Science is poetry is political.
Moscow is a state of mind
Seen from our earth (note the possessive tenor of my thinking) the Moon is covered with plains of basalt, cooled lava making dark surfaces, which we, in our naiveté, believe in and name as Maria or Seas.
We are all familiar with the Sea of Tranquility. And, there is also Serenitatis, Fecunditatis, Vaporum, Humorum, Crisium … all these known to us on our singular Earth as States of Mind.
And Moscoviense? Sea of Moscow? On the Moon, Moscow is a state of mind.
You ask me to believe in the hidden world of atoms with no evidence available to my earth educated eye; take atoms on faith like a primitive, religious system, as we once believed in the Seas on the Moon.
And then the atomic bomb. We saw it at Hiroshima and at the Woomera testing site. This was something real, to give substance to our faith in atoms. Nine devastating atomic-bomb trials in post-WWII Cold War paranoia.
We thought the world was both with us and against us.
See the moonscape of Lake Hart and the Maralinga-Tjarutja lands.
planting flags
buying naming rights
are they playing a long game
claiming the Moon for Moscow?