Of course, we already know that a similar failure to recognize the Russian space program's collapse in the mid-'60s spurred America to put a man on the moon. Which makes us wish the Russkies might try bamboozling us a few more times. If `Vlast' is to be believed, this attempt at spy mastery "scared the West into an expensive response" (i.e., allowed us to maintain a military-industrial complex that employed millions of Americans and helped fund the most comfortable way of life in the history of the human race, while the Russians bankrupted and dismantled their country trying to keep up). What a clever battle plan. No wonder they make such great chess masters. -- http://www.suck.com/daily/98/11/19