Now listen, the situation between Russia and Ukraine is serious stuff, with Russian President Vladimir Putin's threatened invasion having the potential to inflame political tensions all over the world and even erupt into a third world war of sorts.
But all of that said, in the world of international geopolitics, there have been few things as funny in the entire history of mankind as Putin's meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday at a table so long it looks like something out of an M.C. Escher painting.
Just look at the thing!
Putin is trolling with this table, right?pic.twitter.com/aIwRa8YIPt— Paul Massaro (@Paul Massaro) 1644258820
Serious question: How did they even HEAR each other? Did they just scream the entire time? Did the translators have to scream at each other too? Talk about a meeting that could've just been an email...
Naturally, Putin's absurdly long table has instantly become a meme. Who says world events can't be fun, amirite?
Putin VS Macron...pic.twitter.com/ZhXkBvmrTN— Franjolittle (@Franjolittle) 1644267947
Will Putin and Macron do face painting after? #Ukraine #pointless #lipservicepic.twitter.com/hi9agrWzmZ— Tarquin (@Tarquin) 1644267699
The topic of the meeting, of course, was Putin's escalating threats against his southwestern neighbor, Ukraine, which Putin has had his eye on ever since his successful--and illegal--invasion and seizure of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
Ukraine's location directly between Russia and Eastern Europe makes it strategically important to Russia. And since Ukraine also lies on the eastern border of NATO... well, suffice to say the entire world is on edge as Putin continues amassing troops at the border and conflict seems ever more imminent.
So, much like Democratic President Joe Biden tried to do in a recent phone call with Putin, Macron traveled to the Kremlin this week to give Putin his two cents on the crisis over a five-hour traditional Russian lunch of reindeer with sweet potatoes and blackberries.
Perhaps the reindeer was served whole and that's why the table is so huge? They can grow to nearly seven feet long, so...
By all accounts the meeting didn't exactly go well--Putin basically shrugged Macron off to the press while blaming Ukraine for the tensions as if he hasn't been amassing troops on the border for months. IDK, sounds bad!
But ominous as it may sound, it was instantly overshadowed by the hilarity of Putin's absurd table. And boy oh boy, have the Twitter meme-makers been working overtime on this one.
Summary of today's Putin - Macron meeting pic.twitter.com/dri5O4Mv6F— Abdylvehab (@Abdylvehab) 1644269047
Putin-Macron meetingpic.twitter.com/PfHaWyJ3g5— Giant Military Cats (@Giant Military Cats) 1644262978
Macron and Putin agree to settle Ukraine's fate over a game of air hockeypic.twitter.com/hEhSiMAZeP— robert shrimsley (@robert shrimsley) 1644258662
Today's Macron-Putin meeting seems to be going well.pic.twitter.com/ZcAbIAMtT3— Ben Riley-Smith (@Ben Riley-Smith) 1644254264
Will Putin and Macron do face painting after? #Ukraine #pointless #lipservicepic.twitter.com/hi9agrWzmZ— Tarquin (@Tarquin) 1644267699
Wow. This Putin-Macron meeting is really somethingpic.twitter.com/xjY6Tp3waY— Paul Massaro (@Paul Massaro) 1644264589
Picture of the meeting that's ongoing between the President Macron and Putin.\n\n Isn't a zoom call closer .pic.twitter.com/bZdP8KqJj1— The RAGE X (@The RAGE X) 1644253742
Variations on Putin-Macron meetingpic.twitter.com/22XLYuXDet— Maria Snegovaya (@Maria Snegovaya) 1644336697
I can\u2019t be the first one to zoom in on Macron\u2019s handspic.twitter.com/RmVxKoPx3N— Fred. (@Fred.) 1644274344
Hey, we may be heading for World War Three but at least there's memes this time.