They do it in schools when little kids don’t get along. So why shouldn’t they do it at a big world leaders meeting when the big kids can’t get along? President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin will now be sitting further apart than originally expected.
Those eager for a potentially awkward photo op of President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin sitting next to each other at the G-20 summit might be disappointed: The seating chart is putting more distance between the two leaders than previously expected.
Seating at the summit is alphabetical, but the planners for the event have reportedly changed which alphabet they are using to make the chart, Voice of America and The Guardian reported. In the Cyrillic alphabet, which is used in Russian, Russia and the United States would have been separated only by Saudi Arabia, but in the Latin alphabet, used in English, the two nations are separated by five others.
Putin’s spokesman confirmed to a Russian newspaper the English alphabet would be used, according to the reports.
…Asked about the seating arrangements, the White House referred POLITICO to the Russian government as the organizer of the meetings.
And, The Politico reports, as of now there are no plans for Obama and Putin to meet one-on-one.
So the question is now this:
Even if they’re seated further apart, can’t they still throw spitballs at each other?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.