It was unworthy of an American President? During a brief conversation with the first lady of France, Brigitte macron (Macron Brigitte), which is 24 years older than his wife, Donald trump made the following remark: “are You still in surprisingly good shape.” Repeated failed the compliment and adding the word “physical” trump has eliminated any doubt that it was about the physical form of the wife of the President.
Ridiculous mistake in the course of the visit of the American President in Paris has called in social media a strong reaction, and appeared on the front pages of international media. Not that she drove major world events like the death of the arrested Chinese human rights activist and Nobel peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo.
However, casual discussion of global issues did not apply — in contrast to the pledge meeting of world politics, for example, the question of what Makron and trump came up with regarding post-war order in Syria, which they were going to speak during the meeting. As it seems, they are United in the opinion that it is necessary to deal with the Syrian dictator and murderer Bashar al-Assad in power.
Panda instead of politics
While Liu Shaobo was dying in a strictly guarded Chinese prison hospital, the head of the regime, which forced the defender to silence, demonstrated how using PR can be made to disappear gloomy political reality.
Shortly before the summit of “Big twenty” in Hamburg, the head of China XI Jinping posed in Berlin for photographers on the background of cute pandas, which the Beijing regime gave Germany. Next to him was Angela Merkel, who secured their new close relationship with the advocate of free trade, Chinese Communist, as opposed trunovskom protectionism, lovely photographs, which was in harmony.
World politics is becoming more and more personalized show. Of course, history is about the greatest leaders have always fascinated the public. The color of the suit Jackie Kennedy was sometimes more interested in than the political substance of the conversations between her husband and Soviet leader Khrushchev.
The cult of attention
But today, when the global political relations become more complex, a conglomeration of political relations harder can be seen, media attention turns primarily on the interpretation of personal behavior patterns of the global political actors — in the hope that their gestures can be concluded about their internal beliefs that remain a mystery in their public speeches.
Trump, Putin, Erdogan, and — though not otherwise — macron are the expression of political types with a charismatic ego without a programmed system that does not fit into familiar ideological closed circuit. Their halo is based primarily on their unpredictability and ability to surprise, or rather, waiting for the audience to be surprised at any moment.
This makes them largely comparable to the entertainment industry. Around performance has developed such a cult attention as around celebrities of show business. Between him and a professional political dimension the boundary.
There is “chemistry”?
As the first political issue at the level of the paparazzi, stated the following: Stretch out the hand of one leader first, or Vice versa, how much and how long will they shake each others hands? What conclusions can be drawn from their expressions, it is possible for him to read, is there between “chemistry” and what level of subordination between them?
Heated media obsession with the movements of the leaders, intergovernmental diplomacy returns to the archaic practice of clans, whose chiefs dealt with the issues of war and peace, conflict or cooperation, the rights, or lack of it between themselves. Expected for a long time, looking forward to meeting trump and Putin at the summit of “Big twenty” in Hamburg marked the low point of this regression.
On a two-hour meeting, the two leaders took with them only the Ministers of foreign Affairs and the translators were neither advisors nor experts. There is no firm agenda, the meeting was preceded by an intensive and informative training. Since that meeting, as noted by the American historian Anne Applebaum (Anne Applebaum), there are no relations between the U.S. and Russia, and a relationship between trump and Putin.
World leaders
The fact that after the meeting became known to the public, was intended to throw her off. Russian propaganda used to using fabricated photographs to create a unique value indispensable for Putin among all world leaders.
Trump took advantage of the meeting to defuse the situation, to relieve the pressure which arose from the investigation of his involvement in the Russia’s intervention in the American elections.
After he said earlier about these messages as “fake news,” now he sent them against Putin, but apparently only in order to provide an excuse not to do this in the future. Only reluctantly he denied the statement made by Putin that he had accepted his assurances that he has nothing to do with the cyber attacks against the United States.
Misrepresentation
Directly after the meeting, trump wrote on Twitter that he agreed with the Kremlin autocrat General “cyber defence” to such interference in the future was not possible. But only to then, after protests, including from Republicans, again quickly to abandon this absurd and cynical statement that “goat in the garden”.
Trump and Putin agreed at the meeting “truce” in the South of Syria — however, already there are officially two of the previously agreed ceasefire, which was already broken.
Putin and trump are world politics in a parallel virtual world that has practically nothing in common with this reality. The purpose of these presentations is the misrepresentation of people as long as no analyst will not be able to trace the flow of misinformation and deceptive maneuvers, and they will get the green light to tyranny and complicity.
Anti-democratic principle
Trump is still only the student, the head of the Kremlin, by contrast, is a virtuoso. Putin has shown how to bend society’s autocratic rule, which is based on the blurring of the lines between truth and lies, facts and fiction. And trump is still subject to the control of democratic institutions and a free and critical public.
However, the farther we dive into an imaginary reality to which we want to draw the autocratic leaders, the more we contribute to the erosion of institutional protective mechanisms that set limits on voluntarism.
As soon as we start to pay more attention to new-fangled accessories Melania and Ivanka trump, than “nepotism”, which entered the White house with the President, it will mean that we have accepted this anti-democratic principle and consider it normal. Do not believe more photos and less text, since we are pushing the leaders, and it becomes a natural democratic duty.
