Reload McFaul
In the last week of May, the American Ambassador Michael McFaul, who was worn out in Russia, delivered a lecture to students at the Higher School of Economics. It was evening time, but as McFaul himself noted, he was surprised that so many people had come to meet him. At Stanford, again according to Michael McFaul, it is not necessary to expect so many students at a sufficiently late hour to study. If such a phrase were said by any other person, then it could have been taken for an unequivocal compliment to those who had gathered. But due to the fact that the person who uttered these words was McFaul, who, as is known after stories with journalists of the NTV channel, suffers from persecution mania, this compliment can be considered doubtful. They say that they have gathered again ... And why are you following me on the heels ...It should be immediately noted that whether the number of people present at the lecture at the HSE had such an effect on the American ambassador, or whether the main advocate of democratic rights and freedoms in Russia from among foreign citizens had set himself up in advance of a rather negative wave, the fact was that the conversation went on a rather strange path. Instead of talking to Russian students about how to build friendly partnerships between Russia and the United States (for which the post of ambassador seems to exist), McFaul came up with memorable arguments about how the Russians failed his ingenious reboot plan.
From the point of view of psychology, McFaul's speech looked like a clear attempt at a defensive reaction against possible sharp questions from Russian students. Another thing is that perhaps no one from the crowd was going to sting McFaul, but the ambassador decided to start in advance, as the boxers do before the fight, to build an inaccessible wall between themselves and the audience. But so ambassadors - it's kind of not like boxers. But not Mr. McFaul ...
The American diplomat began with what he invented a reboot for. According to him, four years ago in the Russian-American relations a crisis has matured. The Russians were unhappy with the US war in Iraq, the Americans were unhappy with the war between Russia and Georgia, the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine, which forced the Europeans to freeze. According to McFaul, the fact that economic protectionism was gaining momentum in Russia was worrying. That is why they (McFaul, Obama and Clinton) decided to create a big red button to reset the relationship.
It would seem that it is time for the ambassador to begin to reduce the speech to a positive, but Michael suffered, and he decided to give everything that was boiling during his work in the Moscow office. The diplomat, in a very strict form, stated that during the very same reset, the Russians had tried to bribe the Kyrgyz President Bakiyev so that the quotation “would throw us out” (from the Manas base). It turned out that the American side was trying to “give a paw” to the then Kyrgyz leader, but, as Ambassador McFaul says, the American pennies could not be compared with the fact that Bakiyev was offered by Moscow.
The hall was clearly perplexed, in connection with which the US ambassador to Russia begins to discuss topics that have absolutely nothing to do with his current ambassadorial work. But McFaul was unstoppable. He told that Russia is trying to operate with the concepts of the XIX century, declaring the spheres of influence, which, it turns out, the United States does not have at all ... He is concerned that Russia is engaged in “bargaining” preferences and interested exchange. McFaul caught the Kremlin in that he was trying to barter North Korea for human rights, the invasion of NATO troops in Syria for loyalty to the opposition, and all in the same spirit.
The students clearly began to understand that the words of Michael McFaul in no way fit in with his current position, so many barely noticeable smiles went around his lips. Some young economists listened to the speech of the American ambassador obviously not without neglect.
Few people expected, but instead of talking about plans to bring the positions of Russia and the United States closer, McFaul concluded his lecture with the statement that neither he nor the State Department as a whole finances the Russian opposition ...
In general, after the Ambassador’s speech, the audience had an unpleasant aftertaste, like those who met Mr. McFaul’s speech a little later. Among these were the representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry, in particular, its head - Sergey Lavrov. The Russian Foreign Minister criticized McFaul’s “lecture,” saying the ambassador was arrogant and unprofessional. McFaul was advised to abandon such a manner of communication, because it clearly does not contribute to the rapprochement of the two countries. In the US State Department, they reacted to both McFaul’s speech and the comments of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Victoria Nuland said that Moscow needs to get used to the style of McFaul, as he says what he sees ...
And this eloquently characterizes the policy of the United States in relation to the Russian Federation as a whole. It turns out that Washington sent the real akyn himself to Russia, who in his plucking instrument beats up improvisational motifs, supplying all with improvisational speeches. Only here, in the case of Mr. McFaul, improvisation, not only does it smack of advance readiness, it also catches the eye that the American akyn himself reacts too aggressively if his work is not liked by those gathered at the “concerts”.
If today we assess the “creativity” of Mr. American Ambassador and many Russian stars of show business, it may well happen that the reaction to the performances of the first one will be much more emotional. In this regard, it is possible to advise the Russian president as the response “reset” gesture to assign Michael McFaul the title of Honored Artist of Russia ...
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