America Hears a Gaffe, Russia Sees a Plot - NYTimes.com
I’d imagine it is hard to convince someone who thinks everything is a conspiracy that the world isn’t out to get them.
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Not so long ago, Russian public life was a symphony of embarrassing episodes. Remember when Boris Yeltsin confused Norway with Sweden, suggested that Germany and Japan had nuclear arsenals, and toppled over while saluting an honor guard in Uzbekistan?That all ended with the presidency of Vladimir V. Putin. Mr. Putin, now Russia’s prime minister, occasionally departs from statesmanlike language, as when he threatened to hang the Georgian president by his testicles or offered a French reporter an especially thorough circumcision. But coming from Mr. Putin, these statements are expressions of Russian might, something like a political philosophy — never, ever mistakes.
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