"Russia is talking with the US and Europe on plans to create a manned research base on the moon, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said Thursday.
Roscosmos is discussing the possibilities for a permanent moon base with officials from NASA and the European Space Agency, the agency's chief, Vladimir Popovkin said. "We don't want man to just step on the moon," Popovkin told Vesti FM radio station, according to the Ria Novosti news agency. "Today, we know enough about it, we know that there is water in its polar areas ... we are now discussing how to begin [the moon's] exploration with NASA and the European Space Agency."
He said the plan was either to set up a base on the moon or launch a station to orbit around it. Russia also is planning to send two unmanned mission to the moon by 2020, Popovkin said."
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpps/news/russia-us-moon-base-nasa-dpgonc-20110119-to-_17194074
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Chinese moon base 2002
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/5/22/181737.shtml
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Of course, Sanctimonium, ever the class act, called it crass politics:
POLITICO's Robin Bravender reports from Tallahassee, Fla.:
Santorum was asked at Florida State University about whether he'd expand NASA programs after Newt Gingrich's pledge for a new moon base.
"I go back to trying to be very up front and honest with the people of Florida, the people of the country," he said. But given a potential explosion of inflation, he said, "the idea that anybody's going out and talking about grand, new, very expensive schemes to spend more money at a time when we do not have our fiscal house in order, in my opinion, is plain, crass politics."
http://www.freerepublic.com/%5Ehttp://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/01/santorum-moon-base-idea-is-crass-politics-112383.html
BINGO!