MMaybe there was something in the air last Monday. Maybe there was something in the water. It was almost a full moon, which may also have had an influence. The fact is that on Monday, April 22, 2024, a striking number of world leaders – coincidentally all male; Apparently no photos were taken of the female world leaders who visited each other. I would never have known if I hadn’t carefully kept track of all the press photos that came in from all over the world that day.
It started with a photo of the visit of the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, to the President of Bangladesh, Mohammed Shahabuddin. More about those two in a moment.
Then I saw that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was visiting his counterpart in Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Idris Barzani. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had traveled to Tunisia for a meeting with President Kais Saied, while Vladimir Putin received his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Moscow.
Sultan Haitham bin Tariq of Oman flew (or so I assume) to the United Arab Emirates for a conversation and photo opportunity with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. And Ebrahim Raisi, President of Iran, had tea with Asif Ali Zardari, President of Pakistan.
I by no means claim that this list is complete, but there is at least an image of all these diplomatic meetings. Wonderful image to look at and to study extensively, especially when there is so much. In that respect, April 22 was a great day. The three photos above are just the tip of the iceberg, the cream of the crop.
Although the amount of tinsel, national flags, flower arrangements and other display varies enormously per country, and therefore per image, the visual constant is always two men shaking hands or posing next to each other for the camera. Sometimes other men are also in the picture, but then you immediately see: these are lesser gods in the form of security guards, clerks or minor political players. They look differently, because they know that they are actually invisible.
The leading roles in these plays are reserved for the two highest national representatives, who seem to be more or less interested in the state visit. I think I can see that Kais Saied of Tunisia, who in one of the (less official) photos picked up his Algerian colleague from Tunis airport, is not necessarily eager. The two did not let go of each other’s hands after the greeting. But while Tebboune seems to have forgotten this already, Saied pulls his arm slightly back, as if he wants to hide the somewhat childish gesture behind his body.
Nevertheless, that crusty awkwardness is much more acceptable, if not more human, than Putin’s sagging grumpiness (not shown here) or Raisi’s distant ice smile. These two presidents made minimal effort from a visual perspective on that Monday. Shame.
No, then the greeting between the aforementioned Bangladeshi President Shahabuddin and Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, at Dhaka airport. There were even flowers included. At first I thought the president was welcoming the arriving emir with that bunch. That seemed heart-warmingly awkward to me: flowers for a traveler – where should he put them? But of course it is the other way around. The emir had taken the flowers with him on the plane, which may be just as awkward, but also very sweet, judging by the somewhat shy interaction between the men.
In any case, this was the warmest meeting between two male world leaders on Monday, April 22, 2024. Unless the women come up with surprises, you never know.
