Waiting For Rogozin (Update)
‘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.”
Rice University has no plans to host head of Russian space program in Houston, despite reports, Houston Chronicle
“Facing mounting speculation and criticism that it would host the head of Russia’s space program, a politician known for a track record of racist and homophobic statements, Rice University affirmed Wednesday that it had no plans to bring Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin onto its campus. Rice University spokesman Doug Miller said although NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine invited Rogozin to visit Houston and the university, there is no plan for Rogozin to come to Rice.”
Per @NASA “NASA has informed the Russian space agency, @Roscosmos that the proposed visit of Roscosmos Director General, Dr. Dimitry Rogozin currently planned for February 2019 will need to be postponed. A new date for the visit has not been identified.”
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) January 4, 2019
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
That Politico article could have been better written. One of the first sentences says Mr. Rogozin was invited to “visit NASA headquarters in Houston in early 2019.” So I’m not sure how much I can trust their facts.
But Russia and the United States do have somewhat, ah…, complicated relations. If the head of the Russian space program needs to come over here on official business and that involves waiving sanctions against him for his part in the Crimean occupation, I would not be happy but I probably wouldn’t complain. But if he’s coming here to make a speech to students at Rice University, that’s a very different matter. That’s a privilege (and an opportunity for propaganda) which the sanctions are intended to deny.
Maybe we should just make up our minds. Do we want to cooperate with Russia or not? But judging by some of our President’s tweets, we don’t even have a clear, consistent approach to nations like Canada or France. That makes me think a formal and official relationship with someone like Mr. Rogozin while avoiding any personal favors isn’t irrational.
The line you have drawn – Rice, no, Headquarters, yes – to my mind difficult to defend, but understood. Would your view be different without the storied history of Rice as a place to make announcements?
I wonder how a guy so astute politically could step in it so clearly. In point of fact, he probably didn’t- there’s a back story here that will come out, I hope; I mean I hope he was fully aware of the reaction such an invitation and venue would engender.
No, the history of speeches at Rice isn’t the issue. In effect, they are talking about a one-time exception to the sanctions which ban Mr. Rogozin. I’m not happy about that, but if the appropriate people decide it’s essential for some US government agency, then I probably wouldn’t complain. Something like a private, in-person conversation about who drilled a hole in a Soyuz might qualify. But I think the exception should be as minimal as possible and only cover the essential activities. In my opinion, making a speech doesn’t qualify as essential.
I’m having trouble with this point of view. Haven’t the Russians been full partners at the ISS for decades? And does this not translate into a certain degree of latitude- respect, even?
I suppose it’s hard to understand because the laws have created some contradictions. The head of Roscosmos should probably be treated in the way you describe. But Mr. Rogozin’s previous job was Deputy Prime Minister and he was responsible for the defense industry. He had that position when Russia annexed Crimea and started underwriting (at least) a civil war in eastern Ukraine. That’s why President Obama and Congress put him, personally, as Dmitry Rogozin, on the sanction list.
So now that he’s been made head of Roscosmos, we’re in this schizophrenic position where we have to consider Dmitry Rogozin a persona non grata and simultaneously have to do business with the head of Roscosmos. The line I was trying to draw was an attempt to separate the office (and the official duties) from the office holder. That’s not a great solution, but I can’t think of anything better.
“Timeline of Russian plot to infiltrate NRA and GOP”
https://www.cbsnews.com/new…
“U.S. officials charge NRA-linked Russian with acting as Kremlin agent”
https://www.politico.com/st…
“Russian agent’s guilty plea intensifies spotlight on relationship with NRA”
https://www.washingtonpost….
Seems like republicans are more interested in cooperating ..
Sounds like you don’t know how many Democrats & indies members of the NRA or own firearms (a lot)
The NRA’s leadership is pure Republican, and specifically the most corrupt side of that party. And it’s the leaders, not the rank and file members, who have been accused of knowingly laundering money for the Russian government in order to allow Russian spies to illegally interfere with US elections.
Any Dems and indies who have paid money to the NRA because of a personal interest in firearms should have known better long before this scandal, they sure as hell should know better now, and find a pro-firearms group that isn’t corrupt.
Infiltrate. {laughs} As if it was some subtle plot.
“Hello, we are Russian government and wish to pay you to undermine your own nation.”
“Cash, cheque or credit?”
Trampoline Rogozin will not be traveling to the U.S. anytime in this or any near-future Democrat administration. I’m quite sure the President thinks it’s a good idea…but if it is illegal for Rogozin to travel to the U.S., then the optics of it leading into the 2020 election year are terrible from many angles. Ain’t happenin’. NASA cooperates with ROSCosmos, in a wispy and apparently indirect and apolitical way and that is the way it will stay. Russia in general and Rogozin in particular have tried to use that to buy political cooperation…and many here resent it.
If he comes and speaks, he WILL campaign for the lifting of sanctions. No Russian official ever talks on any topic to Americans without talking about that. It will not be allowed. He will not be coming here.
Ah yes, there’s the trampoline. I don’t need to post it now.
But you know, he could just be concerned about the adoption issue. The unreasonable actions of the US government have led to this sad state of affairs in Americans’ abilities to adopt Russian children.. LOLOL
Ya, well, the sanctions are what they are and the fact that the Russians take them so seriously should mean that we have more leverage than we actually seem to have.
Be ye on either side of the Russian relations debate, no one is going to be able to host him here at this time.
Maybe in 2021. By then if the Democrats are in power and Trump is out of picture they’ll be back in the mood to allow such things. If Trump is still in power, then he won’t care about the optics so much.
I can see the logic here, but there is another option – Russia picks a different head of Roscosmos. That’s probably the option those who strongly agree with the sanctions would prefer (well actually they’d prefer Russia to relinquish Crimea, which would lift all the sanctions, but that isn’t happening).
Sure, that brings politics into the relationship between NASA and Roscosmos, but it’s impossible to avoid politics completely in any interaction between Russia and the USA. Russia almost certainly had politics in mind when they put Rogozin in charge of Roscosmos – they probably expected a situation like this to eventually occur, and were probably hoping we would blink, which could set a precedent for other sanctioned individuals in other areas. In fact, trying to get past sanctions seems to be one of Rogozin’s unofficial job duties, he has repeatedly been denied entry to Romanian airspace.