Oh my, Hillary!

Sigh…  Unfortunately, the new Secretary of State proved to the world last week that the State Department is incompetent in translation tasks.  This must send a thrill up the spines of all strategic and economic competitors of the U.S.!

In a gesture intended to symbolically “reset” U.S.-Russian relations, Sec. of State Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a red button emblazoned with the word “peregruzka.”  Unfortunately, as Minister Lavrov points out (see video at the above link), “peregruzka” means “overcharge.”  The word that they were looking for is “perezagruzka.”

Besides the flubbed translation (which, mind you, can happen to anyone from time to time, but given the body of translators available, how could this have possibly gone through?), I was a bit incensed at the transparent swipe at the previous administration implicit in the gift.  While making nice-nice with Russia after the considerable frostiness of the last couple of years is certainly within her job description, gratuitous jabs at preceding administrations is really quite crass, and does nothing but expose internal divisions to foreign scrutiny.  Internal politics really should end at the waters’ edge, whic, I’ll grant, is a rule which has been steadily eroding in recent years.  I’ll let Ed sum up:

Some will say, Come on, it’s just a light moment, but let’s think about what Hillary was doing here.  She was making fun of the previous administration’s diplomacy with her “reset” button, a rather nasty piece of work.  I’ll bet the Bush administration and Condi Rice would have gotten the translation correct before making that joke — and I’d bet even more money they wouldn’t have thought to make fun of Hillary’s husband in that fashion in the first place.

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