“Talk to Blinky? Maybe, When I Have the Time,” says Lavrov

There are very few nations now, who jump when the US calls. Russia is not one of them.

I think it’s called a ‘loss of prestige’. Anyway, when the US Secretary of State’s office called to request a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Thursday July 28, 2022, ‘the minister has a busy schedule’ is the answer they received.

These seekers of Lavrov’s telephonic presence are probably too thick-skinned and enamoured by their own hubris to recognise that answer as an embarrassing put-down. But that is exactly what it is. ‘Busy schedule’ or not, you pick up the phone for a friend – not that that in any way represents this particular situation. But you also, from a position of politeness, make time for talking with a respected adversary, competitor or opponent. And it is that last statement (of mine, I hasten to add) which tells the…