Skip links

Phil Butler

Just for serious thinkers

Main navigation

body language

From Phil Butler, on Facebook, with concern Oct. 27, 2014

by 2 Comments

My buddy from since forever kidded me about having a man crush on Vladimir Putin the other day. “Fair enough”, I said. But I made it a life’s work reading the faces, emotions, and decorum of individuals … it’s what I like doing.

Look at this face, try and feel the intentions behind those eyes. There are only two distinct possibilities in gaging Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin …

One – he is the most intelligent, genuine, and ultimately dedicated to his people leader in the last 50 years.

Two – he is the most skilled, trained, versed, and ultimately dangerous KGB operative ever

Either  way, Russia prevails largely on his sleeve. For us, Americans in particular, the only question should be “Shouldn’t we have been friends and allies with Russia all along?”

The other potential, we see today in the chaos that is the world. Maybe America’s best destiny has been hijacked by those intent on preventing things like world peace? Russia, in partnership with the EU, the US, and China, and including the BRICs, could push humanity forward to heights only dreamed of before. This potential is being destroyed, and not by Vladimir Putin.

 

In 2013: An Assessment of Vladimir Putin & Benjamin Netanyahu Body Language

by 1 Comment

Yesterday Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow. The topic of discussion was largely bilateral relations between the two countries, a common bond of past Nazi aggression, somehow seemingly the only common thread between great nations.

Putin adn Netanyahu
Notice how Putin takes up space, and how Netanyahu is leaning in, but with leg crossed.

I was reading this morning the dialogue in between Putin and Netanyahu, and looking at the images supplied by President Putin’s press office. Knowing it’s no secret Russia-Israel-America futures seem somehow turned back decades to a time when Egypt and the whole Middle East was a Cold War playground for war, looking at these images brought to mind images of Nikita S. Khrushchev, President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Moshe Dayan. As the so-called “Cold War” has turned into warm economic conflict, so too these important leaders reflect trying times, times not unlike past critical points. Seeing the simple body language of this meetup, it’s clear mistrust, dislike, and mutually exclusive goals are afoot in the world still. The only major difference now is, Barack Obama is no JFK.

The image at top, if we can use that moment symbolically, shows one side of a room full of important people closed minded, yet somehow anticipatory, interested, maybe even needy. The Israelis you see, leaning forward with crossed legs, show many signs of this sentiment. On the other side of the room, a confident Vladimir Putin, one of his aides, they seem ready to head elsewhere, to get the subterfuge over with. The verbal fencing in between the Russian leader and Netanyahu over “who’s monument” is bigger, this too exhibits a mutual dislike perhaps.

PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL BENJAMIN NETANYAHU (retranslated): Mr President, I am happy to meet with you again. Every time we meet, we understand each other better, and our relations are constantly growing warmer and improving. I hope this meeting will strengthen the good relations between Russia and Israel even more, as they have been continuously gaining momentum under your leadership.

During your last visit to Israel, you saw a monument to Soviet soldiers and their enormous contribution to the victory over Nazism. For my part, I will be visiting the museum you founded, dedicated to the Jewish community, tomorrow.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: You haven’t visited it yet?

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: This is my first opportunity to do so.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: We’ve done even better than you.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Just give us a chance, and we will also show our strong side.

For those out there forgetful, if not for the millions on millions of Russians laying dead beneath battlefields in Europe, Israel itself could scarcely have existed at all. It’s a strange and ironic dynamic that has pitted Russia against Israel in the sad saga that is now the Middle East.

Back to the whole “language” of gestures that always resides in such meetings, and it’s clear here in this photo that Putin’s authority once again superimposes itself onto any meeting with a Russia visitor. Look at the image at top, how he “takes up space,” one of the clear signs of confidence, even body language training. By comparison, the Israeli delegation is inside a cocoon.

Putin and Netanyaha
Here Putin is clearly ready to leave, while Benjamin Netanyahu takes on the role of need.

In the image above Putin and Netanyahu part company with what seems an ordinary dignitary handshake, but what else does this image show? See how Netanyahu’s head is bowed just a bit more than Putin’s? Note the 45 degree angle Putin’s body is at, compared to the straight on body position of his Israeli counterpart? Lowering heads means submission, or sometimes that the person has something to hide. No doubt any world leader today has skeletons in the proverbial closet, but it seems clear Israel needs Russia a lot more than the reverse. It could be said too, Netanyahu possibly has more to hide than Putin on this stage.

With a Russia-Egypt alliance in the making now, and Washington seemingly blind to the consequences of such a prospect, it should be clear turning back the clock on detente will retard the whole world’s outlook for peace. At least this is one look at the situation, body language may give the most honest depiction of our leadership reality, even our relative strengths and weaknesses as societies. What’s your take?

Editor’s note: I originally wrote this piece for Everything PR News in November of 2013.