You Will Anyway: Putin interview

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Putin interview

Putin spoke with Austrian news outlet ORF TV ahead of a visit to Vienna on Tuesday.

“Indeed, Donald Trump and I have, firstly, met more than once at various international venues and secondly, we regularly talk over the phone,” Putin said, according to the official transcript the Kremlin released online.

[...]

“As for personal meetings, I think that the possibility of these meetings depends to a large extent on the internal political situation in the United States,” Putin said.

Putin noted the 2018 midterm elections and the 2020 presidential election while saying, “the president of the United States is coming under attack over various matters,” Putin said.

He added that the political situation was the main reason the two leaders have not had a bilateral summit.

[...]

According to official White House statements, the two presidents have spoken on the phone eight times since Trump took office in January 2017.

The last time they spoke was March 20 when Trump reportedly ignored the advice of White House officials and congratulated Putin on his reelection.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the White House is preparing a potential summit between Trump and Putin.

The Hill

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"America: just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable." ~ Hunter S. Thompson

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Life, as Explained in "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead"

GUILDENSTERN: What a fine persecution---to be kept intrigued without ever quite being enlightened.

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ROSENCRANTZ : The only thing that makes it bearable is the irrational belief that somebody interesting will come on in a minute.

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GUILDENSTERN: But for God's sake what are we supposed to do?!

PLAYER: Relax. Respond. That's what people do. You can't go through life questioning your situation at every turn.

GUILDENSTERN: But we don't know what's going on, or what to do with ourselves. We don't know how to act.

PLAYER: Act natural. You know why you're here at least.

GUILDENSTERN: We only know what we're told, and that's little enough. And for all we know it isn't even true.

PLAYER: For all anyone knows, nothing is. Everything has to be taken on trust; truth is only that which is taken to be true. It's the currency of living. There may be nothing behind it, but it doesn't make any difference so long as it is honoured. One acts on assumptions.

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GUILDENSTERN : We act on scraps of information... sifting half-remembered directions that we can hardly separate from instinct.

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PLAYER: Life is a gamble, at terrible odds-if it was a bet you wouldn't take it.