Michelle Obama: Her gardening appears to have
won the hearts
of Russian woman.
Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland
Russia 'Fell in Love' with the Obamas
"The fact
that the president's wife started a garden at the White House made her dear to
the hearts of millions of Russian women. Forced by poverty, they toil year
after year in their small garden allotments in order to feed their
families."
By Wacław
Radziwinowicz
Translated By Halszka Czarnocka
July 7, 2009
Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland - Original Article (Polish)
Moscow: After yesterday's talks with Dmitry Medvedev, Barack
Obama will meet today with Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Gorbachev and Russia's democratic
opposition.
In an interview with opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta yesterday,
the U.S. leader recalled to this reporter that he had visited Russia before. He
claimed to have liked it because the weather was warm. Tactfully, he chose not
to mention that five years ago he
was detained by Russian federal security in Perm, in the Ural region, and
spent a few hours in the airport jail. Today the place is an attraction in
Perm; many people who fly there want to see where Obama sat.
Recalling that prior trip brought to mind Russian President Dimitri Medvedev, who had gaven
Obama a photo album of Russia's nuclear facilities. The U.S. president, then a
senator, was in Russia five years ago to check on Moscow's compliance with disarmament
treaties it had signed.
Another gift the visitor received yesterday shows that the
Russians have found a telling historical analogy for the Medvedev-
Obama couple. The Russian president
gave his guest letters written to President Abraham Lincoln by Czar Alexander II.
Lincoln, who abolished slavery in the United States, is one of Obama's heroes,
as the president mentioned in his interview with Novaya Gazeta.
Alexander II was known as the “Liberator Czar”; he abolished serfdom and
strongly favored institutional reform. The letters that Obama received prove
that Lincoln and the “Liberator Czar” had friendly and sympathetic relations.
In the evening, Obama and his family were invited to visit
Medvedev at his residence Gorki-9, nine miles west of Moscow, where he now
lives with his wife Svetlana and their 13-years-old son, Ilya.
The U.S. leader came to Russia with his wife Michelle and their two daughters:
11-year-old Malia and the 8 year old, who, to the delight
of his Russian hosts, was christened Sasha.
[Editor's Note: Sasha is a well-known diminutive for
Alexander, and so is perceived as a male name in Russia].
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Michelle is very popular
in Russia. Her beauty, friendliness and, as the Russians put it, “the spark”
between her and her husband, are viewed in a sympathetic light. The fact that
the president's wife started a garden at the White House, where she grows
lettuce and carrots, made her dear to the hearts of millions of Russian women.
Forced by poverty, they toil year after year in their small garden allotments in
order to feed their families, while the wives of government officials spend
millions on luxury resorts. Yesterday, the cover of the weekly Ogoniok featured a photo of the gardening first lady,
with the headline “Czarina of the Fields.”
Today, again, Obama will return to serious politics. First
there's an hour-long visit with Vladimir Putin at his residence in Novo Ogarovo, where he'll also meet members of his cabinet.
Another hour will be spent with Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the USSR
and the architect of “perestroika.”
He is also to meet with the representatives of opposition,
among them Elena Lukyanova, who defended Mikhail Khodorkovsky,
former owner of Yukos Oil, which was dismantled
during Putin's presidency.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
It disqualified the Americans, as published in Moscow,
writes the weekly "New Times", as "too politicized." MPU took under his patronage of the One Russia, today's
batch of power, which is chaired by Putin.
Obama is also talking to college students in Moscow. But
they won't be those at Moscow State University, the oldest and most revered
school in Russia. According to the weekly Moscow Times, the school was
disqualified by the Americans, who deemed the school too politicized. Moscow
State University is known to be under the wing of United Russia (Yedinaya Rossiya),
the current ruling party headed by Putin.
The Americans instead chose the New Economic School. Such
attention is deserved by its professors who are among the most cited in the
world. It is also considered the least corrupt of the country's institutions of
higher learning, and fiercely defends its independence from state authorities.
Among the school's alumni is Arkady
Dvorkovich, President Medvedev's economic advisor,
known for his liberal opinions.
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POLISH VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US July 8, 5:38pm]
