[War] US/Russia-Late Night Phone Calls

[Vampi Digitalwytch]

"Late night phone calls"

President Anastasia Malevich, Russia
President Steven Dupres, USA

His staff had informed him that the Russian president would be calling
to discuss what had been briefed as "matters of mutual interest"

So while he was waiting he had Blazing Saddles mainly on for background noise.

Before she started the obligatory call to the American president,
Anastasia made sure to have a fresh pot of coffee going along with
having a spare pack of cigs on hand.  With the time difference, she
was going to need it.

Once the notice of the encryption channels being active, she lit up a
cig and called.

The phone rang and Steven picked it up, "Yes Madame President."

"Good day, President Dupres.", she said, "I hope you received our
congratulations on your election letter?"

"Of course thank you for your kind words, To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Nothing much in particular, just the obligatory chat between the
current heads of state.", she said as she took a drag from her cig,
"It's more or less become tradition over the years."

"Yes it has, and at least we don't have to send letters via
steamship....stuff like this would take forever." He sipped the
coffee.

"From what I've read, steamship had it's charms.", she chuckled, while
rustling through some papers, "I hope everything is working smoothly
with your change of administrations?"

"So far, Congress is it's own situation, but I will always have to
deal with them."

"True with that.", she said, "I figure we will need to eventually set
up a formal face to face meeting when the time comes, go over the
current state of affairs between our nations and so forth."

"We should set that up as soon as possible, also perhaps discuss joint
operations with our respective services, something that had been
discussed under my predecessor but went no where."

"Look to your Mr. Biden.", she said, an unseen smirk on her face, "He
was quite adamant that we were going to collapse and bow to whatever
whims your country decreed."  Granted much of the furor over that had
died down, but it still left a lingering bad taste and she wasn't
going to let it quite pass yet.

"Mr Biden said a lot of things, I do apologies for what he did say, I
have no desire to see Russia collapse and if you followed our whims I
would be very surprised."

"That little comment of his did upset many here.", she said, "As it
is, I am still dealing with the repercussions of your adoption
societies attempting to take more of our orphanage population out of
the country on the basis that we are providing substandard treatment
still despite our vast improvements since then."


"If there is any way we can help you please don't hesitate to let us know."

"I am already hearing from my people to close off such adoptions.",
Anastasia said as she stubbed out her cig and took another one in
hand, not lighting it yet, "While it is not my place to dictate what
another should do in thier country, looking into your own policies
with adoption as to why so many are looking outside your own shelters
might be in order."

"It is something to look in to." he made a note on a pad on his desk,
why did people go overseas to adopt.

"Equally, was there anything you felt to bring up to my attention
before we decide to schedule the formal meeting?"

"One thing.... apparently a rather stupid college student decided to,
against State Department warnings attempt to smuggle in a few
kilograms of marijuana in to Moscow and is now apparantly awaiting
execution in Lubyanka prison.... His family has written me a few
times, and their Congressman has been trying to see what's going on,
is there a way we can take his custody?"

Anastasia had to shuffle through papers to find information on this
one to refresh her memory.  It had been one of those she'd took brief
note on and filed with the rest of the barely skimmed papers about
foreign drug traffickers.  "To my knowledge, he was aware of our
policies yet still chose to willfully disregard them.  Furthermore he
stated repeatedly during his trial that he had rights as an American
citizen and that we had no right to so much as detain him.  At one
point he called me specifically a fascist while saying I deserved to
have a revolution rising against me for stiffling the natural flow,
whatever that is."

She sighed before going on, "I don't know about you, President Dupres,
but I have seen with my own eyes the results of drug addition, treated
the afflicted often to no avail due to the grip of addiction upon
them.  It was not easy enacting our policies, but so far they have
proven effective."

He paused for a bit, "I spent 10 years as a County prosecutor, dealt
with drugs on many levels, I agree that he should be punished, and
let's face it, at 18 you are pretty damned stupid, think you know all
the answers."

"He's an idiot, and I assure you if he comes to the United States it
will not be to the loving arms of his parents but the stern clutches
of the United States Marshals service then the Federal Bureau of
Prisons to spend a long stretch in Leavenworth Kansas reflecting on
the error of his ways. As for drugs, we will of course assist you in
the arrest of drug smugglers in any way we can."

"We know of your 'Club Fed', ", she said as she finally lit her cig
and refreshed her coffee, "Your prisons are quite accommodating with
luxuries.  At this point I see nothing convincing enough to have him
released.  He knew the policies and still chose to willfully ignore
them as if law does not apply."

Steven nodded, "Well first of all, United States Penitentiary
Leavenworth, is not club fed, and we have no parole or pardoning,
considering I'm the guy that would pardon him, I can assure you he
will NOT get special favors or treatment.  But as I said, we will not
be telling you how to run your country or justice system.  Just asking
for repatriation to serve his time in the US and that's all."

"To serve his time coddled and pampered in an American prison where it
is regarded as a joke with sentences not being actually what they
should be.", she said incredulously, "And how long before enough pleas
that it was just a silly error of judgment before he is released?  I
do not see cause to set precedent that we excuse only select cases for
repatriation.  It would open the doors for anyone of a certain age to
traffic and plead that despite reaching the age of maturity that they
simply do not  know any better."

He paused, "Why don't we discuss this in person at our next summit."

"Then we should schedule that summit before his execution date.", she
said, now flipping through a calendar.

He picked up his Blackberry and started searching, "That would be a good idea."

"How does in about two weeks sound?", she suggested as she made a
checkmark on her calendar.

He nodded, "Sounds good, come to the United States, we'll give you a
tour of supermax to show you how we punish our worst criminals, and
discuss other matters."

"I will let my staff know.", she said, "It will be me, Prime Minister
Federova and a small staff."

"And we will welcome you with open arms." He made a note in a pad of
paper, "And there will be other discussions of mutual interest on that
date."

"It will give us both ample time to gather our topics.", she said as
she took a drag from her cig.

"That it will." He nodded, "I look forward to meeting you in two weeks."

"Very good."

-----------------------------------------

Actions:

Setting up for a joint summit between the US and Russia.
-- 
--I know there are no lifeguards in the gene pool, but damn, there
ought to be at least a few sharks in the water.