INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The G7 summit was coming down to the wire
The leaders of the world's richest democracies had promised some kind of compromise statement despite their deep divisions on trade.Donald
Trump is seated amid a crowd of officials
Across a narrow table, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron are standing, holding copies of a draft text, arguing for their position.One key
moment in a two-day meeting
Five opposing stories.The first view outsiders got of the scene came at 10.45am, when White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders released a photo
taken inside the room.In the US version, we see Donald Trump face on, apparently calm, leaning back confidently with a skeptical almost
sarcastic air, his arms crossed in a rebuff to the other leaders, bent towards him pleadingly. Ten minutes later, the French president's
office responded with a quite different view of the very same scene.Taken from the opposing angle, the French photo shows Macron negotiating
with his American counterpart, gesticulating to make a point
The other leaders have fixed him with their regard, apparently fascinated.Merkel's face is hidden by a neighboring official's head
This would not stand, and when Merkel's press team responded they brought the big guns.Taken by Jezco Denzel, a photographer working the
German government and winner of a category award in this year's prestigious World Press Photo award, the German picture shows Merkel
dominant.Her fists planted on the table, she looms above an apparently nervous Trump, looking up at her and listening without response
Macron is masked by the crowd, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May invisible.Something about the photo caught the imagination of the web,
and it was the German version that went viral, popping up all over social media, sometimes in its original form sometimes altered for
humorous or satirical ends.Italian premier Giuseppe Conte's version when it came was relatively humble, perhaps reflecting that he has been
in the jobs for fewer than three full days. He is seen from behind, clutching a document, addressing Merkel and Macron.So it fell to the
hosts, Canada, to have the final word in the war of the images, releasing their picture just after 2:00pm on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's
account.As befits his role as annual chairman of the G7, and perhaps Canada's tradition of peacekeeping operations, the picture is taken
from the side, impartially showing Trump dealing with his counterparts as equals.All appear to be working in tandem to resolve their
differences -- albeit under the keen but paternal eye of Trudeau, appearing in the figure of a referee.(Except for the headline, this story
has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
