RT America and the Space Between Us
I have been a semi-regular guest on RT America for the last few years as a space expert. In my appearances, I’ve carefully avoided politics and stayed focused on the Vision of all people joining in the opening of the High Frontier. On the rare occasions when I felt pushed or cleverly maneuvered into conversations that might critique the U.S. or free enterprise, I have danced with my hosts and always brought it back to the big picture. My rationales for accepting RT’s invitations boiled down to two:
- Space belongs to everyone, and as NASA demonstrates every day on the International Space Station, it can be a place where we can all work together, no matter our ideology or nation of birth.
- My goal is to reach as many people as I can, wherever they are. RT has a massive global reach, like the BBC and CNN (where I have also appeared). Earlier this year, I joked to a friend: “I’ll go where the audiences are. After all, while what the Russians call a “useful idiot” like Tucker Carlson is one of their stars, I’ve even done interviews on Fox News.”
Frankly, perhaps naively, or hiding behind relativism, Americans and citizens of the free world have engaged with Russia for decades. Most, such as corporations or governments, for self-gain or profit, and yes, as in space, sometimes in the name of science. For me, it is time for all of this to end. At this moment. In this time. There is no room for conversation, no room for nuance, no room for self-deluding rationalization. That airlock has closed. The only direction right now is that which leads to taking a stand with the free people of Ukraine.
I have met many Ukrainians, and love them as a people. The founding partner of my current company is a young Ukrainian/Israeli citizen. A few years ago, I traveled there twice. On my first trip, I arrived in the city of Dnipro the day Donald Trump became president, only two years after the first Russian incursions of 2014 that followed the Ukrainians tossing out a Putin puppet.
Dnipro is not that far from what was the frontline with the so-called Russian-backed separatists. (I still believe most of them are Russian soldiers out of uniform). I was told by many Ukrainians that they were deathly afraid of Trump becoming president, as they knew he was a friend of Putin’s. The following day, I gave a speech in front of an audience of several thousand young Ukrainian techno-creators and students. In my talk, I showed a photoshopped a Ukrainian flag-raising on Mars, a la Apollo. In fact, after some linguistic coaching from a friend, I closed my address with my fist in the air and the words: “Ya za Ukrainio.” Which (I was told) loosely translated, means: “I am for Ukraine.”
I was also a guest at a Spacer Hackathon and the ITEM tech Conference in Dnipro. In Kyiv, I spoke at the Polytechnic University. After I was treated to a private dinner with Ukrainian space leaders and senior cosmonauts, I also met with some of the leaders of the Rada (Ukraine’s Parliament) and dozens and dozens of young Ukrainian techno leaders and entrepreneurs. I was also honored to meet the Mayors of Dnipro and other cities in the region. While all great, the most touching moment was being asked to judge a children’s space art contest. To see the expression of universal hope arising from such young minds as they explained in broken English what they were trying to draw in their pieces, and to know it is the same as I have seen the world over, was an inspiring moment.
What I got back from that trip was an almost direct infusion of the passion of a young or at least reborn nation. The enthusiasm and desire of the young generation to build a new future was palpable. Their frustrations with the old Soviet-era culture of corruption were evident, and their determination to leapfrog themselves into their rightful place as a European nation and global player was without question. As is always the case, my goal was to evangelize about the potential of the Frontier and help give what I call Permission to Dream to those who might join our cause. To think that right now, some of those same children cower in basements as their worlds are destroyed sickens me.
I am not qualified to comment on the geopolitical dance of tyranny and freedom, other than to say that there are no scenarios in which the will of a single person or small group of kleptocrats overrides the will and rights of free peoples.
For now, while I immensely enjoyed working with their excellent staff and anchors in the past, I must say I am unable to work with RT America, at least until the regime now in power is removed. It is one thing for a network to have a point of view. It is another for it to be a directly controlled propaganda mouthpiece for a fascist regime of murderous thieves.
I am aware that I am cutting off a conduit for my message, yet simply appearing on their airwaves would be a tacit agreement that what they are doing is ok. It is not. Talking with an on-air host about the high jinx of a wayward Mars rover while sandwiched between agit-prop messaging from a fictional battlefield doesn’t work for me. No matter how many people I think I am reaching with my message, I cannot help them spread theirs.
My travels to Ukraine left me with a fondness for the place and peoples of that land. By the same token, my work to save the Mir Space station and other travels to Russia introduced me to its people, who I also like. When I meet and work with either nation’s space community and leaders, I do not see nationality, I see fellow explorers, dreamers, and people of science. I am sad that one person going off the rails of reason can force us to step back from that common ground, but we must.
Be it a young Ukrainian hacking the systems of Russian control, or making Molotov cocktails in a basement, be it a brave Russian citizen standing handcuffed in front of the Kremlin, or even a young Russian conscript sitting in a tank in Ukraine for reasons they do not understand, I want to help them get back to or move forward into a life of hope, promise and freedom. This tiny action is one thing I can do to help, be it ever so small.
I call out to my friends in the space field and ask: What will you do? Stop and think. Your lives are not personally at risk — yet. But are your wallets, or the narrow interests of your business, program, or cause worth even the appearance of endorsing the mass murder of our fellow humans and the savage massacre of democracy now underway?
I hope this time passes quickly, that tyranny collapses, and new hope, like the sunflowers of spring, can arise from the ashes of this needless destruction. I also hope that someday soon I can return to both places, Ukraine and Russia, and stand in front of groups of young people whose hearts and minds are open to the hope for a better tomorrow that literally rises above the greed and destruction of ancient and outdated geographic games. Now though, we are down here, and it is time to stand and fight for the right to build those tomorrows. Sure, for those of us reaching for the stars, the grand future of humanity and life is our overriding cause. But we cannot hide behind the big picture of our Vision while the bloody brushes of today’s monsters paint over the souls and lives of today’s dreamers.
Again, forgive my bad translation.
Ya Za Ukrainio!
