- Just when you thought nobody could replace One Direction, Vladimir Putin has gone and done it.
- And he was joined in his endeavor by leaders from other G20 countries who met in Australia for a cuddle-fest thinly disguised as some sort of summit.
- So as the world looked towards Brisbane, some politicians found themselves mirroring the animal's body language,…
Forget Putin. Forget policy. According to US media, the big news from the #G20 was far cuter http://bit.ly/1xblV8u pic.twitter.com/teFKRijx6Q- …others looked on as romance blossomed,…
Obama and other world leaders got cuddly with koalas http://nbcnews.to/1sRdV7s pic.twitter.com/MkcFkA2ACq- …and some appeared to remember the years when they were young parents, trying to hold on to squirming toddlers.
The Russian Bear and the Koala Bear.... And some other guy #G20Brisbane #Putin pic.twitter.com/Mzh7L0Qmft- So what about One Direction, you ask? (Unless you're a fan, in which case feel free to skip this part and head straight for the pictures below.)
- Well, the band made headlines when they had their own koala summit of sorts earlier this year.
Why am I jealous of a koala bear? #OneDirection pic.twitter.com/kaJXvQ9XkU- This didn't just lead to a collective "Awwwwww" among fans of One Direction, cuddly koalas or any combination thereof. It also drew attention to a previously neglected animal health issue.
Proud that ill b a vet working4the 1st Koala STD Clinic.Thx @onedirection 4putting koala chlamydia in the public eye pic.twitter.com/xrsmxgT0rH- A touching story, for sure. But nothing compared to the worldwide koalavaganza that swept social media during the G20 summit.
- In fact, even some journalists had trouble keeping their analytical distance. Take this tweet from Mother Jones magazine:
🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨 http://bit.ly/1tVMHvN pic.twitter.com/2oR9nenyOd- Other media reactions included pun-laden front pages like this one.
In tomorrow's The Sunday Times we give you Putin and a koala pic.twitter.com/v1imIU6Ngv- As inspiration struck, one Russian newspaper even ran an eight-line poem on the animal, imagining it as a female.
- "The koala didn't know whom she was hugging," it begins — then goes on to deliver barbs against Ekho Moskvy, a radio station and website known for its critical reporting on Russia's government.
Komsomolskaya Pravda wrote a poem about #Putin & the koala & offer 3000RUB prize for readers' own verses http://www.kp.ru/daily/26305.7/3186444/ …- But when Putin decided to leave the summit early, the gathering went from fluff to farewell. Naturally, this had cartoonists wondering how the koalas must have felt.
- After all, the Russian president has a long history of hugging any animal that doesn't hop away fast enough.
- What, then, about the big-eyed, soft-furred Australian animals was not to his liking? Was it just a quick, no-strings-attached cuddle to Putin?
As seen on
themoscowtimes.com
