ABOVE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump (centre L) and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (centre R) conversing during a group photo of members during the G20 Summit at the INTEX Osaka in Osaka on June 28, 2019. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/GETTY IMAGES
The “family photo” of the world leaders is a renowned fixture of the G20 summit and this year’s tableau of global political power had Trump and Salman in the front row, shaking hands and conversing. DONALD TRUMP SHAKES SAUDI PRINCE’S HAND IN LEADERS’ G20 PHOTO WHILE EVERYONE ELSE WAVES:
In what looked like a cementing of ties between Washington and Riyadh, President Donald Trump looked particularly friendly with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
Behind them was the outgoing British prime minister Theresa May looking subdued, as was the French president Emmanuel Macron to Trump’s right.
But as Trump and the prince shook hands, the other leaders, including Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and even Turkish strongman president Recepp Tayyip Erdogan, all waved and grinned.
The Hill noted that Trump did not choose where he stood for the photo but suggested it created an “odd dynamic” especially as congressional lawmakers have applied pressure on the president and the Senate voted to block his Saudi arms deal.
Trump [met with the] Saudi crown prince on Saturday morning at the summit in Osaka. It comes at a time when U.S. lawmakers have expressed outrage over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. They accuse the prince of being behind the Washington Post journalist’sbrutal murder.
The choreography of the photo has been pored over by media. During the photo session, Trump had a conversation with Putin, after a series of frosty encounters, Bloomberg reported, noting that he only greeted Chinese president Xi Jinping with a brief handshake.
Meanwhile, Russian state television said that Xi chose to stand next to Putin for the photo, having initially been assigned a different spot, according to BBC monitoring.
“The group photo of the world leaders’ spouses was taken on the step’s of Kyoto’s Tofukuji Temple on June 28, 2019, and included one man, the British prime minister’s husband, Philip May. However, notable by her absence was the U.S. first lady Melania Trump.”
Image from: @Bluegal