tällä Lennart Merin haastattelupätkällä NL:n sorruttua - ja mormonismilla?
CITY PAPER:
Is there anything that stands out in your mind about when you first became president in 1992?
Was there a sense of excitement?
LENNART MERI:
I can’t say if I remember feeling anything in particular.
Yes, there was some feeling of excitement for about 15 minutes, after we heard the election results.
Then it was time to get down to work.
But there was something I remember that happened when I entered this presidential residence for the first time.
I walked through the building, and in one wing of the building I found a room that was locked.
And, you know, I have a bit of Tom Sawyer in my blood, so I badly wanted to know what was in that room.
I asked an official accompanying me, "Why is this door locked and sealed?"
He replied that the KGB had used it as a communications room.
The door was even fixed with a KGB seal, the kind used in Soviet times.
I said, "You open this door." The man said that no, he wasn’t authorized to do that.
"Okay," I said to him, "then bring me an ax and I’ll break the door in myself!"
He stared at me for just a second, then turned and promptly opened the door.
CITY PAPER:
And what did you find inside?
LENNART MERI:
Absolutely nothing. That was typical.
The Soviets were always very good at building up illusions, about building up an aura of secrecy.
Everything in the Soviet Union seemed so indestructible, as if it would all last for eternity.
But it was always a matter of just looking behind the door, behind all the decorations.
Behind the Soviet facade, what you usually found was nothing.
CITY PAPER:
Is there anything that stands out in your mind about when you first became president in 1992?
Was there a sense of excitement?
LENNART MERI:
I can’t say if I remember feeling anything in particular.
Yes, there was some feeling of excitement for about 15 minutes, after we heard the election results.
Then it was time to get down to work.
But there was something I remember that happened when I entered this presidential residence for the first time.
I walked through the building, and in one wing of the building I found a room that was locked.
And, you know, I have a bit of Tom Sawyer in my blood, so I badly wanted to know what was in that room.
I asked an official accompanying me, "Why is this door locked and sealed?"
He replied that the KGB had used it as a communications room.
The door was even fixed with a KGB seal, the kind used in Soviet times.
I said, "You open this door." The man said that no, he wasn’t authorized to do that.
"Okay," I said to him, "then bring me an ax and I’ll break the door in myself!"
He stared at me for just a second, then turned and promptly opened the door.
CITY PAPER:
And what did you find inside?
LENNART MERI:
Absolutely nothing. That was typical.
The Soviets were always very good at building up illusions, about building up an aura of secrecy.
Everything in the Soviet Union seemed so indestructible, as if it would all last for eternity.
But it was always a matter of just looking behind the door, behind all the decorations.
Behind the Soviet facade, what you usually found was nothing.
Vastaukset 1
Vanhimmat
keksii mistä tahansa pilkattavaa.