Russian President Vladimir Putin needed a person able to convey a message to his opponents in the West. He chose the lead NBC News Megyn Kelly (Megyn Kelly) that perhaps was a mistake.
Kelly received an invitation to become moderator of the plenary, zasedaniia the St. Petersburg international economic forum, which was attended by Putin, Prime Minister of India Narendra modi (Narendra Modi), the Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern (Christian Kern) and President of Moldova Igor Dodon. Such a motley structure of participants of the meeting, apparently, was to demonstrate that Russia is a constructive cooperation with the giants of the developing world, with European neighbours and with countries within its traditional sphere of influence. That is Russia in any case is not isolated.
Kelly became the spokeswoman for the US, i.e. the “pole” in the modern multipolar world, which does not participate in constructive cooperation with Putin’s Russia. Kelly, who paid little attention to other participants of the meeting focused on Putin, whom she fell asleep at first glance very inconvenient questions concerning Russia’s interference in American elections and to support the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. First, however, Putin has already heard many times these questions, and during the session he was in a playful mood. Tired of repeating the answers that everyone has long known, he moved on to tactless jokes, condescending tone and blatant mockery. Turning to Kelly, he repeated his main idea, making it a special emphasis: “This has to end once”.
When the audience rose to his feet to meet him, he ordered: “at ease!” He joked that it was President Donald trump with his position on the issue of global warming must be responsible for uncharacteristic for this time of year, the cold in Saint-Petersburg and Moscow. Asked Kelly, he recounted a joke from the repertoire of Arkady Raikin about a man who comes in the Studio to complain about ill-fitting suit, but nobody wants to admit his guilt. “I personally sew buttons, — says one of the employees of the company. — The buttons have a claim?” Russians in the audience laughed, but the joke was completely incomprehensible in translation, and Kelly was confused — what Putin wanted. He again called her a puzzled look when compared the charges of meddling in American elections sounding in Russia, anti-Semitism: “It reminds me of anti-Semitism itself: the jackass, and around him the Jews are to blame”.
Even more discouraging constant references to Putin’s children, Kelly, which, as it turned out, he knows everything. (“Now there are experts that tomorrow will prove it with your Ah-pee your three-year old daughter intervened in the elections”, — he said in answer to the remark that in the situation with the hacking of the national Committee of the Democratic party, all traces lead to Russia.) He twice asked the us leadership about how if she read specific documents, in particular the Paris climate agreement (Kelly acknowledged that she did not read it) and the reports of the intelligence community regarding the Russian intervention (Kelly said it was introduced to the public version. “Well then don’t read, and I read,” Putin replied to the laughter of the audience, openly hinting that he was acquainted with classified versions of these reports.)
Overt machismo that Putin has shown, truly shocked. Kelly continued to play the role of a vigorous and uncompromising journalist, asking all new questions, but all answers Putin — as well as tactless jokes and rolling of eyes — openly showed his disdain. There is no evidence, Putin said that Russia intervened in the presidential election in the United States. What is disinformation? Is it leaking from the election headquarters of Hillary Clinton were not true? As for the Russian Ambassador and his contacts with the former Advisor for national security Michael Flynn (as Michael Flynn), the diplomat was just doing his job.
Putin was tireless. There is no evidence that Assad used chemical weapons — it was the operation under foreign flags, carried out only in order to impose on Assad blame. The Syrian opposition — a bunch of Islamist terrorists. The United States supported a coup in Ukraine, now require Russia to unilaterally abide by the terms of the Minsk agreement, which is impossible without the participation of Ukraine. Sanctions? They didn’t work, and they only accelerated the development of certain sectors of the Russian economy.
The tone of Putin was much more important than his words. Putin has made it clear that he will repeat the same answers as many times as need be, but the Western partners will not get anything if it doesn’t start to move forward. The same idea he presented at the meeting with representatives of American businesses, urging them to help “us restore normal political dialogue” with the us government.
Putin is now experiencing not the best period because of its geopolitical stakes in Europe, USA and the middle East did not bring the expected win. However, in the economy of Russia, he began to feel more confident. On the forum he bragged that the investment growth of the Russian economy today exceeds GDP growth, and that Russia is entering a new phase of growth. In the first quarter of 2017, the Russian economy grew by 0.5%, while the volume of investments increased by 2.3%. The fall in retail sales, which resulted from a protracted recession, is also stopped. Gradually begins to grow, the volume of non-oil exports of Russia, and Putin said that he hoped to accelerate growth by the development of technology.
It was the second part of the message of Putin, and he doesn’t need Kelly to pass him. It shows the West that time is on his side: sooner or later, the business relationship will return to normal.
Meanwhile, those of Putin’s message unlikely to be heard in the West. In the US, his mocking tone not going to be able to convince anyone of the need to move past the scandals of the ties trump and Russia. Europe could more carefully listen to the arguments of Putin, if he tried to play the trump frustration experienced by European leaders. But instead, the Russian leader hinted that the Europeans have “bosses” in Washington, they can’t disobey — string he shouldn’t have now that Europe is trying to increase its credibility in the world.
Putin’s speech was ineffective because it was a demonstration of his narcissism, does not fit with the image of a pragmatic leader that he is trying to instill. Perhaps if he talked with the journalist-a man, he would get better.
