Confusion is part of the strategy

I finished the book The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal. This science fiction novel is the third in her Lady Astronaut series. I’ve read the other two but didn’t write about them. The first book, The Calculating Stars is about Elma York and her husband Nathaniel. This book is where this timeline diverges from our history. In 1951 a meteor hits Chesapeake Bay and wipes out a good deal of the Mid Atlantic coast, including Washington, DC. As the federal government reconstitutes itself in Kansas City scientists determine global climate catastrophe will be coming fast (much faster than in our world). An International Aerospace Coalition is soon created to figure out how to get as much humanity off earth as quickly as possible. Along the way Elma is part of the first female astronaut corps and she gets the designation and media appearances as the Lady Astronaut. Nathaniel is one of the chief rocket scientists. They launch people into space a lot earlier than in our timeline successfully start a colony on the moon before 1960. Yeah, it is interesting to see how the author works with 1950s technology. One thing I appreciate about this story is how multi racial and multi cultural the major players are. And how many are women. It is good to read a story about rockets and space from a woman’s point of view. The second book in the series is The Fated Sky. This time Elma is part of a crew on a ship to Mars. In addition to all the scientific things going on Elma deals with a mission commander who she sees as a misogynist. There are also the usual difficulties along the way. The third book is concurrent with the second. So it is narrated by Nicole Wargin rather than Elma. I with I had read it a lot closer to the time I read the other two books because what happens in the two books is a bit interrelated. Nicole is one of the original Lady Astronauts and her husband Kenneth is governor of Kansas with intentions of running for US President. Nicole describes her tricks of being the dutiful and devoted political spouse. The effort to establish colonies off earth has, of course, its opponents, the Earth First group. They object to this effort because they know a lot of people won’t make it off earth. Better to improve life on earth. They are present in all three books, though most pronounced in this one. Though she is the wife of the governor Nicole is slated for a rotation to the colony on the moon. And she goes. As she lands there she discovers there is a saboteur from Earth First trying to make the colony fail so the IAC will abandon it. The rest of the story is about trying to figure out who it is. Helping her are Helen, a Taiwanese woman who is great at chess, and Eugene and Myrtle, a black couple. Eugene ends up appointed interim colony administrator, something quite rare for 1963, and Myrtle is another astronaut. What is relentless about this story is the attempts at sabotage keep coming – over 500 pages of them. After a while I began to think they could have left a few out (and in the Acknowledgments the author said the first draft was much longer). Even so I enjoyed this story. And I read it only because I had enjoyed the first two books. It is a series I recommend to those who love science fiction. In a Ukraine update Kos of Daily Kos wrote about some of the former Soviet colonies who see an opening. In the news now is Azerbaijan. Its current government is definitely not a democracy and two days before Russia invaded Ukraine the head of Azerbaijan and Putin signed an alliance treaty. One of the provisions sounds like it would be a good idea for Azerbaijan to come to the aid of Russia in a war. But when the UN General Assembly held a vote two weeks later to condemn Russia’s invasion Azerbaijan was notably absent. And now Azerbaijan has agreed to supply the European Union with natural gas, partly filling the shortfall Russia isn’t sending. Kos explained:

Russia’s new ploy is simple: Starve Europe of natural gas and watch their unity and resolve crumble as the weather turns cold and Europeans struggle to heat their homes. Ukraine knows this, hence the long-running preparations to go on the offensive in September. There is a very real possibility that the map in December would be frozen for years … until the next war. But if Azerbaijan can help fill the natural gas gap (along with increased supplies from places like Oman and the United States), Russia’s energy leverage would be severely compromised or even outright eliminated. The West can continue supporting Ukraine without the fear of a domestic political backlash from having to wear sweaters indoors this winter. (Remember, people lost their s--- over having to wear a cloth over their faces. We’re not the most resilient society.) By directly undermining Russian strategy, Azerbaijan’s action “damage[s] the strategic partnership and allied relations of the two states,” and thus violates the treaty. Essentially, Azerbaijan is tearing it up. In normal times, Russia would be able to threaten its way to compliance, but like so many other suddenly frisky neighbors, Russia has lost its military and economic leverage.

Kazakhstan is also feeling frisky. They’re switching from the Cyrillic alphabet to the Latin one we use and students are to learn English as well as Russian. Soso Dzamukashvili of Emerging Europe wrote that alphabet decision came in January 2021, a year before Russia invaded Ukraine, and will be done over a stretch of time because Kazakhstan has a large Russian population. Even so, they see the need to switch to establish their own cultural identity. Back to the war. Kos is one of many, including in the Ukraine military, who see Russia’s logistics problems (including so many weapon depots going boom) will come to a head around mid-August. Which is why Ukraine is building to start its big counteroffensive to start about then. The goal is to retake lost territory before the European heating seasons brings pressure for a cease fire that would preserve Russian gains. Republicans in Kansas are playing a dangerous and deceptive game they just might win. The state’s constitution has a provision mandating abortion be available. Republicans have a provision on the ballot to amend that bit of the constitution to allow the legislature to decide the issue. They’re selling it by saying citizens should have a choice, through their representatives on whether abortion should be banned or not. Their messaging says this amendment does not ban abortion. Christopher Reeves of Kos said that’s right, it doesn’t, though confusion is part of the strategy. But the Republicans have a bill already written that would ban abortion after six weeks ready to be passed as soon as this amendment is certified. Also, this vote is during a low turnout primary, not the November general election. Georgia Logothetis, in a pundit roundup for Kos, quoted several voices with the general theme of Republicans have been saying whether to permit or ban abortion should be a state’s right. Yeah, they don’t mean it. Many of them will be campaigning on enacting a national ban on abortion. A good story to end today. Lily Levine of Kos Prism reported California passed the Free School Meals for All Act. They’ll be implementing it for the 2022-2023 school year. Yes, that means all students, not just those from poor families, will get free meals at school. This will be both breakfast and lunch. The reasons for doing it include: The current need based system requires families to apply and too many kids who need the free food don’t get it. Families that earn a few dollars more than the cutoff still struggle. When some kids get free meals, those that do feel stigmatized, though that means the food has to be good enough that all kids will want to eat it. Finally, this is a help for poor families who now have to afford only one meal a day.