Thumbs up for Obama, thumbs down for riots

Photo courtesy of the Metro, U.K

World leaders at the G20 London Summit tackled tough questions concerning the global economy, regional wars and climate change. Despite the afternoon's gruesome agenda, President Obama took a moment before the meeting to strike a pose with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (above middle) and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (above right). It makes me wonder what they were saying to one another, teeth gritted while smiling. I wish politicians acted this goofy more often. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw some of the other leaders in the photo, particularly the man in the bottom left corner glaring at the camera. Does anyone know who the guy in the top right corner is? I couldn't seem to find a caption with his name.

Whoever took this photo struck gold. Not only is Dmitry Medvedev smiling, the photograph was an opportune moment that may have eased tensions between leaders, and possibly, their constituents. Today, countries such as the U.S., Italy and Russia are connected primarily through the Internet - which makes photography like this even more important.

International events, including the G20 summit, raise a larger question: are these meetings solely for the promotion of diplomatic relations, or is the meeting increasingly aimed at the media so journalists can provide transparent and cooperative impressions of global politicians to the public? In my opinion, most decisions involving international relations and diplomacy are made behind closed doors. I would argue that the topics and speeches at conferences like the G20 are well-rehearsed and are meant more for the media and public than for other establishing legitimate relations between countries. If this is the case, the public may be cheated out of authentic discourse, but at least the discussions aim to inform people about current policies that surround international issues. I'm interested to hear if anyone has any other ideas on the topic. Here are more images from the G20 conference.

On the other hand, the following CNN video shows the heavier side of the conference. As protestors gathered outside, tensions rose between the crowd and London police force. Though the majority of the protestors were peaceful, others provoked violence and quarreled with the police. As seen in the video, CNN reporter Nic Robertson and his crew were in the middle of all the action - even getting pushed around a few times. The video is an excellent example of how public events, especially involving protestors, can suddenly turn violent and dangerous. This is a consideration many journalists must make before deciding to travel to world events or entering investigative journalism.