Comments on: I don’t know about you, but I find this photograph curiously compelling

By: Futur mill-aghar

Futur mill-aghar — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 19:57:21 +0000

Those horizontal lines behind Muscat put me in mind of a police identification parade or a mug shot.

By: H.Galea (NRK)

H.Galea (NRK) — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 18:25:23 +0000

Seems the Emir is telling the PM …”you’re kidding, aren’t you ?”

By: michael seychell

michael seychell — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 15:28:04 +0000

In reply to M. Cassar.

If my memory serves me right, while the free world condemned the Chinese shooting and killing of protesting students in 1989, Reno Calleja – then a Labour MP, now leader of the Malta-China Friendship Society – supported the Chinese government and condemned the students.

By: Angus Black

Angus Black — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 12:59:11 +0000

“There’s something really peculiar about it, but I can’t work out what”.

Simple. You will notice that the picture is not full length in order to hide Joseph’s standing on the tip of his toes in order to at least reach the Emir’s armpits.

By: edgar

edgar — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 10:02:58 +0000

He was asking about the possibility of a discount on oil (“tnaqqasli xi haga?”).

By: David J Camilleri

David J Camilleri — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 08:28:58 +0000

In reply to Giraffa. Joseph Muscat surprised the Emir on his way out of the restroom.

By: Bubu

Bubu — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 08:24:45 +0000

It’s Muscat’s smile. It invariably puts me off.

Muscat’s facial expression always has the hallmarks of deception and falsehood. Note the down-turned corners of the mouth (when they should be turning up during a smile) and the way that his eyes do not correlate with the smiling mouth.

To me Muscat’s expression almost always screams liar and poser. I’ve seen a few photos of him where he is genuinely smiling, but they are few and far apart, and his expression is very different in those situations.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 23:42:08 +0000

It’s flirty. It’s like the Emir is giggling and saying, “oh you naughty boy Joseph, you!” In the meantime Joseph looks up at him and thinks, “Oh, this is going well, he likes me”.

By: viva lejber

viva lejber — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 22:22:17 +0000

Muscat told him his immigration policy while simultaneous begging the Emir for money in exchange for anything.

The Emir was taken aback, halfway through his smiling …

By: Giraffa

Giraffa — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 21:19:09 +0000

May I take a guess? Muscat was asking the Emir where the toilet was, as he accidentally had opened the Emir’s office door