New face of the Space Race

The Space Race was a manifestation of the Cold War through the 1960's. Now, with India launching Chandrayaan 1, it has entered version 2, with the competitor being the other half of the world's population - the Chinese.

Version 2 is not about state ideologies, but about the Man in the Moon. Following the launch of Chang'e 1 in 2007, the Chinese declared that the lunar visage was distinctly Mongoloid. ISRO's scientists refuse to countenance this claim, countering that they suspect the face to be Dravidian-looking.

The OWD is quite bamboozled by this space spat. One could easily arrive at a modus vivendi, agreeing on an Assamese Man in the Moon, and get down to finding thorium.