Where's The Truth?

Some disturbing news, loaded with conflict:

MOSCOW – Russia's space chief said Wednesday his agency will consider sending a spacecraft to a large asteroid to knock it off its path and prevent a possible collision with Earth.

Anatoly Perminov said the space agency will hold a meeting soon to assess a mission to Apophis, telling Golos Rossii radio that it would invite NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese space agency and others to join the project once it is finalized.

When the 270-meter (885-foot) asteroid was first discovered in 2004, astronomers estimated the chances of it smashing into Earth in its first flyby in 2029 were as high as 1-in-37.

Let's see here...

The Russians want NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese Space Agency (and others) to join in a effort to push aside this asteroid called Apophis, about three football fields across, although the latest estimates of impact have changed from 1 in 37, to 1 in 330,000.

So what's the big deal? We read comments like "consider sending", "hold a meeting" and "assess a mission", all statements that sound plainly ho-hum.

Then we read "join the project once it is finalized". That's a bit more cast-in-stone than you would expect for a few meetings about an impact with a 1 in 330,000 chance of happening.

What do the Russians know that we are not being told? Or has our federal government decided(again) that we dunderheads just can't handle the truth?

The massive cost and world-wide effort it will take to reach this rock and change its course will make Obama's budget look puny.

Regardless of the all-new publicized estimate of 1 in 330,000, the effort underway to push this thing off it's present course tells me that the odds are really more like 1 to 1.

Yes, yes, the above picture is of a much, much larger meteorite than the one being talked aobut, but it's still a neat picture.