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It was the billion-dollar question, saved, of course, for the final minutes. "Is this politics or this process?" Frank McKenna asked one of the most recognizable female faces on the planet.

Hillary Clinton explained that during her four-year tenure as U.S. secretary of state, she was indeed involved and apprised of every aspect of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline deal.

Then, in her next breath and with a demure smile, she shut the door. "I cant comment any further on that," she went on to say, "Because it is still an ongoing process."

If any of the more than 2,500 audience members at the Telus Convention Centre Thursday morning expected more from one of the worlds most respected politicians when it came to the contentious U.S.-Canada issue, then they were sorely disappointed.

The first U.S. presidential spouse to hold a graduate degree didnt become one of the most powerful and influential women in the world by gleefully answering any question put to her, especially one that could come back to bite her. Even when she makes the boldest of statements cue Wednesdays comparison of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler, a quote that instantly made its way around the planet you know there is a well-thought, strategic reason behind the seemingly impulsive statement.

So on Thursday, it shouldnt have come as a surprise to anyone attending Clintons first visit to Calgary, part of the Global Perspectives series, that the event unfolded like a well-known composition from an orchestra of seasoned professionals.

From the moment she sauntered on to the stage, crunching down on the last of what was likely a mouth-freshening mint candy, the woman with a reported 6-1 lead over potential rivals to be the next Democrat vying for the presidency had the crowd eating out of the palm of her hand.

Her earlier career challenge of appearing more accessible and warm to the electorate just one of many inside revelations from last weeks release of thousands of pages from the William J. Clinton Presidential Library was nowhere to be seen. Nor, of course, were any direct questions, political or personal, about her famously wayward husband, her thoughts on his antics also included in those released papers.

Declaring herself a friend of Canada but a bit of a stranger to Calgary, the 66-year-old Clinton amused the audience with references to our more than 2,400 annual hours of sunshine, a University of Calgary course that teaches people how to build igloos and the Calgary Stampede.

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Hillary Clinton charmingly avoids impolitic answers in front of Calgary crowd

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attends an annual Boys and Girls Club fundraiser luncheon in Long Beach, Calif., on March 4, where she made her first public comments on the situation in Ukraine. (Brittany Murray/Long Beach Press Telegram)

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday compared recent actions by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Ukraine to those implemented by Adolf Hitler in the late 1930s.

Putin's desire to protect minority Russians in Ukraine is reminiscent of Hitler's actions to protect ethnic Germans outside Germany, she said.

Putin has been on a campaign to give Russian passports to anyone who has Russian connections, Clinton said.

The Russian leader has recently done so in the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which, Clinton said, is similar to what happened in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s. Hitler resettled tens of thousands of ethnic Germans who were living in parts of Europe to Nazi Germany.

Clinton made her comments at a private event benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Long Beach, Calif.

Now if this sounds familiar, it's what Hitler did back in the 30s, she said. All the Germans that were ... the ethnic Germans, the Germans by ancestry who were in places like Czechoslovakia and Romania and other places, Hitler kept saying they're not being treated right. I must go and protect my people and that's what's gotten everybody so nervous.

Last week, Putin put Russian troops on the Ukrainian peninsula in Crimea, insisting that Russia has a right to protect its interests and Russian-speakers in Crimea and elsewhere in Ukraine. However, there has been no sign of ethnic Russians facing attacks in Crimea, where they make up about 60 percent of the population, or elsewhere in Ukraine. The decision followed a new government coming to power last week in Ukraine following months of pro-democracy protests against the now-fugitive president, Viktor Yanukovych, and his decision to turn Ukraine toward Russia instead of the European Union.

Putin is a man who believes his mission is to restore Russian greatness, Clinton said.

That includes reasserting control of what used to be countries under the former Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, she said.

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Hillary Clinton compares Putin to Hitler

Hillary Clinton compared Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Crimea to Adolf Hitler's moves in the 1930s. Sen. John McCain and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a similar comparison.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton likened Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions on the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine to those of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s.

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Clinton made the comments Tuesday during a fundraising luncheon for local Boys and Girls Clubs, thePress-Telegram of Long Beach reported.

Putin contends ethnic Russians in Ukraine need to be protected. Clinton said that's what Hitler did when he maintained ethnic Germans outside Germany in places such as Czechoslovakia and Romania were not being treated right and needed to be protected.

"Now if this sounds familiar, it's what Hitler did back in the 30s," Clinton said, according to the newspaper. "All the Germans that were ... the ethnic Germans, the Germans by ancestry who were in places like Czechoslovakia and Romania and other places, Hitler kept saying, 'They're not being treated right. I must go and protect my people.' And that's what's gotten everybody so nervous."

The newspaper quoted Clinton as saying Putin is a man "who believes his mission is to restore Russian greatness."

"When he looks at Ukraine, he sees a place that he believes is by its very nature part of Mother Russia," she said at the private event.

Clinton isn't alone in making the Putin-Hilter comparison. On Tuesday, Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, "What we've seen is the decision of a major power to effectively invade and occupy a neighbouring country based on some kind of extra-territorial claim of jurisdiction over ethnic minorities. We haven't seen this kind of behaviour since the Second World War."

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Hillary Clinton joins chorus of 'Putin behaving like Hitler' (+video)

Hillary Rodham Clinton defended her record as secretary of State against Republican criticism that she had been too accommodating to Russia, arguing Wednesday that she had taken a tough but pragmatic approach so the U.S. could attain its goals.

In remarks at UCLA's Royce Hall, Clinton assertively brushed aside opponents' suggestions that she and the Obama administration effectively invited Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent incursion into Ukraine by failing to blunt his aggression.

Clinton said that when she became secretary of State in 2009, "we had some business we wanted to get done with Russia." Among the U.S. goals at the time: an arms control agreement, the creation of a pathway through Russia to provide support for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and an effort to get Russia into the World Trade Organization.

"There is a debate in foreign policy, and you hear these voices on TV right now: 'These are bad folks; they're doing bad things; do nothing with them,'" Clinton said, adding that her approach was to "be smart about it; pick and choose; stand your ground on disagreements, but look for ways to get things done."

Pointing to the administration's accomplishments, Clinton said that the U.S. "even got [Russia] to support sanctions against Iran in the [U.N.] Security Council something people predicted we couldn't get done."

Still, Clinton took the opportunity to throw darts in Putin's direction, calling him "a tough guy with a thin skin" as she urged him to stand down in Ukraine.

Putin wants to "re-Sovietize" nations on Russia's periphery, Clinton told hundreds of students at UCLA, and "in the process, he is squandering the potential of such a great nation the nation of Russia and threatening instability and even the peace of Europe."

Clinton called on the nation to "refrain from the threat or use of force" in Ukraine, and said the situation called for careful diplomatic maneuvers to "avoid steps that could be misinterpreted or lead to miscalculation at this delicate time."

During a broad-ranging conversation with UCLA political science professor Lynn Vavreck, Clinton all but dismissed criticism of remarks she had made Tuesday at a private fundraiser in Long Beach.

Clinton said she was merely comparing the tactics used by Adolf Hitler and Putin and not equating the men themselves when she drew a parallel between Hitler's efforts to resettle Germans in the late 1930s to Putin's recent moves to issue Russian passports to citizens with ties to Russia in Ukraine.

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Hillary Clinton highlights pragmatism in approach to Russia

Hillary Clinton compared Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Crimea to Adolf Hitler's moves in the 1930s. Sen. John McCain and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a similar comparison.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton likened Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions on the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine to those of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

Clinton made the comments Tuesday during a fundraising luncheon for local Boys and Girls Clubs, thePress-Telegram of Long Beach reported.

Putin contends ethnic Russians in Ukraine need to be protected. Clinton said that's what Hitler did when he maintained ethnic Germans outside Germany in places such as Czechoslovakia and Romania were not being treated right and needed to be protected.

"Now if this sounds familiar, it's what Hitler did back in the 30s," Clinton said, according to the newspaper. "All the Germans that were ... the ethnic Germans, the Germans by ancestry who were in places like Czechoslovakia and Romania and other places, Hitler kept saying, 'They're not being treated right. I must go and protect my people.' And that's what's gotten everybody so nervous."

The newspaper quoted Clinton as saying Putin is a man "who believes his mission is to restore Russian greatness."

"When he looks at Ukraine, he sees a place that he believes is by its very nature part of Mother Russia," she said at the private event.

Clinton isn't alone in making the Putin-Hilter comparison. On Tuesday, Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, "What we've seen is the decision of a major power to effectively invade and occupy a neighbouring country based on some kind of extra-territorial claim of jurisdiction over ethnic minorities. We haven't seen this kind of behaviour since the Second World War."

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Hillary Clinton joins chorus of 'Putin behaving like Hitler'