Publications in Wikileaks continue bringing surprises into the political life. In addition to political discovered information, such publications also discover details about the private lives and professional qualities of officials. On July 11, 2008, the US chargé d’affaires Joseph Pennington sent a cable to the Department of State. The cable is about his meeting with Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandyan. “Nalbandian fenced with CDA in classic Soviet style on Armenia’s democracy problems, and was surprisingly curmudgeonly even on the Turkey and Nagorno-Karabakh issues on which Armenia looks relatively constructive at the moment. Nalbandian closed, however, with an extended riff on his sincere desire to raise U.S.-Armenian relations to a higher level. Nalbandian’s determination to speak in English despite his relative lack of facility with it (English is his fifth language) seemed something of a barrier, as we have had better meetings with him in Armenian and Russian,” writes the US charge d’affaires in the cable. This is only a small part of his estimations about the ‘high qualities’ of the minister. The full text is simply funny, so it would be better to read it.
