Gbenga Oduntan: Tempest in a tin can – but space Law does exist.
Just when America bashing appears to be going out of fashion its critics may find newer expressions of unfathomable deliberate squandering of goodwill and hard earned moral capital in a vastly different context –outer space. Major newspapers in the UK and blogs have noted the complaints of Gennady Padalka, a veteran Russian cosmonaut, about the new regime of (un)cooperation in the higher grounds. American astronauts have apparently been refusing their Russian ‘cosmonauts’ on the International Space Station (ISS) the most basic human instincts (if not rights)– the right to use the toilets. Perhaps to retain sheer physical dominance over the cosmonauts they have also had their right to gym exercise machines withdrawn without explanation. The new rules also mean that cosmonauts and astronauts must eat their own national food.