now don't tell me you're not here for this goole, a 4 bajillion word george packer article about how richard holbrooke was 'our man'
The talking and eating and drinking went on for eight hours. Milošević drank steadily, getting buzzed and then sobering up several times, while Holbrooke lifted his glass of Scotch or slivovic to his lips and barely sipped. He didn’t stick to talking points—he had no real talking points—but let the conversation run its meandering course while looking for openings. Milošević digressed about Serbian wine, the Ottoman empire, World War II, his banking days in New York, the economic future of Serbia. Holbrooke let him go on, enjoying the parley, and then always brought them back to the war.So a connection formed, with the tense familiarity of two card-playing rogues. Once, in the middle of an endless session, Holbrooke phoned his friend Leslie Gelb in New York. “Hey, man. I’m here in Slobo’s office. I told him you were a Cuban-cigar smoker too, and I asked him if he’d give you some. He said he’d send you a box, but I wouldn’t believe him, because he lies all the time. Don’t you lie all the time, Slobo?”
Milošević was even more direct, sprinkling fuck all over his so-so English, needling Holbrooke: “Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke. Why do you have all those names?” Or: “Why is your collar always up? You’re a politician—all you politicians have something like that. With Tudjman it’s his hair; with you it’s your collar.”
― j., Wednesday, 10 April 2019 14:24 (five years ago) link