June 6, 2014--Progressive Dinner With Vladimir Putin
High school is breaking out among the G-7.
They are meeting in Europe right now without including G-8--Russia. Because of their annexation of Crimea they, actually, Vladimir Putin, are in the doghouse.
No better evidence of how ridiculous things can get have been all the maneuvers to keep Putin and Barack Obama from running into each other. This is because Putin in fact has been in Brussels but meeting less officially with European counterparts and he, as well as Obama, were in Paris yesterday and will be in Normandy today, the 70th anniversary of the D Day landings.
But the funkiest machinations were those involving dinner and souper (supper) on Thursday (in a movement I will unpack that distinction) in Paris, hosted by French president Francois Holland.
"Dinner," at an undisclosed Parisian restaurant, will include Obama but not Putin while souper, which will follow dinner, will include Putin but not Obama.
So for Monsieur Hollande and other members of the G-7 or G-8 it will be like a progressive dinner (where courses are served at different locations) with the dinner part, I suppose, consisting of small plates while souper will be more robust.
Or the other way around.
I am not privy to the menus but they could be something like the following--
Always the good host, Hollande, wanting Obama to feel at home after being largely ignored at the G-7 talks, at dinner will order up a Chicago-style deep-dish pizza and a a couple of Big Baby double-cheesebergers.
"What, no Moules Marinieres?" Obama will ask. "Back home I eat Bug Babies all the time."
Dinner conversation with him will center around how, after tapping her phone, he can get Angela Merkel to return his calls.
At the Putin souper cabbage borscht will be served after which there will be skewers of lamb shashlyk.
"What, no Blanquette de Veau?" Putin, pouting, will ask. "In Moscow all I eat is shashlyk."
Souper conversation with him will likely include putting the final touches on France's sale of 1.2 billion-euros' worth of helicopter carriers to Russia in, sort-of, violation of the sanctions the West has imposed on Russia because of its intervention in Ukraine.
But as they say in Paris, C'est la vie.
They are meeting in Europe right now without including G-8--Russia. Because of their annexation of Crimea they, actually, Vladimir Putin, are in the doghouse.
No better evidence of how ridiculous things can get have been all the maneuvers to keep Putin and Barack Obama from running into each other. This is because Putin in fact has been in Brussels but meeting less officially with European counterparts and he, as well as Obama, were in Paris yesterday and will be in Normandy today, the 70th anniversary of the D Day landings.
But the funkiest machinations were those involving dinner and souper (supper) on Thursday (in a movement I will unpack that distinction) in Paris, hosted by French president Francois Holland.
"Dinner," at an undisclosed Parisian restaurant, will include Obama but not Putin while souper, which will follow dinner, will include Putin but not Obama.
So for Monsieur Hollande and other members of the G-7 or G-8 it will be like a progressive dinner (where courses are served at different locations) with the dinner part, I suppose, consisting of small plates while souper will be more robust.
Or the other way around.
I am not privy to the menus but they could be something like the following--
Always the good host, Hollande, wanting Obama to feel at home after being largely ignored at the G-7 talks, at dinner will order up a Chicago-style deep-dish pizza and a a couple of Big Baby double-cheesebergers.
"What, no Moules Marinieres?" Obama will ask. "Back home I eat Bug Babies all the time."
Dinner conversation with him will center around how, after tapping her phone, he can get Angela Merkel to return his calls.
At the Putin souper cabbage borscht will be served after which there will be skewers of lamb shashlyk.
"What, no Blanquette de Veau?" Putin, pouting, will ask. "In Moscow all I eat is shashlyk."
Souper conversation with him will likely include putting the final touches on France's sale of 1.2 billion-euros' worth of helicopter carriers to Russia in, sort-of, violation of the sanctions the West has imposed on Russia because of its intervention in Ukraine.
But as they say in Paris, C'est la vie.
Labels: Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, Chicago-Style Food, Crimea, D Day, Francois Hollande, French Food, G-7, G-8, Paris, Russian Food, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin
posted by Steven Zwerling at
5:37 AM
1 Comments:
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