OMG!

Where do I start on this one? Today Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. As a symbol of the U.S.'s desire to "reset" our relationship with Russia, Secretary Clinton presented Mr. Lavarov with a gift; a red button on a black base with the Russian word "Peregruzka” printed on top, which means "Reset" in Russian. I've provided a video clip below, but there is much more to this than the obvious:

First the obvious problem was that the word "Peregruzka” DOES NOT mean reset, it means OVERCHARGE! The Russian Minister tells her this in the video clip. You have to listen closely because of the background noise and his accent, but he says "No you got it wrong". It's really pretty funny, but also embarrassing too. I bet after the meeting Mr. Lavarov called Moscow and told the Russian intel folks they can relax, because obviously the US government doesn't know how to translate the Russian language! Sheesh.

The thing that is not so obvious (except to an ex-Navy, cold war spook like me). Do you really want to hand the Russians a BIG RED BUTTON?! I mean, what's next? Are we going to send the North Koreans a "Trip Wire of Friendship"?

God help us.