Clinton Meets Russian Foreign Minister, Begins With Linguistic Hiccup

New York Times:

GENEVA -- A carefully orchestrated, closely-watched meeting here between Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her Russian counterpart began awkwardly Friday night with a linguistic miscue that had diplomats wincing.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[The Krds]

This is all ridiculous. Because of our foolish foreign policy we are now forced to enter into an alliance with Russia, a country ruled by a man who refuses to give up power, probably arranged for the deaths of more than 16 journalists, and sees arresting people as a valid substitute for economic revival. Have we forgotten about the shutdown of the Russian Gas line? I know that everyone in Eastern Europe hasn't! This is so embarrassing and disgraceful it makes me sick. We could have avoided this whole situation if we didn't make a quagmire out of Afghanistan, but now instead we must ask Russia for assistance. How incredibly ironic is it, though, that we are asking Russia for help invading Afghanistan?

[Rosewren]

Well, from everything I've read about the Clintons, they get a lot more respect from other countries than they do at home, thank goodness. It may be possible that other countries recognize intelligence quicker than some of us do otherwise how could we have elected 43.

[CologneCitizen]

You got this one right for Germany. Hillary is respected and appreciated very much over here. We cannot understand why every move the Clintons seem to make is viewed critically by your public.

BTW, Bill Clinton ( according to a recent survey in Germany ) is by far the most popular American president in our country in the last 40 years.

[TXFF5000]

The Russians are still laughing at us for believing their fairy tale about how Georgia "attacked" Russian "peacekeepers" who had been provoking Georgia FOR MONTHS BEFORE Georgia fired a shot on Russian "peacekeepers" and S. Ossetian allies.

The Russians are still laughing at us for how we believed their propaganda about how they are victims of tiny Georgia that was only defending itself against months of Russian "peacekeepers" spilling over the Georgian border gradually conquering Georgia. Russia for years was planning to conquer Georgian territory to put a Russian base on it, which it is currently doing now.

Russia Floods Georgia with Russian Troops MONTHS BEFORE Georgia attacks Russian “Peacekeepers”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/14/AR2008071402069.html
Russia Starts Georgian War by invading Georgia first
http://www.theotherrussia.org/2008/09/11/russia-started-the-georgian-war-%e2%80%93-analysis/

Russian troops INVADE GEORGIA TWO DAYS BEFORE Georgia fires a shot
http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/08/the-truth-about-1.php

[skialethia]

That was a silly, infantile, tacky gift! For crying out loud, this isn't kindergarten and the Russians aren't children. Good luck next time you want to preach to them.

Hillary was very disappointing. She was awkward and pretentious with EU leaders with her "U.S. is the oldest democracy statement" and now this!

In the West Bank she called the bulldozing of homes and stealing of land "unhelpful". Unhelpful??? Is that all this is???

Now she's trying to preach "secular" government to Turkey and trying to brainwash them into hostility and isolation towards Iran. Turkey's PM put Peres in his place at the recent summit and she's Israel's go-between trying to get them to put aside all the crimes Israelcommitted in Gaza and their valid and very well-placed resentment.

The reason Hillary is trying to get friendly with Russia and mend fences betweenIsrael and Turkey is because Israelwants the U.S. to get aggressive with Iran and wants to make sure that Russia isn't in the way, underming this hostile effort, and Turkeyis still the partner in crime it was with Iraq, in case they need to enter Iran by Turkey instead of Iraq which the Shiiteswould forbid.

It's all Aipac strategy in the making and Hillary is doing a great job for them, but a lousy job for world peace!

[Rosewren]

We get it, apparently you don't like Hillary,

[lisakaz2]

At least they're able to laugh about it. But how does one mess that up? What, is there a Bou$hee pinhead holdover?

[Atcha]

US SOS (first US diplomat) to her russian counterpart (an adult) at an official meeting:"We've worked very hard to get this translation right" about translating one word (a simple command) from English to Russian...Can't she leave the baby talk at home?

[Spencaa]

Clinton Haters are delusional.

"OMGZ NO WAI DAT IZ IMPOSSABLE SHE DOES NOT KNW DA RUSSAIN WURD FER RESET SHE IZ TA SUXXORS!!111!!"

Seriously, they both laughed it off and seem to get along well. Go find something else to b itch about, because the Russians aint offended

[camper65]

This woman could screw-up an iron ball!

[Yman]

From a neo-con who insists on using the POTUS's middle name and an adherent of "Locke, Hobbs, Adam Smith, Frederick Hayak, Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, et. al."

Let's just say your judgment is(to put it mildly) "questionable".

[Tags]

The "Overload" button triggers the "Reset" function.

It's perfectly clear ;-)

[skialethia]

Duuuh? It's "overcharged" not "overload".

[Tags]

Speaking of Duuuuh, overcharge and overload are synonymous.

Synonymous means these words are synonyms.

Synonyms are words that mean the same thing.

[1sparrow]

i worked in a furniture clearance warehouse--- a lady came up to and me asked "banu?" i answered BRAND-NEW? -YES IT'S ALL BRAND NEW FURNITURE. OFTEN BROUGHT HERE BECAUSE THE PURCHASER WASN'T HOME TO RECEIVE DELIVERY. LOOK IT'S ALL NEW YES." she backed away from me looking pained and perplexed--- i later found out she said bano-- (spanish for bath room).

[freebird67]

I had an experience like that once. This guy came up to me and started talking to me in sign language. I didn't know what he was saying so I offered him cigarettes, money. Turns out he'd recognized me from somewhere and was just saying hi.

[hotwire]

Maybe she should just learn to say BATHROOM!

[goodog]

"Recognizing that the error threatened to overshadow the substance of the meeting, the State Department dispatched several senior officials to brief reporters traveling with Mrs. Clinton."

Really?

The error threatened to overshadow the substance of the meeting?

Must be the same press that brought us the Iraq invasion... same Clinton anyway.

[my2cents1972]

heads r gonna roll, how do u say job opening.

[PoliticalAmazon]

Secretaries of State have grueling hours, and requires a lot from those who hold the position.

The very least a U.S. SOS should be able to expect is that their staff would be able to handle such a simple thing as getting the correct Russian translation for one American word.

We're not talking about the Empanciation Proclamation here. It was one fr ackng word.

It's up to HRC how she handles it, but if it were me, I would not take a chance that person making the same type of mistake in the future. There is too much riding on HRC's appearance and interaction abroad, and it is foolish to have her best efforts undercut by sloppy incompetance in a staff member.

[camper65]

Boy, am I glad that she's not getting that 3AM call after a tough day at the office!!

[lisakaz2]

Holdover? Sounds like something a Bou$hee would do.

[klondiker]

Part of the advantage of having someone like Hillary in this position is that she can use her considerable charm and "brand" capital to brush these things off. The Russian minister was practically gushing after the meeting, saying, "I venture to say that we have a wonderful personal relationship."

Compare this to Rice's relationship with Lavrov, which, as is well-known, wasn't exactly pleasant.

[partyofone]

The Russian minister is a highly competent experienced diplomat and host, whose first obligation was not to embarass the highly unqualified, foot in mouth prone, Mrs. Bill Clinton. He succeed briliantly. Trying to give Hillary credit for his diplomacy, is a huge stretch.

In these dark and challenging times, I don't thin we need a SoS who creates these gaffes and tries to "charm" her way past them, we need someone who does not make them. I find nothing charming about Hillary, she exploits. Using Condi Rice in order to give Hillary a favorable comparison is not reaching for a very high standard.

[klondiker]

The Russian minister sure had no qualms about openly embarrasing Condi Rice, which he did on multiple occasions. His head-butting with Condi is well-documented. The point is: the mere presence of names like Obama and Clinton have changed the way the rest of the world sees us, and that's part of what they bring to table.

You may not find her charming, but millions of people around the world do. When was the last time our SOS was greeted with "I love "insert SOS's name" t-shirts, as Hillary was in Belgium? And, again, this is part of what she brings to the table. She gives our diplomatic outreach a level of stature and force that another person in the role would not be able to bring.

Will tiny mistakes like mispronunciations and mistranslations happen? Of course. Everyone's human. Mistakes are made. And cross-cultural mishaps are bound to occur. They would happen with anyone. The larger point is that US foreign relations have the potential to go in a different direction. But, I guess you wouldn't notice it because you're probably too busy nitpicking.

[Teri]

i thought that she handled herself brillantly and i never have like her. she seems to be growing in the job and enjoying it tremendously. i think that she is a terrific ambassador and is serving our nation well. she made a mistake and laughed about it, what better diplomacy than laughter?!

[partyofone]

Is that what they mean when they call Hillary a "laughing stock."? :)

[Yman]

"They"?

You mean the ridiculous, remaining CDSers?

"They" ARE the "laughing stock".

[camper65]

Last time she made a "mistake" like that, it cost her the Democrat nomination. Let's just hope that her next gaffe doesn't cost us Long Island!!

[azcamp]

Surely, Hillary's staff could have come up with some piece of Americana that the Foreign minister could have hung on his office wall or displayed on his desk. When she and Bill were in the White House, they accepted gifts from visiting dignitaries so Hillary knows what kind of gifts are appropriate.

If the former first lady want to be successful at the State Department, she needs to use her experience in the White House to the country's advantage. This is a misstep that should not be repeated.

[PenelopeS]

Hillary works for Barack Obama's administration and this sounds like something Joe Biden would think up!

Coming hot on the heels of the Obamas' embarrassingly tacky gifts to British PM Gordon Brown, I think whoever thinks up "gifts for dignitaries" in the White House needs to join the ranks of the unemployed.

[partyofone]

So Hillary's excuse for her blunder should be to blame Obama?

[camper65]

They sure did accept gifts - and she tried to steal most of them!

[Yman]

You know that was thoroughly debunked, right?

Try getting your news from somewhere other than Fox or Rush.