Word: russian
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...American history, but not necessarily in the world's history? Americans tend to see America as the world. The Yugo was a bad car in America in the 1980s, but we don't realize that there are many, many cars that never dreamed of coming to America. The Russian Ladas and the Czech Skodas of the world. Just the fact that the Yugo came here meant it was far and away better than many other cars in many other countries...
...Russian political circles, Barack Obama's election tended to evoke two different reactions. Many officials were curious to see what new deals he would offer, but others, in the tradition of the Cold War, dismissed him as just the latest mouthpiece of the old American élites. If any of them experienced Obamamania, they sure kept it to themselves. So it's little wonder that Obama's drive to put aside old grudges and start fresh with Moscow has come up against stubborn resistance from the Kremlin in recent months. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will likely face a tough...
...Clinton, the word overloaded is itself a reminder of where things began to go wrong. Last March, she had the honor of starting Obama's charm offensive by presenting her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, with a little red button. It was supposed to have the Russian word for reset on it and was meant as a harmless bit of fun. But thanks to a spelling mistake somewhere in the State Department (presumably the Gimmicks Directorate), Lavrov had to explain that the button actually said overload. It caused some awkward laughter. "We won't let you do that to us," Clinton...
...blood from the Cold War and the George W. Bush years could be washed away with little more than a push of a button. For example, on Obama's first visit to Moscow, last July, President Dmitri Medvedev agreed to allow U.S. weapons and personnel to pass through Russian airspace en route to Afghanistan. It was a huge relief to American troops, who had been trucking most of their supplies through the death trap of Pakistan's Khyber Pass. Since it was granted without any favors in return, the deal looked like more than the usual horse trading...
Amid protests from the U.S. and Georgia, French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed on March 1 that France was negotiating the sale of four Mistral-class assault ships to Russia. The announcement, which came at the start of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev's three-day state visit, marks the first such deal between Moscow and a NATO country. While Sarkozy described the deal as an attempt to move beyond Soviet-era politics, nearby nations have raised concerns about the decision to sell the ships--which can carry troops, helicopters and armored vehicles--to a country that launched an offensive against...