Russia links -- reference points

For my own reference later:


Possibilities


Ripples from Crimea


Russia-Ukraine mil complex : complex relns


Another from Spiegel : Did West break its promise?


Gazprom pipeline map
ZH stuff on Russian empire
Kaliningrad exclave
Russia-China Altai Pipedeal?


More on the pipeline

Think you understand space? View this!

Mind boggling, mind numbing. Deeply humbling.


A fraction of a fraction is just about right.


Brilliant infographic Makes for careful viewing...


Comprehensive view of space and things inside it along with a timescale and distance [I didn't know till date that it takes sunlight 4 hours to reach Pluto. WOW. Kaput.

Mangalyaan : Indian Mars Orbiter Mission

“In my humble opinion, what projects like India’s Mars Orbiter mean to a country’s economy has nothing to do with the actual dollars and cents, or in this case the rupees and paise, but the inspirational impact it has on students to study science, technology, engineering and math and the morale boost and general optimism such an audacious project can give to an emerging nation,” he said.  ”Such confidence to innovate and achieve can spread positively through an economy.  Becoming a major space faring nation means something and more countries seek such a status every year.  Of course, a nation can also use those funds for more shovel ready projects, but then all you get are more citizens that know how to use shovels.  What will be the key to success in this 21^st century?  More shoveling, hammering and paving? Or complex engineering, computer skills and scientific discovery?”

More through Forbes