5 minutes
Putin and Macron.. The story of a picture
Abdullah Al Qamzi
Abdulla.AlQamzi@emaratalyoum.com
February 21 2022
The image of the Russian and French presidents was subjected to severe ridicule on the communication sites, and some installed satirical elements on it, and at the same time, some took the picture very seriously, and said that Russian President Vladimir Putin insulted his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
The story of the photo is that the French president refused to examine the nasal swab for "Corona", for fear of the Russians obtaining his RNA, and therefore the Russian side respected his desire, but they seated him far from his Russian host by placing a table extending six meters between them.
I don't know if it was meant for the Russians, but it deserves the best picture of the year award.
If war breaks out, and we hope that it will not, then the image is the best introduction to the war, and if the war does not occur, it will remain a symbolic image in the world's memory of that strange meeting.
A closer look at the photo will note that it has no semblance of protocol. There are no flags, and there are no background images of Boris Yeltsin, Putin, or Dmitry Medvedev, not even Catherine the Great.
A completely empty wall, decorated with green gilded curtains.
There are only three chairs, for the president and his guest, and there is an empty chair next to Putin, which leads to the question: Was he prepared for the meeting, then Putin refused to attend anyone for the meeting?
One thing we know, that this is the Russian President's reception room for heads of state, and in this room he received Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on February 10.
Of course, this is not a secret, and it does not require intelligence. If we look at the picture of Presidents Putin and Tokayev, we will find the same floor and the same carpet as the picture of Putin with Macron, which indicates that the six-meter table is located at the edge or middle of the room.
The picture says the following:
1- The two presidents are far apart in relation to a protocol meeting, which means that there is a great divergence in viewpoints between Russia and NATO, a divergence in political and security views.
2- The distance between the two principals creates a large void between them, which is exactly the center of the image, and the first thing that the eye of the beholder falls on is the middle space.
If the material is marginal, and the middle is empty, this in the art of photography refers to emptiness or loneliness and isolation.
Emptiness and isolation is the reality of the international community in this decade of the 21st century, and this emptiness was created by the policies of former President Barack Obama, and its extension was President Joe Biden.
3- Because the photo is in Moscow, it bears Putin's point of view more than Macron, and Putin appears to be far from Macron, and is not interested in hearing his point of view.
Attitude
The emptiness and emptiness of images from people or their marginalization in it were from the standards of photography in its infancy, as the camera at the time was not able to capture what is moving, but today these images are for artistic purposes only. It doesn't reflect the news, but it really does say 1000 words.
• I don't know if it was intended for the Russians, but it deserves the award for the best picture of the year.
Abdulla.AlQamzi@emaratalyoum.com
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Abdulla.AlQamzi@emaratalyoum.com