KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - It began with a head-butt and ended with Asian domination of the world -- and in between U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice played piano.
The annual gala dinner of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) lived up to its reputation as the whacky highlight of regional diplomacy on Thursday night.
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An accomplished musician who studied the piano at college, she stole the show, in a duet with a Malaysian violinist. She called the piece, a Brahms sonata, a "prayer for peace."
Russia's Sergei Lavrov closed the show by lampooning his host with a skit set in a future when ASEAN, not the United States, was the sole superpower. Playing himself, he pretended to be briefed by his Kremlin official on the new hegemony.
The rest of the world, he was told, was being forced to sell goods for free to ASEAN to stay in its favor.
Lavrov: What have our U.S. friends offered?
Official: They are very, very smart. They have sent Rice.
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