Putin's War Part 2.

Probably just because of their impression of who the most influential and powerful Americans are.

Russia does not seek confrontation and is open to honest, mutually respectful dialogue, separating the American people, who have consistently been respected by us, from the US authorities who foment Russophobia and those who serve them. It is these people who are put on Russia's "black list".

Russia will try to unilaterally restart a German satellite telescope that was put into sleep mode by Germany's Max Planck Institute in protest at Moscow's war in Ukraine, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos said in remarks broadcast on Saturday.

The X-ray telescope, named eROSITA, works in tandem with a Russian instrument, the ART-XC, to scan distant galaxies in what was a joint German-Russian mission until Germany put its cooperation on ice over Russia's invasion.

What did Roskosmos' head say?
"I gave instructions to start work on restoring the operation of the German telescope in the Spektr-RG system so it works together with the Russian telescope," Roskosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said in a televised interview.

"Despite Germany's demand to shut down one of the two telescopes at Spektr-RG, Russian specialists insist on continuing its work. Roscosmos will make relevant decisions in the near future," Rogozin said.

"They — the people that made the decision to shut down the telescope — don't have a moral right to halt this research for humankind just because their pro-fascist views are close to our enemies," added Rogozin, who is a Putin loyalist and a vocal supporter of Moscow's military action.

Expert's warning
However, the scientific director of the Spekr-RG project said that attempts to restart the telescope without German cooperation could be detrimental to the device itself.

The recommissioning could take place only with Germany's consent; otherwise, the telescope would be in danger of breaking down, said Russian astrophysicist Rashid Sunyaev.

The Russian Interfax news agency also cited him as saying that "unilateral action in this situation only adds more mistrust between people."

What is eROSITA?
The eROSITA telescope was launched by Roscosmos on July 13, 2019, from the Russian launch site Baikonur in Kazakhstan. It began collecting data in October 2019.

The Spektr-RG mission on which it is deployed along with the Russian telescope aims, among other things, to detect black holes.

Until eROSITA was put into sleep mode on February 26, two days after Russia started its invasion, Russian and German researchers had been able to jointly evaluate the data sent by the two devices.

At the time it was shut down, eROSITA had completed four of its planned eight full-sky surveys. Data from the first four are still being evaluated by scientists.

tj/dj (dpa, Interfax)

The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, hundreds of miles west of the rest of the country, is the latest flash point between Moscow and the rest of Europe as the fallout from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war reverberates beyond Ukraine.

Sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland — both of which are European Union and NATO members — Kaliningrad sits on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. It receives much of its supplies via routes through Lithuania and Belarus.

Lithuania said in mid-June that it would bar the transit through its territory of Kaliningrad-bound goods sanctioned by the E.U., including coal, metals and construction materials. The Kremlin called the move “unprecedented and illegal” and summoned the European Union’s top diplomat in Moscow to complain. Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, said the response would have a “serious” impact on the Lithuanian people.

Here’s what to know about this Russian exclave and how it is tangled up in the war in Ukraine.



What is Kaliningrad’s history?

Formerly known as Königsberg, Kaliningrad was part of Germany until the Red Army seized control of it from the Nazis in 1945. It was ceded to the Soviet Union after the war in Europe ended. The city and seaport is now an exclave of the Russian Federation, detached by land from the rest of Russia.

Russia renamed the city Kaliningrad in 1946, and the German population was evicted, with the city resettled by people from Russia and Belarus. It was closed to foreigners until 1991.

Given its geography, Kaliningrad had relatively close economic ties with European states in the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But relations have faded during Putin’s tenure, particularly after Russia’s 2014 attack on Ukraine and annexation of Crimea drew E.U. sanctions and condemnation.

Why is Kaliningrad important to Russia?

Kaliningrad is strategically and militarily important to Russia. It has long been referred to as the Kremlin’s “unsinkable aircraft carrier” on the Baltic Sea, where weapons can be positioned within easy striking distance of Western Europe.

The Russian Baltic Sea Fleet is headquartered in Kaliningrad, and the Kremlin has placed nuclear weapons in the exclave, according to Lithuania. Moscow announced in spring it had carried out simulated launches of its nuclear-capable Iskander missile system there.

After the Cold War, Kaliningrad was envisioned as a “Baltic Hong Kong.” It operates as a special economic zone with low taxes and almost no import duties to stimulate investment, although the economy has faltered, particularly after Western sanctions were first imposed.

How has the war in Ukraine affected Kaliningrad and neighboring Lithuania?

The three Baltic states — Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia — are among Ukraine’s loudest supporters. Lithuanian state rail operator LTG said Friday the company would no longer allow Russian goods sanctioned by the E.U. to transit through Lithuanian territory. According to Kaliningrad Gov. Anton Alikhanov, around half the items imported by his region would be affected. (The exclave still has maritime connections to Russia.)

LTG told The Washington Post that land transit between Kaliningrad and other Russian territory “is not suspended or banned” because flows of passengers and cargo that are not subject to E.U sanctions would continue.

The rail operator’s decision went into effect Saturday. While stores and gas stations in Kaliningrad are stocked, people rushed to building supply stores because construction materials are now prohibited from railway transport, Alikhanov wrote on Telegram on Monday. Goods including fuel and cement could still be shipped to Kaliningrad from Russia by sea, he added.

“The rhetoric today is sharp and uncompromising. The Lithuanians interpret the situation as ‘Russia is threatening Lithuania with war,’ ” Alikhanov said. “As if they did not start this round.”

What does the situation in Kaliningrad mean for NATO?

The three Baltic states were once ruled by Moscow, but they rushed into NATO after the end of the Cold War. They are concerned that the war could broaden and that an emboldened Russia might try to seize a strategically key stretch of land along the Polish-Lithuanian border. The roughly 40-mile Suwalki Gap connects Kaliningrad to the Russian client state of Belarus, and Kremlin control could deny the Baltic nations a land corridor to the rest of NATO.

Tension along the Suwalki Gap, named after a nearby Polish village, flared in 2016 when NATO defense ministers decided to send 4,000 troops to Poland and the Baltic countries, with many on either side of the gap. On the same day, Russia kicked off a week-long military exercise.

It is all meaningless war, and now the US education system does not have a lunch or breakfast program for it.