Why is this even an issue? It's not like this guy taking amateur photos from orbit is somehow going to be able to provide useful information. The Russians have spy satellites. They're going to be using those.

Erwos

Gas, ass or...high res reconnaissance photos..nobody rides for free.

I don't blame NASA for looking the other direction. It's gonna be a long few years before the Orion program gets up and running after they retire the shuttle. Until then, Ivan can take all the pictures he wants.

vadubgeek

Out of sight, out of mind.

A bit hard commenting without access to the evidence, in this case the before-mentioned pictures.

Although perhaps not the most clever move without running it through the other involved parties that makes the ISS.

Pressure

I think Russia has finally realized just how much they can throw their weight around since the fall of the Communism.

markarian

Hey we're destroying a small chink of the middle east, why not let the Russians play too?

Who are we to judge anyone at this point?

strider_mt2k

i don't know what the big deal is? it's much funner taking pictures of tanks and stuff than melting glaciers. And of course, this whole war was for "humanitarian purposes" (aren't all wars these days?). I would've done the same.

User Formerly known as Arelar

These days, fascist russians can do whatever they want, and oil is a weapon of bullies.

ellito

Now now... no need to put a big picture of Stalin up. Putin isn't that crazy-evil. He's pretty evil. But as far as evil Russians are concerned, he maybe rounds out a Top 5 list.

On a 10 point scale (10 being a piece of charcoal where a heart should be and 1 being a bit of a prick), Stalin is 8373. He's off the chart. Killing millions of people does that.

Vladimir Lenin started the Red Terror. If you need a reason to fear Communism, talk to Lenin. Evil Communist dictator. Not just mean. Evil.

Ivan the Terrible - made the peasants into serfs. He gets a 9.

Rasputin ranks high too. He's the Baskin Robbins of crazy - 31 flavors of all-fucked up. When you rape a nun, you automatically change your alignment to Chaotic Evil. No matter how slutty the nun looks.

In the grand scheme of things, this is a 1. Sort of a prick thing to do. Putin's a nasty fella but he's no Stalin.

OMG! Ponies!

Imagine all the wonderful spying you can do with an 800mm lens...AT TWO HUNDRED MILES... pfft.

PastorDoodah

thats гречиха быка, Metvedev is just a puppet of Poetin, and he's just as sneaky as all before him, and just as bad as Bush.

they have to lick each others asses cause it's convenient.

xenoastro

@prouted:

Remember? When the Soviets were there it was their "Viet Nam".

strider_mt2k

CNN doesn't tell you the truth... Why US can attack and occupy Afganistan and Iraq based on lies while Russia is defending its people from being murdered by the US-puppet that Georgia's president is... TV is manipulating you big time in the US, it's time to learn to read and access real news not the onw prefabricated by the US government !!

prouted

@prouted: "... is defending its people ..."
That's what nazis said, when they invaded eastern parts of Europe.
Putin should have a mustache, and everything will be 'according to the international laws'.

ellito

@OMG! Ponies!: How do you invade your own territory??

ellito

@ellito: except... russia is actually defending its people. it's funny how in the west (or in the u.s. at least), the media either completely ignores the fact that russia is defending its people from the georgian military, or if they are in some way compelled to acknowledge it, they quickly follow up with 'but the reasons behind the conflict don't matter, russia is overreacting.'

adaorardor

@ellito: Poland never invaded Germany. Throwing the Nazi card down is unfounded as the facts here are radically different. Georgia invaded South Ossetia in a gambit that grossly overestimated the amount of foreign support able to be mustered and paid dearly.

OMG! Ponies!

@ellito: I believe the South Ossetians would disagree with that statement

Jraktal

Glass parking lot ... oh wait, wrong region.

I volunteer to take in any hot Georgian ladies who might have been displaced by the fighting.

GeekyNerdGuy

@prouted: well THANK YOU for being here to tell us the "Truth"

Where would we be with out you.....better off perhaps!

Western Leaders have been critical of the Russian Federations response to the invation of South Ossetia by Georgia.

but either way this is all a fuck up on Georgia even thinking that the West is looking for a confrontation with Putin.

Putin showed all naysayers who is "large and in charge"

this area is a part of the Casucasus' this is a hotbed of separatists and loyalists and they are in constant conflict.

Jraktal

Ossetia is Georgian territory. This is a bit like Mexico invading San Diego to protect illegal immigrants, but without the pleasant weather and high-priced real estate.

Andyr2120

At only 800mm, I can't imagine those photos are going to be of much use from a military strategy point of view.

phoomp

@ellito: Calm down, friend. The bottom line is that Georgia acted stupidly and is paying the price. It's not a moral judgment; it's a political judgment. Georgia acted in a way that provoked Russia, giving Russia political cover to fight back.

Saakasvili poked the Russian Bear with a stick and found out that the stick was his only weapon.

OMG! Ponies!

@adaorardor: The US media has gotten a little better. The general consensus on Sunday morning news was that Russia didn't start it (Georgia invaded South Ossetia), and that Russia was waiting for it so that it could make a bid to take back a breakaway region from the former Soviet Union and some ethnic cleansing may have occurred.

Bottom line - Russia gets off scot-free. Secretary of State Rice has overplayed her rhetoric, revealing that the US is either unwilling or unable to intervene. Simply put, we're not getting into a land war with Russia and we don't want to restart the Cold War. Russia controls the pipeline and given the still-volatile oil market, Europe will likely stay out of the conflict as well.

Has Russia pulled out? No, but that's not the question. The question is "What is anyone going to do about it?" and the answer is "Absolutely nothing".

OMG! Ponies!

Skybase 1 to Moscow Central - We got those intel photos you needed. Yup, you are still steamrolling over a vastly inferior military with antiquated weapons and vehicles. No - we couldn't get a good shot of that region... our view was obscured by your 18 military satellites taking photos of the exact same area.

Until they drive that thing kamikaze style into a hostile target, the ISS has zero military uses.

Hiphopopotamus

Russia just needs some non-mutant genetics and unpolluted land to survive ...

[english.pravda.ru]

GeekyNerdGuy

@Andyr2120: Did you just assert that San Diego was Mexican territory?

b/c, I mean

you'd be wrong

nachobel

So basically NASA is not pissing off there only ride to the ISS in the next couple of years smart move

utube2007

rocketsandsuch.blogspot.com broke the story on august 13. seems that nasa was stopping those pictures from actually being transmitted to their intended destination....

supernovax

Why was I surprised to find a steaming pile of Russian Apologists here?

@OMG! Ponies!: "Putin's a nasty fella but he's no Stalin."

Yet.

@strider_mt2k: "Who are we to judge anyone at this point?"

Who else?

@xenoastro: "...and just as bad as Bush."

So he's good then? Seems unlikely.

@Andyr2120: "This is a bit like Mexico invading San Diego to protect illegal immigrants"

It's a lot like that, actually.

GadgetPlay

Non-issue. Commercially available satellite services provide better imaging than Cosmonaut Oleg could ever get with hand-held equipment, shooting through a thick window.

DrJimmy

I wonder if it's playing out up there like in 2010 where they have all the tension between the astronauts and the cosmonauts.

GeekyNerdGuy

At least some people here do read real news and understand the propaganda from media manipulated by their government...

prouted

This is soooo dumb. The guy was probably taking pictures for 'fun'.
Why would a country like Russia have to depend on amateur grade pics from the ISS when they likely possess the capability to read text off of a newspaper with their vast number of spy satellites??

sxt173

@GeekyNerdGuy: I was thinking the same thing!!1 I see duct tape delineating the territories claimed on the ISS for the "homelands"... and a thumb war for the toilet...

How ironic the Olympics were this year... Where is the United Federation Of Planets when you need it?

rudolphdude

The empire strikes back! I guess we had it coming after our support for the Kosovo breakaway. Russia was buddy buddy with Serbia and wanted Serbia to keep Kosovo intact. Until we fungulled them.

Noobs-R-Us

@prouted:
@OMG! Ponies!:
Thank you! I'm so glad to see not every1 is lining up in the CNN bullsh*t line.

To all those who say we're just Russia apologists, try to look at some foregin media (no, BBC doesn't count). Sure they're not innocent of distorting facts but let's face it, CNN spews BS all the time, would it hurt to look at the BS from someone elses point of view?

Nickolai_the_Russian_guy

Russia bad, blah blah blah. Georgia dumb, blahblahblah, Bushputinmetvedev, blah.

Change the title, Jesus. He's a Russian Cosmonaut, like you say in the article... not an astronaut.

DeusExMach

@OMG! Ponies!:amazing speech about the relative evil of Russian leaders.

@ellito: Ponies is correct. Russia is a bully who knows how to push georgia's buttons. The Georgians of course believe that this has always been their territory, and after so many years of conflict about this very issue, it was not terribly hard to force their hands. They WERE provoked, but they should not have acted on it.

That being said, you can't just sit on the sidelines while the big kid uses a cheap excuse to beat the crap outta his little brother with his brand new pair of brass knuckles. Well, I mean, you CAN... You just probably shouldn't.

ALT

@ljj: ...and given that their headquarters are in Atlanta, it's no surprise that CNN is taking this so personally.

92BuickLeSabre

This is not about the Russians photos of South Ossetia from the ISS (they have spy satellites that can do a much better job of that). It's about them letting us know that if we put the heat on them for what they're doing in Georgia, they can royally bone our space program.

Jeffrey McManus

I had no idea that Russia invaded Georgia! Is South Carolina next?

I have get away from the pool more often and switch on the news.

ljj

If the photos are non-military in use, why not publish them?

kapitan

blah blah blah

mpar

Putin is the former KGB. He knows how to push buttons and he pushed the Georgian's buttons perfectly. Russia wanted Georgia to invade and they tricked them into it using spies implanted in the Georgian government giving ill-advice to invade. Russia got what it wanted- an excuse to invade.

Now about that lens. Apparently no need for a tripod!!

Poon

How about "I'll take my ball and go home"?

NASA has rented out ISS service missions to Russia - (almost) all those tasty packs of tang go up on Russian supply rockets.

NASA is (probably) worried that if they confront Russia on this utter and complete violation, Russia will stop shipments of freeze dried ice-cream and toilet parts.

However I think NASA should consider going "comcast" on that astronauts data transmissions from now. Throttle him down to 14.4, monitor the packets, etc.

Boter

@Nickolai_the_Russian_guy: I try to watch CNN as little as possible. It's the channel that gives airhead Wolf Blitzer two hours a night to bloviate and blather.

OMG! Ponies!

did they get any photos of fox cutting a 12 year old american girl off the air for thanking the russian troops for saving them from Geogian bombardment?

youtube did -

+ Watch video

thedarkhorse

You might want to read more closely about the bungled propoganda Russian news made this FOX interview out to be. If you actually watched the FOX clip, you'll see that the interviewer didn't cut off the girl at all. Seriously, though, that girl felt like a plant. Did Putin pay her off or something? More likely that her family are ethnic Russians.

[freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com]

clevername

her daughter looks sooooo scared about the lies she's telling. omg.

knappoleon

@ellito: Mwaahh! Funny how we get self-righteous when things don't go our way...

I don't recall us asking for Russian permission when we granted Kosovo independance.

Gessho

"Wow, Russia, I'm really not sure what happened! There was a horrible accident and the spy...Err...Poor Cosmonaut seemed to have somehow gotten OUTSIDE the space station...WITHOUT A SUIT! I guess that's what they mean when they say 'Cosmo-NOT'"

JadoJodo

@OMG! Ponies!: Almost true. Except not, really. On Agust 5-6, Ossetian militia forces supported by Russian troops began shelling Georgian villages. This was a continuation of a major Russian excercise in the area where the major armored groups moved into the region and just kept on going. The georgian invasion of the ossetian capital was actually an attempt to cut off the Russian advance in the mountains, and the captial was on the way. The georgian president tried to disguise the true intent of his movement by making his statements, which basically made him lose the propaganda war.
[www.michaeltotten.com]
its a good read, and much better than your standard news junk

Crominator56

@GadgetPlay: @OMG! Ponies!:
Well, I don't think Putin is Stalin. The latter was a paranoid psychopath who didn't mind murdering gobs of people for little or no gain. Putin, on the other hand, is a coldly rational SOB, probably in the mold of Yuri Andropov. He's not going to pull anything like the famines in the Ukraine or the various purges of enemies, be they rootless cosmopolitans, wreckers, counterrevolutionaries, or what have you.

He will not make Stalin's glaring mistakes. Whatever else their faults, some KGB alumni are pretty capable operators. He'll continue to probe for, and bring to light, weaknesses in Western politics, and that can't be quite so good for us.

I trust Russian claims of the legitimate protection of its ethnic minorities only slightly more than I trust Georgian pleas of innocence. (/snark)

Convair 990A

Welcome back Imperialist Russia, we didn't miss you -- no, really - we _didn't_ miss you...

Geraldo

ironically, joseph stalin on the picture above was ethnic ossetian, from georgia.

ShuchismitaCardinal

Unfortunately declaring independence and being independent are two very different things. South Ossetia declared independence but the majority of the world, i.e. every other country but Russia, has failed to recognize this as a result from a legal standpoint the Georgians did nothing wrong and calling their actions an invasion is a farce. I'm no expert on the region but it has been my experience from studying other similar situations that the people declaring independence rarely represent the majority of the population. Now for the Russian response, is it positive and helping out the South Ossetians? Well that depends on what kind of influence Russia wants to leave behind after lending the independence a helping hand. In regards to those who have spoken re Americas inability to nay say the Russians for getting involved, yes the situation in Iraq/Afghanistan was/is ridiculous and it was wrong to invade but you can't use our mistake as an excuse to continue making bad decisions around the world.

For those claiming to question the objectivity of the Western media, I applaud you it is important to consider all media outlets. For example here is a piece that is a bit meatier than most re the conflict: [www.jamestown.org]

fotografiado

@Andyr2120: Ossetia is Georgian territory. This is a bit like Mexico invading San Diego to protect illegal immigrants, but without the pleasant weather and high-priced real estate.

A better anology would be if the US Government invaded San Diego, and then the Mexicans stepped in to defend the San Diegans.

Still a pretty terrible analogy however, because San Diego is not a breakaway state - why the hell would the US invade San Diego.

TheLandOfSmeg

The Russians liberated the South Ossetians, who were invaded by the Georgians.

The Russions support the South Ossetians because they have lots of citizens/business interests there.

The Georgians attacked the South Ossetia because it's within the Georgians' political territory (as an Autonomous Republic - they run themselves although technically part of the Georgian territory), and the Georgians were annoyed that did not have control.

The Georgians are also annoyed that their invasion was repealed by the Russians, and Georgia is appealing to the USA for support. Their contribution to the Iraqi-conflict is the major play card to get US support.

The truth is that the US/NASA don't care because the Georgians started it and lost. Don't know why everyone (inc. Giz) if buying into this because what the Russians did is really not bad for once.

TheLandOfSmeg

And I'm sure our astronauts never took any pictures of Iraq of Afghanistan.

CaryPraetextatus

Oh wait... this is nothing like Kosovo or Mexico...This would be more like: US giving citizenship to some or all Chechnya people... say tomorrow, following the Russian Citizenship Generosity program. Chechnya declaring independence a day after tomorrow. Russia attacking Chechnya 2 days after tomorrow and US protecting its citizens by... you know walking all over Red army two days after tomorrow. Now that I think about it we have to wait till 2011 for this scenario. Who knows, till then, probably Russia would have given citizenship to all the polar bear population in Arctic and claim Arctic is Russian territory since it has Russian residents floating all over the place.

topuzi

Now selling genuine anti-soviet tinfoil hats at half price.

glu

Gizmodians here is a link to an article, on which Czech guy (nick: lumidek) has commented in a truly intelligent way.

[www.newstatesman.com]

Get your information from both sides!

That is all. For now!

N2cogni