November 17, 2015

This Video of a Guy Getting This Close to Obama and Putin Might Be the Best Video of the Year


For more than 30 minutes on Sunday, President Barack Obama could be seen huddling on the sidelines of the G20 summit meeting in Antalya, Turkey, in conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and two aides, apparently hashing out a plan to deal with the chaos in Syria. “President Obama and President Putin agreed on the need for a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political transition,” the White House said.

Now, state-backed broadcaster Russia Today has released a video of the incident—in which a man seems to be trying to listen in on the high-stakes conversation between the leaders.

Look, I’m no fan of Russia Today, and its propaganda-choked airwaves. And it’s true we don’t know exactly what this guy is doing or what he’s thinking. Homeboy might just be chilling out with that funny smirk and a truckload of self-consciousness, and his funny use of his cell phone, and the odd way he keeps glancing at the camera. We’ll never know. But just look at that face. It’s very funny:

Watch the full video, posted Monday:

h/t My friend Steph Harmon, out-going editor of Junkee. Congrats on the new gig.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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