Over a decade after the end of the Soviet Union, Russia remains, in the famous words of Winston Churchill, a "...riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma...

Which is one of the reasons why it remains hard to tell whether or not Lance Bass is going to fly to the International Space Station this fall.

The other one, of course, is that American entertainment promoters sometimes lie through their teeth.

Russian space expert Jim Oberg sent me this link. For those who don't read Russian, here's Jim's (admittedly rough) translation:

BASS'S FLIGHT WILL BE FULLY FINANCED

American pop-singer Lance Bass?s flight into space to the international space station (ISS) as "tourist-3" will be fully financed, Hollywood producer David Krief stated to journalists. On this they reported on 9 August at Rosaviakosmos.

Krief noted that he reached an agreement with six sponsors, who agreed to contribute to the flight of Bass on the order of 22 million dollars. Simultaneously, according to him, an agreement is concluded with one of the American television channels, which is ready to show in 40 countries the small TV series which will be taken in connection with the forthcoming flight. As they reported in Rosaviakosmos, Krief made his statement, by his acknowledgement, in connection with the fact that "in the Russian mass media have appeared reports that bring into question the forthcoming flight of Lance Bass and his solvency. We have already filmed interesting material on the preliminary selection of the singer for the flight into space at the Russian 'Institute of Biomedical Problems' and on his preparation on the simulators at Starry Town near Moscow," Krief elaborated. "We hope that not less impressing will be the video of the launch of the singer on 28 October of the present year in the space ship Soyuz at the spaceport Baikonur and his 8-day flight on ISS."

At the same time, as reports RIA-Novosti, the producer Krief by his appearance attempted to attribute the entire fault for the created crisis situation about the payment of the flight of the singer, to the Russian side.

"We completely and scrupulously follow the letter of contract, and have done nothing to reproach," they noted in the Russian aerospace department. "We sure would like the American side to strictly carry out its obligations in all stages of the contract concluded with us", they emphasized at Rosaviakosmos.

As Jim notes, it sounds like Mr. Krief is making himself a real pain in the keester over there.

And now for the latest.

Lance is learning that money talks, and BS...doesn't fly into space.