The BFD | Feeble Old Man Bores Putin

Let me tell you about the mainstream media. They are different from you and me. They are, they tell themselves, the gatekeepers of truth, and that does something to them. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are. They see the world differently.

All pastiches of F Scott Fitzgerald aside, it remains clear that the mainstream media do not see the world like we hoi polloi.

Where we see a rough-edged but effective leader, they see a fascist madman, tearing down their cozy little world (that last part was true, actually: which was why so many people voted for him).

Where we see a vainglorious, preening, self-obsessed incompetent, they see the world’s greatest leader.

Where we see a scowling, ignorant brat, they see the world’s foremost climate expert.

And so on.

The latest example of the media’s upside-side, inside-out, topsy-turvy take on the world is The Times’s coverage of the Vladimir Putin-Joe Biden meeting in Geneva.

The two old prizefighters were left to stare it out in front of the scrum of reporters with their respective foreign ministers, the whole thing became a shambles.

Biden, in the blue tie, backed into his chair, legs crossed, looking into the middle distance. Putin, in the red tie, slouched like a frustrated commuter, spreading his legs, looking anywhere other than towards his opposite number.

Were they watching the same meeting? (Technically, by the way, it was not a “summit”, but I nitpick.)

Because what I – and certainly other independent media commenters – saw was not “two prizefighters”, but one feeble old man, perched on his chair like a prissy schoolmarm, and a thuggish dictator, slouched in his chair, ignoring the old man, like a teenager in front of the TV.

Then the old man tried to sneak a glance at some notes, which he hurriedly concealed in his jacket. Perhaps it was a note from his wife, reminding him where he was and who he was talking to? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time Jill Biden has had to rescue her lost and bewildered husband.

Putin, on the other hand, looked… bored. The only time he showed any animation was when he openly laughed at the old man.

Their words were lost, however, in the din from a battle between the press corps, which almost came to blows as the Russians packed the room, leaving most of the Americans out in the cold. The White House aides tried to shuffle their men and women in but their Russian counterparts would not budge, causing such a din that neither leader could be heard.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, sighed and looked at his watch[…]

If Lavrov looked as though he would rather be doing the Pravda crossword, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, seemed more concerned and summoned an aide to find out what was going on. Getting no answer, he scribbled away on a notepad.

The Australian

It wasn’t the Russians making the din, though: it was the Americans, screeching and flailing at the Russian security, who rudely shoved them back.

And that, folks, is the takeaway from the meeting: this is how America is regarded now, by it’s enemies. Contemptible, laughable and irrelevant.

Biden, for his part, nodded vaguely at journalists shouting questions – and aides had to scramble to clarify that he wasn’t actually answering a question. Just nodding… well, because.

This is the absolute state of America in the world today.

But, hey, at least the media got rid of the Bad Orange Man. He actually intimidated America’s enemies, and pulled their errant “allies” in NATO into line. Whatever else Trump was, he was strong. Biden is feeble and bewildered.

That’s not what America needs right now. It’s not what the world needs right now.

But, thanks to the cock-eyed worldview of the Trump-deranged media, it’s what we’ve got.