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Page 140
of course, knew all the gossip, heard all the whispers. Carl Jennings was a brilliant man, as well as a consummate diplomat, and his illness was a great loss to Cole Caidin's Administration. The President was being heavily lobbied to replace Jennings with a woman, and the elections were just a year away. The campaign for Caidin's reelection was to begin in January.
"I will pass along your statement of concern, Ambassador Galitzin," Kellner said politely, as he escorted the Russian to the door. "I am relieved to hear your assurance that the situation in Russia is calm, and I shall so inform the President. The President is sympathetic to your problems, but very concerned for Russian internal stability, and for the maintenance of your good relationships with your neighboring nuclear states."
Chew on that, Ambassador, Kellner thought. You still have not reclaimed all your old nuclear ICBMs from Belarus, nor all your missile cruisers from the Ukraine.
As always, Kellner thought, Russia's problems were the world's problems. Whether they were raising hell in the third world as a superpower or falling apart at home, the Russians made big waves just by existing. A democratic constitution and a sullen legislative assembly had not eased the pressures. Kellner was convinced that Russia again was moving rapidly toward some violent upheaval.
CIA's Moscow station was sending increasingly alarming reports of repeated violence in clashes between ethnic separatists and the Russian army in Kirghizia and Tajikistan, and of Afghans attacking the Russo-Muslim borders. The battles between Armenia and Azerbaijan continued, and bread riots broke out sporadically in Moscow. The latest intelligence summary lay in Kellner's drawer right now.
"The stories in your press of 'near civil war' are much exaggerated, Dr. Kellner," Galitzin said, his dark eyes narrowed at the perceived slight. "The policy of my government is to deal with all these matters by reasonable negotiation."

 
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