Obama's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was attempting to signal a new direction in relations between the US and Russia during her visit with her counterpart this week.
Clinton’s ‘Reset’ Joke for Lavrov Lost in Translation By Viola Gienger - March 6
(Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought to use humor today to improve relations with Russia, only to inadvertently invite her Russian counterpart to get the better of her.
Presenting Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a green- wrapped box decorated with a bow and containing a mock “reset” button, Clinton said with a laugh that her “little gift” represents what President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have been saying.
“We want to reset our relationship,” she said before she and Lavrov began closed-door talks in Geneva as the Obama administration seeks to thaw a relationship that had been at its iciest since the Cold War.
Yet a glitch in Clinton’s presentation might have symbolized the frequent disconnects. The word on the button was intended to say “reset” in Russian.
“We worked hard to get the right Russian word,” Clinton told Lavrov. “Do you think we got it?”
“You got it wrong,” Lavrov said as they both laughed. He said the word on the button actually means “overcharge.”
“We won’t let you do that to us,” Clinton said in response, before getting more serious. “We mean it and we look forward to it.”
Lavrov smiled.
“Thank you very much,” he said. “It’s very kind of you.”
Clinton’s staff promised to fix the error on the gift.
Wouldn't you think that out of the thousands of employees in the foreign service arm of "the most powerful nation on earth" a competent translator of the Russian language could have been found? As Aretha Franklin (you remember her memorable haberdashery at the inauguration, right?) would say:
"All I'm askin' is for a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t. Just a little bit . . . . "
Rice loses top aide at State Department Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers - January 18, 2008
WASHINGTON — R. Nicholas Burns, the State Department's No. 3 official, who oversees daily policy on high-priority issues from Iran to India and the Balkans, announced Friday that he's retiring for personal reasons.
Burns, a longtime confidant of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, was the lead U.S. official in rounding up international support for economic sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. That effort is in trouble because of Chinese and Russian objections to tougher sanctions.
A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk about the subject, said Burns' decision to end a 26-year Foreign Service career was based only on personal factors and wasn't a result of policy disputes.
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Nicholas Burns' departure — he leaves in March — nonetheless could leave a temporary hole at the top levels of the State Department as the administration struggles with a host of foreign-policy setbacks.
He and Rice will meet their counterparts from five nations in Berlin next week to discuss further UN sanctions against Iran, but the outcome is in doubt.
Bush also is facing a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, a political crisis in Pakistan, a recalcitrant Russia and a declaration of independence from Serbia by Kosovo that could roil the Balkans again.
As the undersecretary of state for policy, Burns was an advocate of diplomatic solutions to confrontations over nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea. He was the target of occasional attacks by hawks within and outside the administration, often taking flak whose real target was Rice.
Poor "condescending" won't have anyone to protect her from flak anymore. Sniff, sniff.
Kinda makes one wonder who's gonna be the last one left on the USS buschco sinking ship, doesn't it ? ? ? ?
(Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought to use humor today to improve relations with Russia, only to inadvertently invite her Russian counterpart to get the better of her.
