Obama Has Handshakes Snubbed in Russia and Saudi Arabia
There’s been a video going around of Obama being “snubbed” in Russia when he goes to shake hands with four different Russian officials during his recent visit to Russia, all of whom look right past him and shake hands with the next guy in line, Dmitri Mendeleev. Some liberal sites have been saying that Obama is not being snubbed in the video, but is instead sticking his hand out as directional gestures while introducing the Russian President to the four guys. I might be able to buy that for the last guy (who appears to be American Gary Locke, which makes sense for Obama to be introducing Mendeleev to an American) but it seems pretty clear during the second “snub” that he is indeed snubbed. Just watch his eyes as he is looking at the guy’s hand expecting him to accept his handshake and then drops his hand in an “Oh well” manner.
Even if these are just directional hand gestures, the same argument certainly cannot be made for this video from Obama’s trip to Saudi Arabia. You can clearly see him snubbed three times, until the fourth person finally shakes his hand. The first three do not even look at Barack and are already looking past him while they walk by.
Does it really need to be explained why it important (and scary) that major world leaders don’t even acknowledge the president of the United States even when they are a few feet from him?
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- WikiLeaks cables: US agrees to tell Russia Britain’s nuclear secrets
- Russia: Obama Signed Away Missile Defenses
- Russia had only 30 czars — Obama has 45
- America Now More Pro-Civil Service Than Russia
Actually, both videos show only Introductions. The four men in the Russia video are Mark Lippert, Denis McDonough, Gary Samore, and Michael McFaul. All of them are members of the US National Security Council. So there is no room for argument in that one.
In Saudi Arabia, I don’t know any names there, but there are some very obvious signs that it is also an introduction. Notice the woman in a white shirt and black pants at 0:16. I don’t think Saudi Women dress that way. Also, notice the men in traditional Saudi clothing just walking around, not shaking hands with anyone. From this, we can conclude that the last person, who did shake Obama’s hand, was probably a new guy.