Thread on My Meetings w Putin(!)
As I read the stories of Trump’s phone calls w Putin, I’m reminded of my own interactions with Putin decades ago. (Yes, I met with him in person a number of times).
And 1 story in particular, that highlights how risky these Trump calls are
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As I read the stories of Trump’s phone calls w Putin, I’m reminded of my own interactions with Putin decades ago. (Yes, I met with him in person a number of times).
And 1 story in particular, that highlights how risky these Trump calls are
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Background: after college, I worked at @CSIS , and helped run a project in St. Petersburg, Russia.
This was in the early to mid 1990s, a brief window where under Clinton and Yeltsin, the US and Russia got along.
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This was in the early to mid 1990s, a brief window where under Clinton and Yeltsin, the US and Russia got along.
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The project I staffed was working to bring technical assistance to St. Petersburg, a wonderful city, trying to bring best practices on everything from a functioning legal system, to banking, to infrastructure, to energy and port development.
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Our project was co-chaired by the Mayor at the time, Anatoly Sobchak-a charismatic (gave a heck of a toast) & western-minded reformer, former law school dean & co-author of the new Russian constitution. Many thought he'd succeed Yeltsin. (His daughter has taken up the reins)
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Now Sobchak had several deputy mayors--some would later go on to major jobs in Moscow.
One was a younger guy—early 40s at the time
Much quieter and more serious than Sobchak and other city and oblast leaders we dealt with
His name was Vladimir Putin. Deputy Mayor Putin.
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One was a younger guy—early 40s at the time
Much quieter and more serious than Sobchak and other city and oblast leaders we dealt with
His name was Vladimir Putin. Deputy Mayor Putin.
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At one point, Putin was assigned to run point for our project.
He would take care of logistical details of our work. Setting up one-on-one meetings, conferences w various leaders. We would brief him on our work to relay to the mayor. He’d sit in when the mayor was absent.
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He would take care of logistical details of our work. Setting up one-on-one meetings, conferences w various leaders. We would brief him on our work to relay to the mayor. He’d sit in when the mayor was absent.
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In short, we would meet w him regularly.
Overall, he came across as serious & reserved. Amid a group of extroverted intellectual heavyweights & reformers, he was the guy who made trains run on time. (I would never have predicted higher office for him. That was for Sobchak)
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Overall, he came across as serious & reserved. Amid a group of extroverted intellectual heavyweights & reformers, he was the guy who made trains run on time. (I would never have predicted higher office for him. That was for Sobchak)
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But...in all those meetings, Deputy Mayor Putin never spoke a word of English.
Now, I spoke some Russian—I would use it to be friendly. But others with me did not. So we always had an interpreter with us, including for our Putin meetings. And he never once spoke English.
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Now, I spoke some Russian—I would use it to be friendly. But others with me did not. So we always had an interpreter with us, including for our Putin meetings. And he never once spoke English.
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But in one meeting with Putin, well over a year into our work, something happened.
My boss, an interpreter & I were meeting with Putin.
Again, in all our meetings, he’d never spoken a word of English.
But in this meeting, the interpreter must’ve made a mistake.
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My boss, an interpreter & I were meeting with Putin.
Again, in all our meetings, he’d never spoken a word of English.
But in this meeting, the interpreter must’ve made a mistake.
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Because as she translated his words into English, he corrected her.
In English.
And this was not some small word. It was a complicated term of some sort. He had said the word in Russian, had heard her translate it into English, knew she had said the wrong word...
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In English.
And this was not some small word. It was a complicated term of some sort. He had said the word in Russian, had heard her translate it into English, knew she had said the wrong word...
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...and than replaced it with the correct word, in English.
In short, he did something I would've been unable to do with my conversant Russian.
He knew English well.
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In short, he did something I would've been unable to do with my conversant Russian.
He knew English well.
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Which also meant that the entire time we had been meeting w him, he had heard & understood everything we had been saying.
Not just what we were saying to him. But what we were saying in his presence
And we had no idea.
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Not just what we were saying to him. But what we were saying in his presence
And we had no idea.
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And this was on a technical assistance project where we were working together, in partnership.
So holding back his healthy knowledge of English didn't serve any real purpose (or maybe it did!?)
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So holding back his healthy knowledge of English didn't serve any real purpose (or maybe it did!?)
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Knowing how I felt the moment he uttered that word in English—that this quiet, serious man who you hardly noticed amid the charismatic characters surrounding him, had a lot more going on than you realized—is what I recall whenever our fool of a president meets w Putin:
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Whenever he meets one-on-one, kicks staff out of the room, and agrees to tear up the interpreter’s notes;
Whenever he has these repeated phone calls--and those are only the ones we know about;
Whenever he communicates through whatever back channels they've set up;
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Whenever he has these repeated phone calls--and those are only the ones we know about;
Whenever he communicates through whatever back channels they've set up;
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Whenever he agrees to whatever he agrees to without us knowing anything about it.
At every meeting and on every phone call, Donald Trump is the fool, and that fool is matching wits with a savvy operator.
And Trump is being played. And worse.
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At every meeting and on every phone call, Donald Trump is the fool, and that fool is matching wits with a savvy operator.
And Trump is being played. And worse.
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In every interaction, he digs a deeper hole.
After every interaction, he’s more deeply compromised than he was before.
And today's article only scratches the surface of how bad it must be.
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After every interaction, he’s more deeply compromised than he was before.
And today's article only scratches the surface of how bad it must be.
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