11 ms·

On the other hand, this operation was contemporaneous with pictures like this: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/467434main_astp03_crew_full.jpg h

• DoreenMichele 7y ago
  I cannot readily find a reference to pin this down, but I want to say it was a speech given by Gorbachev in the 1980s. A Russian leader gave a speech where he clasped his hands together above his head, iirc. Americans interpreted it as a threatening gesture suggesting Russia "winning" against America or conquering us. It was interpreted like he was a boxer self congratulating following a win, raising his own hand up in triumph over the enemy. It was kind of a scandal and only came out later that it was a cultural misunderstanding. It was intended to suggest hands clasped in friendship or reaching out to each other and bridging the distance. My mother knows some Russian. It was the norm to study Russian in school in East Germany, where she happened to grow up. This interfered with her getting permission to marry my father, an American soldier, because it helped make her a suspicious character who was probably a spy.