Putin & Those Pesky Russian Microphones!

When an American politician visits Russia, you can expect the KGB to plant bugs just about everywhere. And what do you bet that even if you switch a microphone on your table off, the KGB is still running tape?

Just two weeks ago, Secretary of State Rice was in Moscow for meetings in advance of the G-8 Summit and was caught on an open mic giving the Russian Foreign Minister a good talking to.

So I guess it shouldn't surprise anyone that there was another open mic, this one apparently left on by former head of the KGB, and current Russian President and host at the Summit: Vladimir Putin. It was the microphone in front of his empty seat that captured the off the record discussion between President Bush and Prime Minister Blair.

CNN has a longer portion of the video than you may have seen on Fox News. You'll notice that Prime Minister Blair reaches over towards Putin's empty seat to switch the microphone off.

The Fox News video presents the clearest audio, along with a running transcript.

While the press and immature Bush haters are going ga-ga over the naughty word President Bush used, what's really interesting is the remainder of the conversation which gives us a look into the behind the scenes activity taking place over Syrian and Iranian backed Hezbollah aggression, but also to the personal relationship between the two men.

The Washington Post transcript is more accurate than the error-laden Sky News version, except at one crucial point where President Bush says Syrian President Assad is "through" if we are successful in our Middle East strategy.

Someone, probably an aide, asks Bush something, evidently whether he wants prepared closing remarks for the end of the summit:

Bush: No. Just gonna make it up. I'm not going to talk too damn long like the rest of them. Some of these guys talk too long.
...
[Prime Minister Blair comes over to talk about trade] Bush then changes the subject, presumably to a gift Blair must have given him for his recent 60th birthday.

Bush : Thanks for the sweater. Awfully thoughtful of you. I know you picked it out yourself.

Blair : Oh, absolutely.

Both of them laugh. Then Bush turns serious, asking Blair about comments apparently made about the Middle East crisis by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, another guest at the summit.

Bush : What about Kofi? That seems odd. I don't like the sequence of it. His attitude is basically ceasefire and [then] everything else happens. You know what I'm saying?
Blair : Yeah. No, I think -- the thing that's really difficult is we can't stop this unless you get this international presence agreed. Now, I know what you guys have talked about but it's the same thing.
...
Bush : See, the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it's over.

Blair : Who, Syria?

Bush : Right.

Blair : I think this is all part of the same thing. What does he [Syrian President Assad] think? He thinks if Lebanon turns out fine, if we get a solution in Israel and Palestine, Iraq goes in the right way,

[note: at this point the Fox News video transcript captures the following more accurately]

Bush: He's through.

Blair: He's had it, [end Fox transcript] that's what this whole thing's about. It's the same with Iran.

Bush : I felt like telling Kofi to get on the phone with Assad and make something happen. We're not blaming Israel. We're not blaming the Lebanese government."

At this point, Blair notices the microphone and turns it off.

In a nutshell, it's about the clearest communication of the U.S. government's position, with which Prime Minister Blair concurs: We're not going to push for a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel until there is an agreement on some form of international "presence" presumably peacekeepers.

And both Prime Minister Blair and President Bush agree that if our efforts in the region as a whole are successful, that Syrian troublemaker Assad is "through" and Blair feels the same about Iran.

All in all a remarkable, candid exchange. Too bad they don't talk like this when it's on the record.

More at Expose the Left , Assorted Babble, Flopping Aces, A Tangled Web

Update: Please visit Real Clear Politics and vote for this post. Perhaps then we can get the full audio of this candid conversation.

Also, Wes Pruden, from the Washington Times, has a great commentary on this subject here.