But Ms. Merkel, declaring last week that “spying between friends is simply unacceptable,” said there had been a breach of trust that would have to be repaired. That may be hard, given how angry she is said to be, according to those who know her. A permanent chill would undoubtedly dismay Mr. Obama, for whom Ms. Merkel had become a sort of BFF in Europe.
Theirs is not a relationship of backslapping or bonhomie. When Mr. Obama and Ms. Merkel talk on the phone, aides say, they dispense with small talk and pick up where they left off in previous calls, speaking in English and dissecting the issue at hand with a matter-of-fact logic that comes naturally to a former law professor and a physicist. ...
A year earlier, Mr. Obama awarded the chancellor the Presidential Medal of Freedom. At a state dinner in the Rose Garden, Ms. Merkel was served apple strudel and serenaded by James Taylor, who sang — what else? — “You’ve Got a Friend.” ... For Mr. Obama, there is a silver lining in that experience. It shows that Ms. Merkel is, above all, a pragmatist — a master tactician, in fact, who for the second time will preside over a coalition with her chief opponents, the Social Democratic Party. Just as she did not succumb to American pressure during the European crisis, she is not about to allow personal grievances to hinder projects that she considers high priorities. ...
Administration officials said the president would probably spend more time in Europe next year than he usually does. With a nuclear security summit meeting in the Netherlands, a Group of 8 meeting in Russia (-?! - Oh, Gosh; this glitch in a schedule gives me a toothache... - M.N.), and a NATO summit meeting in Britain, he will have several opportunities.
For now, though, his relationship with Ms. Merkel may be limited to formal encounters at those meetings. The days of apple strudel and “You’ve Got a Friend” in the Rose Garden seem a long time ago.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: November 1, 2013
Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article referred to a meeting of the Group of 9 in Russia. It is the Group of 8.
Acronym - Best Friends Forever. ... Yo dude, that guy is my BFF, we have been friends our whole lives and we will until we die. Man that girl is such a BFF, she is...
Sola, perduta, abbandonata... in landa desolata! Orror! Intorno a me soscura il ciel... Ahimè, son sola! E nel profondo deserto io cado, strazio crudel, ah! sola abbandonata, io, la deserta donna! Ah! non voglio morir! No! non voglio morir! Tutto dunque è finito. Terra di pace me sembrava questa... Ahi! Mia beltà funesta, ire novelle accende... Strappar da lui mi si volea; or tutto il mio passato orribile risorge, e vivo innanzi al guardo mio si posa. Ah! di sangue sè macchiato. Ah! tutto è finito. Asil di pace ora la tomba invoco... No! non voglio morir... amore, aita!
A person who gets pleasure, especially sexual pleasure, from secretly watching others; a voyeur.
[After the legendary Peeping Tom of Coventry, England, who was the only person to see the naked Lady Godiva.]
Word History: In an age when we can speak of peeping Tom cameras or electronic peeping Toms we have indeed come far from the time of the legendary peeping Tom. Godgifu (fl. 1040-1080), Lady Godiva to us, pledged her legendary ride as a means of persuading her husband, Leofric, Earl of Mercia, to lower taxes. In the original version of the story she was observed by all the townspeople as she disrobed, but in a much later version of the story a tailor or butcher named Tom was the only person to observe her as she rode by, everyone else having shuttered their windows as they had been asked. Peeping Tom, first recorded around 1796, has become a term for a voyeur, not at all a pleasant fate for this legendary fellow. As W.H. Auden has said, "Peeping Toms/are never praised, like novelists or bird watchers,/for their keenness of observation."
Mike Nova comments: Чья бы корова мычала, а твоя бы молчала! (Ha! That's the pot calling the kettle black!) And now share this with your Russian friends and translate it into your simplified Mandarine - Orangerine for better digestion, and consume it with your chopsticks or from your melamine milk bottle.
»China security chief blames Uighur Islamists for Tiananmen attack 01/11/13 09:31 from Reuters: International BEIJING (Reuters) - China's domestic security chief believes a fatal vehicle crash in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in which five died was planned by a Muslim Uighur separatist group, designated a terrorist organization by the United States...
»The White House Celebrates Halloween 01/11/13 09:57 from Voice of America Ghastly webs with giant black spiders adorned an orange-hued White House on Thursday for the annual White House Halloween event in Washington. Clad in orange and black, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama spent an hour...
Ghastly webs with giant black spiders adorned an orange-hued White House on Thursday for the annual White House Halloween event in Washington.
Clad in orange and black, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama spent an hour passing out treats to thousands of kids from military families and local elementary schools as music, sometimes creepy and sometimes silly, played in the background.
Thousands of packages of jelly beans, dried fruit and White House cookies were given to children as they walked across the South Lawn, past stilt-walkers, jugglers and a giant.
Mingling with the children and their parents were White House staffers dressed as football players, vampires and princesses.
Barack Obama and wife Michelle have celebrated Halloween with children and parents at a spooky event at the White House in Washington DC.
The President and First Lady mingled with stilt-walkers, jugglers and White House staff dressed as vampires and princesses as they gave out Halloween treats to children on the South Lawn as a brass band set the mood playing creepy Halloween tunes.
The celebrations marked the return of the annual tradition that was scrapped last year after Superstorm Sandy slammed into the East Coast.
For the event the White House was lit in orange and adorned with giant spiders and webs as the President emerged in the evening to hand out jelly beans and dried fruit.
In front of the East Wing garden, 14 carved pumpkins spelled out the words 'HAPPY HALLOWEEN' while other costumes present included Zebras, Snow White, Scooby-Doo, Indiana Jones, and the Wicked Witch and Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz.
The Obama's helped some 5,000 parents and children get into the spooky spirit, according to White House staffers.
»UN Envoy: Syria Peace Talks Impossible Without Opposition 01/11/13 09:48 from Voice of America International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is making a fresh appeal for Syria's divided opposition to attend a proposed peace conference. Speaking in Damascus Friday, Brahimi said it would be impossible for the long-delayed Geneva talks to take...
»Islamist Rebels Take Fight to Suburbs of Syrian Capital 01/11/13 09:31 from WSJ.com: World News Islamist rebels, including some with links to al Qaeda, are fast gaining strength in suburbs encircling the Syrian capital, despite a chemical-weapons attack two months ago on one of their strongholds.
»Political tension flares in Thailand over amnesty bill 01/11/13 09:00 from Reuters: International BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters took to the streets of the Thai capital on Friday after lawmakers approved a draft political amnesty bill that could allow the return of self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, one of Th...
»Kerry: US Surveillance Went 'Too Far' 01/11/13 08:57 from Voice of America U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the nation's surveillance activities went "too far" in some cases, and promised that it would not happen again. Kerry made the comments Thursday in Washington while speaking to a conference in Lond...
»Boy Who Killed Neo-Nazi Dad Sent to Lockup - ABC News 01/11/13 08:57 from Top Stories - Google News San Francisco Chronicle Boy Who Killed Neo-Nazi Dad Sent to Lockup ABC News The boy, dressed up for court with his unruly blond hair slicked down, whispered with his lawyer but showed no reaction when a judge decreed that he be confined ...
»Russian PM plays down talk of gas wars, warns Ukraine on EU 01/11/13 08:26 from Reuters: International MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he saw no reason for Moscow to cut gas supplies to Ukraine over an unpaid bill for now, playing down talk of an imminent "gas war" that might disrupt gas flows to Europe.
Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev speaks during an interview with Reuters in Moscow, October 31, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Grigory Dukor
MOSCOW | Fri Nov 1, 2013 4:16am EDT
(Reuters) - The United States faces a tough task undoing the damage inflicted by allegations it has spied on leaders of allied countries, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.
The snooping scandal is a result of disclosures of U.S. secrets made to media organizations by Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who fled the United States and has been living in asylum in Russia since August.
Spy scandals strained relations between Russia and the United States during Medvedev's 2008-2012 presidency and have continued to do so since Vladimir Putin returned to the Kremlin last year.
Former KGB spy Putin said Russia would shelter Snowden only if he stopped harming the United States, but the president ignored U.S. pleas to send the American home to face espionage charges.
The decision to grant Snowden asylum seemed to underscore Putin's accusations that the United States preaches to the world about rights and freedoms it does not uphold at home.
A German lawmaker said he met Snowden in Moscow on Thursday and that the former NSA contractor was willing to come to assist investigations into alleged U.S. surveillance of Merkel.
(Reporting by Stephen Adler and Timothy Heritage; Writing by Steve Gutterman, editing by Elizabeth Piper)
Dmitry Medvedev: Strictly speaking, we are already taking such measures. They are designed to stimulate economic growth to the extent to which we are able to influence economic growth at all. Of course, the problems in the world economy and in European economies are clear. Russia is an export economy, so this inevitably affects our economic development. Our GDP growth target for this year was initially 3%, or perhaps a bit higher. But actual growth is unlikely to exceed 2%. This may seem quite good given that a number of European economies are in recession, but to us it’s not enough because our economic base is not as strong as other countries. And to be able to develop, we need to grow at a faster pace.
The important thing now is to make sure that Russian companies can access decent loans at decent interest rates. This is our primary task. Another high priority is changing the structure of the Russian economy as a whole.
But let me return to a point I made at the beginning: there’s no silver bullet or a single and unique method to revive economic growth.
I believe this is a matter of responsible economic policies: to ensure a normal balance of revenue and expenditures and an inflow of investment, at least for a predictable period, in order to guarantee macroeconomic stability...
We have adopted other decisions that should encourage people to abide by the law, because corruption is not only a set of violations and crimes but also a mindset – can or can’t I [do something unlawful]? Why is it believed that the level of corruption in Russia and many other countries is so high? Because many people say to themselves: Yes I can do it because I won’t get caught and because everyone else does it anyway.
So I believe that we have made progress in this area, though it would be premature to speak about any major achievements.
Some forms of corruption that were widespread in 1990s and even the early 2000s have disappeared: officials no longer extort money for some things which they are obliged to do, or demand part of someone’s business for their assistance. However, new forms of corruption have appeared which we must fight
You see, I believe what we occasionally hear in this sense, I mean proposals to remove President Assad from power as a prerequisite to reaching an agreement, these proposals are unrealistic as long as President Assad remains in power. He is not a madman, and he should receive some guarantees, or at least some proposals concerning the development of a political dialogue in Syria itself, possible elections and his personal fate. As you might expect, when he thinks about the fate of President Mubarak or the fate of Col. Muammar Gaddafi, the leader of the Libyan revolution, he is unlikely to feel elated. This is why it’s impossible to simply tell him to get lost...
No one likes being spied on, so the European leaders’ grudge is very understandable. I hear they tried to tap my telephones as well when I attended summits as president. You know, when they say this is common practice, everyone understands there is interest in the activities of foreign leaders and foreign countries, and that’s what secret services are for, but I don’t suppose this should be done in such a blatant and cynical manner. The situation you are talking about has simply exposed the problem, so Europe’s leaders took offense. Once again, I perfectly understand their feelings. Can this situation be resolved? I think so. Although, frankly, simple reassurances won’t work here.
Everyone is sweating, the secret services, and the government: the whole country is working hard to ensure absolute security during the Olympics.
Question: Thank you! Thank you for sparing time for this interview. Thanks again.
It rejected an Italian newspaper’s report that Russian spy agencies distributed special USB thumb drives to eavesdrop on participants at last month’s meeting in St. Petersburg.
BBC News Russia denies G20 spying claims BBC News President Putin's spokesman has denied that Russia spied on delegates at the G20 summit in St Petersburg in September. Dmitri Peskov said Italian newspaper reports that Russia had han...
Toronto Star Russia denies Italy media reports over spying on delegates at G20 Oman Tribune ROME/ MOSCOW/ PARIS Russia has denied reports that its intelligence services spied on hundreds of foreign delegates at a Group of 20 summit in St...
ЗЕРКАЛО И ОБЕЗЬЯНАМартышка, в Зеркале увидя образ свой
Тихохонько Медведя толк ногой:
«Смотри-ка», говорит: «кум милый мой!
Что́ это там за рожа?
Какие у нее ужимки и прыжки!
Я удавилась бы с тоски,
Когда бы на нее хоть чуть была похожа.
А, ведь, признайся, есть
Из кумушек моих таких кривляк пять-шесть:
Я даже их могу по пальцам перечесть».—
»Russian PM sees Syria peace talks by end of year 01/11/13 08:07 from Reuters: International MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia hopes an international peace conference on Syria will be held before the end of this year, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said, despite reported differences with the United States over opposition representation.
»US, Mexico unearth new 'sophisticated' border drug tunnel 01/11/13 06:26 from Uploads by AFP US, Mexico unearth new 'sophisticated' border drug tunnel US and Mexican authorities unearth a "highly sophisticated" tunnel used to smuggle drugs beneath their common border. Duration:01:09. From: AFP Views: 0 0 rating...
»Authorities Uncover Sophisticated Tunnel Linking US, Mexico 01/11/13 05:06 from Voice of America U.S. officials have disrupted a major drug smuggling operation by shutting down a sophisticated tunnel linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. Federal officials say three arrests have been made and they're targeting more s...
»US-Mexico drug tunnel with rail system found - USA TODAY 01/11/13 03:11 from Top Stories - Google News Washington Post US-Mexico drug tunnel with rail system found USA TODAY A tunnel designed to smuggle drugs from Tijuana, Mexico, to San Diego is equipped with electricity, ventilation and a rail system, U.S. authorities said Thursday. The...
»Israeli Warplanes Strike Assad Base 01/11/13 02:19 from WSJ.com: World News Israeli warplanes struck a military base near the Syrian city of Latakia in a bid to prevent weapons transfers to the regime's Lebanese allies Hezbollah.
»Prosecutors Make Their Case in U.K. Phone-Hacking Trial 01/11/13 05:17 from WSJ.com: World News Tabloid editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson had a multiyear affair, prosecutors said during the U.K. phone-hacking trial, seeking to show the extent to which the two shared information about newsroom operations.
»NotW phone hacking trial to resume - Belfast Telegraph 01/11/13 04:36 from Top Stories - Google News Belfast Telegraph NotW phone hacking trial to resume Belfast Telegraph Prosecutors will continue to lay out the case against former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson and other ...
»Iraq Blames Violence on Civil War Next Door 01/11/13 03:34 from WSJ.com: World News Iraq's prime minister said terrorism in his country is escalating because the Arab Spring failed. Some U.S. military officials attribute the rise to government missteps.
»Apparent security threat diverts United Express flight - CNN 01/11/13 03:25 from Top Stories - Google News NewsNet5.com Apparent security threat diverts United Express flight CNN (CNN) -- United Express Flight 5573 from San Francisco to San Antonio was diverted to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Thursday afternoon when a crew member ...
»At War Blog: Share Your Views for Veterans Day 01/11/13 03:17 from NYT > International Our colleagues at Home Fires invite veterans, or friends or relatives of someone who served in the military, to share recollections, photographs and messages for a post on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2013.
»German Politician Meets With Snowden 01/11/13 03:04 from NYT > International A member of the parliamentary committee that oversees German intelligence met Edward J. Snowden to explore whether he would testify in an inquiry of the N.S.A.’s monitoring of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s calls.
»Syria meets deadline to destroy chemical production facilities 01/11/13 02:42 from Reuters: International BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria has destroyed or rendered inoperable all of its declared chemical weapons production and mixing facilities, meeting a major deadline in an ambitious disarmament program, the international chemical weapons watchdo...
»Europe Sparks Growth Fears 01/11/13 01:45 from WSJ.com: World News The euro zone's inflation rate fell to its lowest in almost four years in October, raising pressure on the European Central Bank to ease the money supply and support the region's recovery.
»Finland Says Foreign Ministry Hacked 01/11/13 01:23 from WSJ.com: World News A sophisticated cyber-espionage campaign had infiltrated the communications network of Finland's foreign ministry for a lengthy period, Finland's foreign minister said Thursday.
»Big tech companies fight for new privacy laws - NBCNews.com 01/11/13 00:26 from Top Stories - Google News New York Daily News Big tech companies fight for new privacy laws NBCNews.com Six major technology companies, including Facebook, Yahoo, Google and Apple, are calling for new privacy laws to stop U.S. intelligence agencies from breaking ...
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