Musk Told Pentagon He Spoke to Putin Directly, New Yorker Says
bloomberg.com
bloomberg.com
'"You don't know?" inquires Stalin with marked surprise, staring at Mironov. "Do you know how much our state weighs, with all the factories, machines, the army, with all the armaments and the navy?"
Mironov looks at Stalin with surprise. "Think it over and tell me," says Stalin. Mironov smiles, believing that Stalin is getting ready to crack a joke. But Stalin is not joking. He looks at Mironov in earnest. "I am asking you, how much does all that weigh?" he insists.
Mironov is confused. He waits, still hoping Stalin will turn everything into a joke, but Stalin keeps staring at him waiting for an answer. Mironov shrugs his shoulders and, like a schoolboy undergoing an examination, says in an irresolute voice, "Nobody can know that, Yosif Vissarionovich. It is in the realm of astronomical figures."
"Well, and can one man withstand the pressure of an astronomical weight?" asks Stalin sternly. "No," answers Mironov'
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