Chatting the Pictures
Chatting the Pictures: War Mongering and the Insanity of Putin’s Table
Welcome to Chatting the Pictures. Every two weeks, we present a short, lively video discussion between Michael Shaw, publisher of Reading the Pictures, and writer, professor, and historian, Cara Finnegan, examining a significant picture in the news. Chatting the Pictures is produced by Liliana Michelena.
This pool photo was taken by Mikhail Klimentyev for the Sputnik News Service via the AP. It features Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during talks in the Kremlin in Moscow on February 15, 2022 as European leaders tried vainly to avert a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Based on everything we know, the outsized table mirrors Putin’s loss of reality.
In the video, we discuss two inordinate factors at play: Putin’s paranoia and his runaway penchant for intimidation. Beyond the mockery of diplomacy, we describe how the scale of the table is also tactically ridiculous. And we illustrate how far Putin has fallen in his command of stagecraft.
You can find all the Chatting the Pictures replays here.
Interested in sponsoring an upcoming Chatting the Pictures or Salon? We are always looking for partners to help bring insight about the latest news photos to our readers.
Follow us on Instagram (@readingthepictures) and Twitter (@readingthepix), and subscribe to our newsletter.
Panelists
An analyst of news photos and visual journalism, and a frequent lecturer and writer on visual politics, photojournalism and media literacy, Michael is the founder and publisher of Reading the Pictures.
Cara Finnegan is a writer, photo historian, and professor of Communication at the University of Illinois. She has been affiliated with Reading The Pictures for nearly 15 years, most recently as co-host of Chatting The Pictures. Her most recent book is Photographic Presidents: Making History from Daguerreotype to Digital.
Reactions
Comments Powered by Disqus