The new policy reflects the worst tendencies of the Bush administration -- a unilateral drive for supremacy and a rejection of treaties.

Michael Griffin, the NASA administrator, at a conference in Spain this month: "Will my language be passed down over the generations to future lunar colonies? Or will another, bolder or more persistent culture surpass our efforts and put their own stamp on the predominant lunar society of the far future?"

He might as well have said, "I'll be damned if the Moon men speak Mandarin!"