Arnold Schwarzenegger: Master Communicator
Take notes, speechwriters.
Sree’s newsletter is produced w/ Zach Peterson (@zachprague). Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent video and comments are the subject of today’s newsletter - see in full below.
🗞 TUNE IN: This week’s Sunday #NYTReadalong is Stefan Bradley (@ProfSBradley), Professor of Black Studies and History at Amherst College. You can watch live 8:30-10 am ET or via recording, at readalong.link/youtubeplaylist. The Readalong is sponsored by Muck Rack. Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Email sree@digimentors.group and neil@digimentors.group.
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HOW MUCH OF AN IMPACT CAN TOTAL OUTSIDERS HAVE in the war? That’s very much on my mind because we’re running out of time and options in Ukraine.
In 1985, Sting released “Russians” — a song I loved — with a chilling message about how we might get through the Cold War. It included these unforgettable lines:
We share the same biology, regardless of ideology
But what might save us, me and you
Is if the Russians love their children too.
In all the days of the Soviet Union that I lived through (inside the country, as a kid who spoke fluent Russian; or in other countries) Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko and Gorbachev each had supreme power, but there were always Politburo members who were able to exert selective influence and serve as checks and balances. Among all those men, you were sure at least some loved their children.
Today, with Putin having full power and no checks and balances, we don't know whether his love for his two daughters trumps his love for power, control and restoration of the Soviet Union (see a speech by Putin below in “Watch Two Things.”)
This month, Sting played the song again. “I’ve only rarely sung this song in the many years since it was written, because I never thought it would be relevant again. But, in the light of one man’s bloody and woefully misguided decision to invade a peaceful, unthreatening neighbor, the song is, once again, a plea for our common humanity.”
Now, to another worldwide icon: Arnold Schwarzenegger. From being the top bodybuilder in the world by 20 to being the top actor in the world by 40 to being governor of California in his 50s, he is an embodiment of the American Dream — something he’s noted in multiple speeches.
This week, he shared this video. Watch it until the end:
This video will be a part of the legendary artifacts of this war. This is as genuine as any speech I’ve ever seen. With his influence in the muscle-bound and macho world of military people the world over, he just might be able to pierce Putin’s new “digital iron curtain” (a phrase I learned on Jake Tapper’s CNN show today, as he interviewed journalists and Russia experts Masha Gessen and David Remnick, a segment that started with a discussion of Schwarzenegger’s video).
And the part about his dad serving in the Nazi army and killing Russians in Leningrad is just devastating.
It’s worth noting that Schwarzenegger was floated as a potential ambassador to Russia — and even had Fiona Hill lobbying for him in the waning months of the second Obama administration.
From a 2015 report in Buzzfeed by Max Seddon and Rosie Gray:
Schwarzenegger would think nothing of the ensuing media frenzy. His Hollywood stardom, macho image, and link through marriage to the Kennedys would captivate Russians — Putin included. The two could also bond by speaking in German, which Putin speaks fluently and is known to favor.
“It would be very hard to intimidate someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the real substance could go on behind the scenes,” [Fiona] Hill said. Strobe Talbott, Bill Clinton's point man on Russia and Hill's boss at Brookings, later endorsed the idea publicly.
Look, it’s easy to make fun of Schwarzenegger, but from his endless attacks on Candidate and President Trump to his speaking out about the Jan. 6 insurrection, he’s been on the right side of history in recent years. Not something you can say about most prominent Republicans.
Incidentally, as I write this, Putin only follows 22 accounts on Twitter. They include @BarackObama(!), @ElonMusk (who’s surprised?) and, yes, @Schwarzenegger.
- Sree / Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube / Cameo.
A message from Armory Square Ventures
This week, we share a message from String Theory, a chamber music series based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The series brings together inspiring evenings of the best chamber music to the Hunter Museum of American Art. See more here and here.
Artistic Director and friend Gloria Chien is the pianist in the video. The piece is composed by Reinhold Glière, who was originally from Kiev. Performing with Gloria is Benjamin Beilman on violin.
Gloria and Benjamin have dedicated their performance to "the remarkable people of Ukraine," with this quotation from Leonard Bernstein:
"This will be our response to violence:
to make music more intensely,
more devotedly,
more beautifully than ever before."
Safety and strength to all.
— Team ASV
Tech Tip w/ @newyorkbob: International Travel Increases, But So Do Safety Warnings
By Robert S. Anthony
Each week, veteran tech journalist Bob Anthony shares a tech tip you don’t want to miss. Follow him @newyorkbob.
When 2022 began, it looked as if the skies were brightening for international travelers. The global Covid-19 pandemic seemed to be waning, airlines and cruise ship operators were expanding their schedules and tourist sites were getting back up to speed.
Unfortunately, while the pandemic seems to be loosening its grip in the US, the same cannot be said globally. And now that Russia has invaded Ukraine, new safety concerns have combined with ongoing pandemic issues to cloud the immediate forecast for international travel.
At times like this a smartphone and consistent access to the Internet are essential assets and the US Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs website is mandatory reading before planning any kind of international travel.
While the current “Level 4: Do Not Travel” warning for Americans in Russia and Ukraine are not surprising, the department’s do-not-travel list also includes many countries travelers might not expect. For example, France has a current do-not-travel advisory due to both the Covid-19 pandemic and the danger of “terrorism and civil unrest.”
New Zealand once had one of the lowest Covid-19 rates on the globe, but is now also on the do-not-travel list due to a Covid-19 explosion and fresh travel restrictions imposed by the government. Canada is also on the do-not-travel list due to Covid-19, while Mexico is listed at a lower level of concern at “Level 3: Reconsider Travel” due to the pandemic.
The department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) lets users register upcoming international trips on its website so they can get official safety and health updates and so local embassies and their families can reach them in case of emergency. Official Smart Traveler apps are available for Android and Apple devices.
As for those in Ukraine, the department urges Americans to follow the Bureau of Consular Affairs on Twitter as well as that of its Ukraine embassy in Kyiv and to “have extra batteries and power banks for your mobile phones” if intending to exit Ukraine by land.
The return of travel events like the recent Travel & Adventure Show in New York, which promised to donate ticket sales to Americares for its relief efforts in Ukraine, show that the appetite for post-pandemic travel has indeed arrived, but reality reminds us all that safety still comes first.
Watch Two Things
This speech by Vladimir Putin shows a man clearly losing any sense of reality, fully isolated, and sounding like a textbook fascist. Watch this and read every word of the subtitles.
To hear so many of the same, predictable rightwing voices in the US parroting this man’s talking points is truly sickening. You’ll never guess who is spreading Russian propaganda.
#WorthyThread
Here’s something to share with your Fox News-watching relatives when you see all the “Ukraine is full of off-the-books biolabs run by neo-Nazis” posts. Few cover the space better than Ben Collins.
Odds & Ends
🩺 Be sure to check out our “She’s On Call” podcast, with surgeons Sujana Chandrasekhar, MD (@DrSujanaENT), and Marina Kurian, MD (@MarinaKurian) — watch the live show on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
🗞 TUNE IN: This week’s Sunday #NYTReadalong is Stefan Bradley (@ProfSBradley), Professor of Black Studies and History at Amherst College. You can watch live 8:30-10 am ET or via recording, at readalong.link/youtubeplaylist. The Readalong is sponsored by Muck Rack. Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Email sree@digimentors.group and neil@digimentors.group.
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