Waiting For Rogozin

'Wow': NASA startles with invitation to sanctioned Russian, Politico

"It absolutely sends the wrong message to lift sanctions, even temporarily, for the purpose of inviting him to speak to students at one of our nation's premier universities," said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and a leader of the committee's investigation into 2016 Russian election interference. "This is appalling," said Evelyn Farkas, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia in the Obama administration. "It's utterly inappropriate given who he is and the fact that he is on our sanctions list." More than two months after Bridenstine's original invitation, however, the details remain sparse. A Dec. 7 TASS report said that Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, is planning for Rogozin to visit in "early 2019," but neither the U.S. nor Russia has announced a specific date. The Russian embassy declined to comment on the proposed visit, and NASA spokeswoman Megan Powers said only, "Planning for a potential visit by the Director-General is still underway."

Keith's note: Rogozin's extensive and unfavorable background certainly precedes him. He's also the head of the space agency with which the U.S. built and continues to operate the largest space vehicle in history. This cooperation is not going to change any time soon. Oddly, of all the things that the U.S. and Russia do to get back at each other, the one realm of interaction where hostilities are nearly - if not totally - absent is space. Perhaps it is fitting that this one arena of cooperation serves as something to build upon. But: if Rogozin's visit is an issue with people (and it is totally understandable why this is the case) then perhaps the U.S. should be looking to end its interactions with Russia in space too - since Rogozin runs the show over there. But we're not going to do that, are we? We're joined at the hip - literally. As such we need to interact with Rogozin. Bridenstine is trying to bridge a chasm and improve and solidify the relationship. Perhaps we should at least let Bridenstine try.

- Can Sanctioned Roscosmos Chief Rogozin Visit The U.S.?, earlier post
- NASA Has Soft Power Conversations With Sanctioned Head Of Roscosmos, earlier post

from NASA Watch http://bit.ly/2QhahG2
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