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historian


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Another diplomatic gaffe
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Button gift gaffe to Russia embarrasses Clinton
Russian media have been poking fun at the US secretary of state over a translation error on a gift she presented to her Russian counterpart.

Hillary Clinton gave Sergei Lavrov a mock "reset" button, symbolising US hopes to mend frayed ties with Moscow.

But he said the word the Americans chose, "peregruzka", meant "overloaded" or "overcharged", rather than "reset".

Daily newspaper Kommersant declared on its front page: "Sergei Lavrov and Hillary Clinton push the wrong button."

Relations between Washington and Moscow have cooled in recent years over Russia's role in the war in Georgia, US support for the entry of Georgia and Ukraine to Nato, and the planned US missile shield based in central Europe.

'Was it right?'

Efforts to heal the rift got off to an awkward start on Friday as the two sides met in Geneva, when Mrs Clinton presented Foreign Minister Lavrov with a green box tied in green ribbon.

As reporters watched, the US secretary of state assured her Russian opposite number her staff had "worked hard" to ensure it was accurate.

"Was it right?" she inquired with a smile.

"You got it wrong," Mr Lavrov responded, also smiling, before pointing out the mistake.

Despite the embarrassment, the two made light of the moment in front of the cameras and pushed the button together to signify a shared hope for better relations.

At a joint news conference after two hours of talks, both joked about the error.

"We reached an agreement on how 'reset' is spelled in both Russian and English - we have no differences between us any more," Mr Lavrov said through an interpreter.

Mrs Clinton put it this way: "The minister corrected our word choice. But in a way, the word that was on the button turns out to be also true.

"We are resetting, and because we are resetting, the minister and I have an 'overload' of work."

The gift was a light-hearted reference to US Vice-President Joe Biden's recent remark that the new US administration wanted to reset ties with Russia after years of friction.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7930047.stm


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Hillary bungles EU leaders' names
http://www.reuters.com/article/world...090306?sp=true



Tongue-tied Clinton gets warm EU welcome
Fri Mar 6, 2009 2:16pm EST

By David Brunnstrom

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton raised eyebrows on her first visit to Europe as secretary of state when she mispronounced her EU counterparts' names and claimed U.S. democracy was older than Europe's.

Clinton has set herself a grueling pace on visits to Egypt, Israel and Brussels soon after touring the Far East, attending dozens of meetings and giving speech after speech, with little time worked into her schedule for sleep.

Tiredness appeared to show Friday when she answered questions in front of 500 young Europeans at the European Parliament, where she was the highest-ranking U.S. visitor since the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1985.

A veteran politician, Clinton compared the complex European political environment to that of the two-party U.S. system, before adding:

"I have never understood multiparty democracy.

"It is hard enough with two parties to come to any resolution, and I say this very respectfully, because I feel the same way about our own democracy, which has been around a lot longer than European democracy."

The remark provoked much headshaking in the parliament of a bloc that likes to trace back its democratic tradition thousands of years to the days of classical Greece.

One working lunch later with EU leaders, Clinton raised more eyebrows when she referred to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who stood beside her, as "High Representative Solano."

She also dubbed European Commission External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner as "Benito."

Still, Clinton has been well received in Brussels, where the Obama administration has been viewed as a breath of fresh air after the unpopular leadership of George W. Bush. His secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, often drew protests on her travels.

Fellow foreign ministers stood and applauded Clinton's presentation at a meeting with NATO counterparts Thursday and extra space had to be set aside for a spillover audience of 800 at the European Parliament.

Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering was effusive in his praise, saying that with the new administration, the United States and Europe once again "share the same values."

"What you said mostly could have been said by a European," he told Clinton after she fielded questions ranging from climate change to energy security and aid to Africa and one on gay rights from a participant wearing an "I love Hillary" t-shirt.

(Additional reporting by Sue Pleming, Sarah Luehrs and Darren

Ennis; Editing by Giles Elgood)


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