, 1962, President John F. Kennedy turned to his secretary of state, Dean Rusk, and remarked, "And they call us human beings."

Ever since the dawn of the atomic age at Hiroshima in August 1945, American presidents have been trying to figure out how to climb off the nuclear treadmill. The urgency may have faded in the post–Cold War era, but the weapons are still there. By 2002, President George W. Bush was signing off on a document containing his administration's Nuclear Posture Review, an -analysis of how America's nuclear arms might be used. Bush scribbled on the cover, "But why do we still have to have so many?" According to a knowledgeable source who would not be identified discussing sensitive national-security matters, President Obama wasn't briefed on the U.S. nuclear-strike plan against Russia and China until some months after he had taken office. "He thought it was insane," says the source. (The reason for the delay is unclear; the White House did not respond to repeated inquiries.)

During his presidential campaign, Obama embraced a dream first articulated by President Reagan: the abolition of nuclear weapons. The idea is no longer all that radical. In January 2007, an op-ed piece calling for a nuclear-weapons-free world appeared in The Wall Street Journal, signed by Reagan's secretary of state George Shultz; Nixon's and Ford's secretary of state, Henry Kissinger; Clinton's secretary of defense Bill Perry; and Sam Nunn, the former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and longtime wise man of the defense establishment. "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," as they were quickly dubbed, had gotten together to give cover to politicians. "We wanted the candidates of both parties to feel they could debate the issue freely," said Nunn.
...
The prospect of nuclear proliferation is anxiety-inducing for all presidents, especially as terrorists try to get their hands on loose nukes. Obama is convinced that nuclear terrorism now poses a greater threat than the remote possibility of a nuclear war. On April 12 and 13, he will host a Washington summit of more than 40 heads of government with the aim of getting tougher measures to secure the fissile material still lying unprotected around the world. He's set a deadline of four years for truly securing the most dangerous materials. His own advisers suspect he is being overambitious but see the summit as a "consciousness-raising exercise." Every five years, the signers of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty meet to review progress, and in May they will meet again. The Obama team hopes to use the conference to push his no-nukes agenda, but he will be resisted by countries, like Iran, that resent American power. At the same time, Obama can't cut America's arsenal as much as he might like. Countries long under U.S. nuclear protection, like Japan, may decide they need their own nuclear arms as American power declines in the world. Countries choosing to stay under the nuclear umbrella will want reassurances that they can depend on it."

 

[Akasa]

Well, good luck.

 

[Akasa]

It is better to have your own instead of being controlled by others. Doesn't Russia recently charged india extra again for ships built for india but delayed by Russia again?

It is Russia's fault for delay but india has to pay for it. What a joke. You know what's russia's reason for that overcharge? Inflation.

Russia tries many times to play the games with China but got rebuffed many times when it tried.

Even U.S., after the retirement of its last space aircraft, has to suffer. Russia immediately increases the fee substantially to send U.S. astronauts into space station. Even U.S. has to bear that for at least the next five years.

Do we really need to turn this nice topic into a flame war?

 

[AMCA]

when we are building our own, india joined the international space station program which they were even denied to have a member working on the station.

different nations, different paths, different future.

Should I reply to this fellow ??? Seems to be a nice thread...

 

[ao333]

By administrative centers, population centers, history, and culture, Russia is Western.

No. Russia is East European, along with its other European Soviet Republics.

You need basic wiki education.

Western world - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Pakchina]

We were not denied. We simply opted out for now. Please read the news material in detail....*sigh*

The US has imposed its usual embargo for the inclusion of China into the international space station. The US has categorically refused the participation of China to this so called international space station. India has been invited to participate again in an attempt to raise India in view of containing China. Now we could also see the participation of Vietnam. Anyway while the US imposes embargoes on China in Space and satellite, China will eventually build its own and again this testifies the know how, willingness and hard work of Chinese people.