My Meeting With Russia's Ambassador to the USA

The meeting began at 18:30. Ambassador Anatoly Autonov was handsome, charming, and very capable. Here was The Good, The Bad The Ugly as the title of the Clint Eastwood movie from long ago:

The Good: He has many wonderful Russian qualities that I admire very much. He is warm and friendly. He has good common sense. He is tough. He is a great communicator in English. He understands American people and the American political system. The wonderful surprise of the program was his discussion about US and Russian cooperation in space exploration. The crowd had been quiet and very respectful. They listened carefully to every word. When he brought up this subject, the crowd became excited. He got applause. He talked about wanting to improve relations with the US and make sure that arms control treaties were enforced. He offered to give the US full cooperation to get a diplomatic solution in North Korea.

The Bad: He denied that Russia had been involved in meddling in the US elections of 2016. (No one in the audience seemed to believe him.) He made veiled comments about a third unnamed country that was the villain. He called for a meeting of Russian and US security forces to compare notes, exchange files, and get this matter sorted out.

The Ugly: When the subject of Russia’s incursion into the Ukraine was brought up, Anatoly’s whole demeanor changed. He became aggressive and combative. He raised his voice and sounded very tough. (This was obviously an emotional subject for him and many other Russian people.) He claimed that Russia came into this part of the Ukraine because they had received creditable reports that Ukrainian people of Russian ancestry were being murdered and were begging for protection from the Ukainian central government. (This was the same argument that Hitler used to invade Czechoslovakia in 1938.) The program finished on this note.

Jack’s Conclusion: Sanctions imposed on the Russians by the Obama administration are “hitting them right where it hurts.” In the weeks to come they will get even tougher due to the new sanctions passed by the Republican congress. They meddled in the elections to get Trump elected so that he would, as they say in the underworld: “Take the heat off them.”