Gorbachov

[August1991]

I met him. Years ago, he was a nobody, I was on a plane from Germany to Russia. Commercial flight. He was in business class.

I heard that he was on the flight. Intrigued, I said to the stewardess that my landlady was from the south and would like to have his signature.

(She loved Gorbachov - hated Yeltsin. I reckon that it was the accent.)

Anyway, his daughter was sitting beside him - as I learned, she speaks English - but both are typical Russian.

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I have met many Canadian politicians in public.

Gorbachev was not a typical politician. He had an ego.  

 

   

[August1991]

Listening to Nixon describing Gorbachev as "sophisticated", I laughed.

Nixon described Yeltsin as a man of the people - compared to Gorbachetvov?

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Gorbatchev's way of speaking Russian is simply wonderful.

Putin could only hope as much.

Edited September 4, 2022 by August1991

[August1991]

For decades, you Russians have not had a leader who could play with words.

Now you have one.

We in Canada had this years ago.

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Whatever the country, don't let it go....

[Aristides]

A world leader with an ego. How rare is that?

[August1991]

Aristides,

An ego is one thing - but a use of the language is another.

Trudeau Snr had both - like Lévesque, I knew that I would hear something original. 

It is a delight to hear a politician play with language - and when they play in two languages, I know they're civilised.

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With Obama, it is a deep voice - sadly, no more than that. I expected more.

 

[August1991]

On 9/4/2022 at 10:27 AM, Contrarian said:

so wait, you met him? and based on this interaction of a few minutes -> your analysis is that he had an ego? How so? 

He did not shake your hand the way you wanted to? or he signed too fast and did not give you the pen back? 

Contrarian,

Pretty much.

As I said, he was a nobody, his daughter was sitting beside him, no one else. My landlady was from the south, spoke like him, and I knew she liked him - she hated Yeltsin. I simply wanted his signature for her.

It would be like asking Preston Manning for his signature on a flight to Baie-Comeau.

I've never met Manning. I heard that the father has an ego.