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British press aghast at 'cheap' Obama gift (Hillary’s gaffe: pushes wrong button with Russians)
Moldova .org ^ | 3/07/09

Posted on 03/09/2009 3:52:00 AM PDT by Libloather

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Hillary Clinton’s gaffe: pushes wrong button with Russians
March 08, 2009

When trying to improve ties with a former Cold War-era foe, check a dictionary. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton learned that lesson the hard way on Friday, when she presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a gift bearing an incorrect translation - one that implied hostility, rather than peacemaking.

It seems that someone in the U.S. State Department forgot to double check the translation. Anyone with a sense of the Russian language, and there are quite a few in the State Department, could have told Clinton that there is a mistake in translation.

Clinton handed Lavrov a palm-sized box with a gift-wrapped red button on a black base, which said "Reset" in English and "Peregruzka" in Russian (with Latin script instead of Cyrillic, which could count as another gaffe). The problem was "peregruzka" doesn't mean reset. It means overcharged or overloaded.

Lavrov opened it and pulled out the gift. Clinton said she was presenting the gift because it "represents what President Obama and Vice President Biden and I have been saying and that is, 'We want to reset our relationship.' And so we will do it together."

"We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?" Clinton asked Lavrov.

"You got it wrong," Lavrov said. "This says 'peregruzka,' which means overcharged."

After the two top diplomats stopped laughing, Clinton said: "We won't let you do that to us, I promise."

Clinton adviser Philippe Reines said "Opechatka [Russian for typo] is being fixed, the gift will correctly read 'Perezagruzka'."

Russian media have been making fun at the US Secretary of State over this translation error.

http://politicom.moldova.org/news/hillary-clintons-gaffe-pushes-wrong-button-with-russians-188042-eng.html

1 posted on 03/09/2009 3:52:00 AM PDT by Libloather
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To: Libloather

she musta got her dip tips from Plugs


2 posted on 03/09/2009 3:54:00 AM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: Libloather

They are both an embarrassment.


3 posted on 03/09/2009 3:55:10 AM PDT by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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To: ViLaLuz

This is what happens when children are put in charge. Brother, you asked for it.


4 posted on 03/09/2009 3:56:28 AM PDT by Appleby
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To: ViLaLuz

You about photo says it all,

Thanks for your service and may GOD bless.
Stay safe soldier.


5 posted on 03/09/2009 4:00:56 AM PDT by Joe Boucher (An enemy of Islam)
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To: Doogle

“We worked hard to get the right Russian word...”

She got it right the first time. So much for a Yale education.


6 posted on 03/09/2009 4:02:53 AM PDT by chainsaw (If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free! -- P.J..)
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To: Libloather

0bama blows off the Brits, but he could hardly wait to run off and give his first interview as President to an Arabic station in the middle east...

And just wait until he rolls out the red carpet for 0dinga and Mugabe.


7 posted on 03/09/2009 4:05:52 AM PDT by counterpunch ( We must not re-fight 2008 in 2012.)
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To: Libloather

Well, what do you know. There’s no one in the State Department who speaks Russian.


8 posted on 03/09/2009 4:06:46 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Hey, Obama! Where's my check?)
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To: ViLaLuz

To the office,country and it’s people sorry Mr Brown.


9 posted on 03/09/2009 4:06:48 AM PDT by Vaduz
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To: Libloather
The US is region 1, the UK is region 2, they do not mix.
10 posted on 03/09/2009 4:07:00 AM PDT by Eye of Unk (How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words! SA)
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To: Libloather
Oh, give me strength, the Daily News quoted an appalled Daily Telegraph staffer as writing. We do have television and DVD stores on this side of the Atlantic.

Actually, this kind of treatment from the Obama-ites is a compliment: they showed the same kind of contempt for Sarah Palin.

Cheers!

11 posted on 03/09/2009 4:07:55 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: Vaduz

Friends in the UK...keep in mind that 145 MILLION eligible voters did NOT for the Kenyan. Every country has its share of morons, unfortunately.


12 posted on 03/09/2009 4:16:27 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (G-d saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: Libloather
I don't know which is more embarrassing, the fact that they can't get a single Russian word right, or the fact that a Secretary of State would attempt such a sophomoric stunt in the first place.
13 posted on 03/09/2009 4:18:18 AM PDT by NavVet ( If you don't defend Conservatism in the Primaries, you won't have it to defend in November)
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To: Libloather

More than likely the DVD set was made in Mexico, was bought for less than a dollar, is in Region 1 code and thus unable to be played in the Region 2 of the UK, UK is PAL format, the US is NTSC, its a copyright thing.

So basically this “gift” is worthless trash.

Way to go Obama, burn all the bridges so your enemies cannot sneak up on you?


14 posted on 03/09/2009 4:20:47 AM PDT by Eye of Unk (How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words! SA)
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To: Libloather

It might not have been a gaffe, but part of the plan to sink the US.


15 posted on 03/09/2009 4:27:57 AM PDT by bgill
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To: Eye of Unk

Maybe Gordon Brown needs to do what I did. Goto Ebay and buy a region free player. I have Philips model which plays PAL and NTSC and just about anything else including Divx and has a thumb drive. All for 50 bucks.


16 posted on 03/09/2009 4:35:16 AM PDT by pburgh01
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To: bgill

Hillary was just standing there giggling her fat butt off as the Russian informed her they had made an error, but I bet she wants grinning when she tore into whoever screwed it up.


17 posted on 03/09/2009 4:35:55 AM PDT by Venturer
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To: Venturer
but I bet she wasn't(edit) grinning when she tore into whoever screwed it up.

Perhaps a new alert status, in addition to the flying ashtray alert?

18 posted on 03/09/2009 4:52:40 AM PDT by OBXWanderer
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To: Libloather

“Oh, give me strength,”

I’m laughing at my desk. Now others are seeing first hand what America has put in the White House.


19 posted on 03/09/2009 5:02:37 AM PDT by Old Grumpy
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To: Eye of Unk
Shows you can be well educated and go to Ivy league schools and have money but still be lower class. Embarrassing.
20 posted on 03/09/2009 5:03:44 AM PDT by Dante3
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