Hillary Clinton gave [Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs] 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".
[...]
Efforts to heal the rift [between the US and Russia] 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.
Her staff worked hard to get it right. WTF? In all of the State Department there isn’t someone who can get a correct Russian translation from somewhere? Does State not have excellent translators? How long have we had relations of one sort or another with Russia? How long have we had Russian spies? How far away is the Russian embassy? Or is somebody intentionally messing with Madame Secretary?
(Nice video at Politico.)
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.
Nicely flubbed. Good one, Hillarity.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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