Putin doesn't look so smug, as he did, when meeting with the former guy

[blogslug]

Fidgety and kind of small, IMHO

https://www.c-span.org/video/?512681-1/president-biden-russian-president-putin-hold-summit-geneva

BONUS: Reuters live feed outside the summit

[True Blue American]

1. I noticed this

Last edited Wed Jun 16, 2021, 12:13 PM - Edit history (1)

Putin is visibly nervous. His hands fluttering, wiping his eyes, not able to sit still.

He has also gained a pot belly.

I doubt Biden is not nervous, but he has superb self control. Raising his hand to emphasize a point when speaking.

Putin know Biden is aware of his History and is not having it. This meeting is on Joeys terms!

[dflprincess]

10. I thought the same thing.

Joe must have shook him up good.

[duforsure]

2. Putin looked very nervous, not at ease, and uncomfortable,

While President Biden acted calmly, confident, and in control.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

3. Joe means business. Never underestimate Joe.

Let Vladimir sweat. His actions of the past 3 years are on record the world knows it.

[Hortensis]

4. At Helsinki Putin displayed Trump like his prize poodle, didn't actually

trot him around the stage on a leash but he did trot him around the planet.

[LiberatedUSA]

5. Because when Putin asked the former guy what his name was...

...he would shout, “MY NAME IS REEK!!!”

[obamanut2012]

6. Vlad Bolton, for sure

[Tndem615]

7. Biden

Is going to thrash Putin. If I were him, I’d wear the aviator glasses just for further intimidation factor. I seriously wouldn’t be surprised if they emerge from the meeting, and Putin admits publicly of their meddling.

[roamer65]

8. Putin acts like he was threatened with heavy sanctions.

[lagomorph777]

12. Or something more than sanctions.

Something like massive cyberattacks.

[roamer65]

22. I would not rule that out either.

Or the threat of bringing Ukraine into NATO and arming it with tactical nuclear weapons.

[sarisataka]

9. I think people

Will see what they want to see and one photo or clip does not tell the whole story.

One does not rise the ranks of the KGB and become head of the FSB if they are easily cowed.

[dflprincess]

13. I'm watching Vlad's press conference

He seems a bit rattled.

[blogslug]

14. He's rambling

He is not doing well here.

[sarisataka]

15. This is why Biden didn't want

To do a press conference. He knew people would try to read great meaning into every trivial detail.

I trust Joe when he said he sees Putin as a wiley, competent and dangerous (I believe he shortened it and said worthy) adversary. He knows better than to underestimate the head of Russia- whomever it may be

[True Blue American]

17. So am I. Being very careful to say there was no hostility.

Quite constructive.

[blogslug]

16. Well, I'm not alone

Link to tweet

However, I will accept that man is capable and ruthless and powerful. I just think he's molted his strutting feathers and looks a bit bare.

[lagomorph777]

11. I was wondering whether that might happen.

Biden must have told him something pretty scary.

Go Joe!!!

[DFW]

18. I'm betting Biden conferred with Obama for hours before even leaving for Geneva

Obama dealt with Putin for 8 years, and he already told me to my face how difficult Putin was. It stands to reason that after another 4 years (this was in 2012), Obama was more than a little versed on the subject. He mentioned that he had put out feelers to Putin already in 2010 about looking for a solution go Syria. He said Putin told him that Syria was in the Russian sphere of influence and would stay there, and that Obama (and therefore, America) could fuck off. If he was willing to confide this to me, you can believe he prepared Biden without leaving one detail out. Besides, though I don‘t know any details, I‘m sure that as VP, Biden had enough high level Russian contact to know the sort of people he‘d be working with.

[blogslug]

19. Indeed

I'm positive team Biden knows exactly the stakes when it comes to Putin.

[IcyPeas]

23. Fiona Hill, the Russia expert who testified during Trump's first impeachment, is helping Biden prep"

Fiona Hill, the Russia expert who testified during Trump's first impeachment, is helping Biden prep for his first meeting with Putin, report says

A former White House national security advisor who testified at the hearings for President Donald Trump's first impeachment is helping Trump's successor, President Joe Biden, prepare for his first meeting as commander in chief with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Axios reported.

Sources told Axios that Fiona Hill was among a group of Russia experts who briefed Biden ahead of the meeting, which is set to take place Wednesday.

Hill served as the top Russia expert in the White House from 2017 to 2019, under the Trump administration.

She testified during Trump's first impeachment hearings, as House lawmakers investigated his dealings with Ukraine.

Hill was also present at Trump's June 2018 meeting with Putin in Helsinki, where Trump sided with Putin over the US intelligence community on the subject of Russian election interference. Hill told BBC News earlier this year that she considered "faking some kind of medical emergency" to disrupt the press conference.

[H2O Man]

20. Recommended.

Putin, unlike Trump, is not a coward. He is a cruel and vicious thug. But he has the capacity to take a full measure of his opponents. Joe Biden is the perfect opponent to represent the USA against Putin.

[Boomerproud]

21. I will never watch them but in FauxWorld I'm sure they

are saying that Putin had Joe's lunch. They're so predictable.