I don’t know about you, but I find this photograph curiously compelling
Published:
September 26, 2013 at 9:30pm
Here’s our prime minister, with the Emir of Qatar, in yet another bilateral encounter with the representative of an undemocratic state – I’ve noticed that he hasn’t been photographed with Hollande or Cameron in New York yet.
There’s something really peculiar about it, but I can’t work out what.
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Kif waqaghlu xaghru.
Muscat’s asking the Emir about his toupee.
Has he been photographed with any Europeans yet?
As for the Hollande photo last year, he surprised another head of state coming out of a room….what does he do, wait in corridors to bump into these people?
The Emir’s expression reminds me of that of an old fox sneering at the oblivious hen he is about to devour. Others might have a different opinion.
[Daphne – No. It’s something to do with the way Muscat, when speaking to a much taller man, adopts the stance, head tilt and facial expression (but particularly the head tilt) more commonly associated with women trying to charm much taller men. There are similar photographs with Tancred Tabone and David Cameron. All our prime ministers have been exceptionally short, and all of them have been photographed with taller men, but never like this. When men are in one-on-one conversation with somebody much taller, they unconsciously take a step or two back, standing further away than they normally would so that they don’t have to tilt their head upwards, which they would need to do if standing closer.]
But surely the idea is to rub shoulders with so and so and not to be at arm’s length. Between you and me, someone is still hoping for fame and greatness by association, and at this stage even holding out for positive association has been set aside……..after all, what would Maltese voters know of Tiananmen?
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.
It’s also not clear what they are both doing with their hands. Holding a cup of coffee or a sandwich maybe, during a breakout session?
And there is no sign of George Eyebrows Vella and other members of the respective delegations.
And no files, no paperwork. No tables. No chairs. No sign of a bilateral meeting, actually.
There’s far too much man-love in the air. Some day, it will condense into a massive thunderstorm and it’ll start raining brown envelopes. I will not be around to see it, but it will happen.
From the looks on their faces, I get the impression that Muscat is praising the Emir and that the Emir seems pleased and flattered.
May I take a guess? Muscat was asking the Emir where the toilet was, as he accidentally had opened the Emir’s office door
Joseph Muscat surprised the Emir on his way out of the restroom.
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 …
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”.
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.
He was asking about the possibility of a discount on oil (“tnaqqasli xi haga?”).
“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.
Seems the Emir is telling the PM …”you’re kidding, aren’t you ?”
Those horizontal lines behind Muscat put me in mind of a police identification parade or a mug shot.