Trump Wanted My Baked Alaska But I Said Nyet!

Trump Wanted My Baked Alaska But I Said Nyet!: After much speculation, pundits finally decided that Presidents Trump and Putin were just discussing dessert during their hour-long, after dinner table talk at the G20 in Hamburg earlier this month.

Or not.  

Americans may never know, since this second private conversation (undisclosed at the time) took place at the formal seated dinner on July 7 for G20 leaders and spouses, hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Trump left his seat midway through the meal, went around the lengthy table, and sat next to Putin, who was seated next to First Lady Melania Trump. Other leaders were milling around chatting informally in groups, but none were within earshot of Trump or Putin, who was attended to by his official translator.

The lengthy one-on-one (plus one Russian translator) conversation was first reported Monday by Ian Bremmer, president of the New York-based Eurasia Group, the world’s largest political risk consultancy. “Pretty much everyone at the dinner thought this was really weird, that here is the president of the United States, who clearly wants to display that he has a better relationship personally with President Putin than any of us, or simply doesn’t care,” said Bremmer, who had heard directly from attendees. “They were flummoxed, they were confused, and they were startled.” Some leaders remarked privately on the odd spectacle of an American president singling out the Russian leader for special attention at a summit meeting that included some of the United States’ closest allies.

Trump slammed the media for reporting on the meeting, tweeting the “fake news” was “sick” and “dishonest” and the “Press knew!” But in fact journalists did not know ahead of time, and weren’t certain until Tuesday, when the White House confirmed that the two presidents met during the dinner. White House press secretary Sean Spicer disputed accounts that the conversation lasted an hour. He said the president described the exchange with Putin as purely social, and as lasting far less than an hour. “It was pleasantries and small talk,” Spicer said. You know, like…“How ’bout that Baked Alaska?”

You Go, Girls! Afghan Team Competes in Robotics Competition: First Global is an international robotics competition for teenage girls that was held in Washington, DC this past week, but the robots themselves were not the stars of the event. The team from Afghanistan had been twice denied visas for the competition (along with 60 other teams) until President Trump stepped in. Visas were issued with little time to spare. Due to shipment delays, the Afghan team had only two weeks to design and build their robot, which they named ‘Better Idea of Afghan Girls.’ While their robot did not perform in the top tier, the six-girl Afghan team earned accolades from other participants and walked away with a silver medal for courageous achievement from the organizers. (They were bested by South Sudan.) The competition was won by Team Europe, followed by Poland and Armenia.

Manny to Bibi: Bienvenue In the latest episode of “Which World Leader Is Visiting Manny In Paris?,” French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. The two gentlemen spent an hour speaking on various issues before their joint presser, in which Manny clarified some French positions on the decades-old conflicts between Israel and her neighbors. Tensions have been high since President Trump was elected and his issuing of stern words for Hezbollah-backing Iran.

Manny is dutifully concerned about the arming of Hezbollah (whose rockets can reach any target in Israel) and reiterated France’s support of a two-state solution. Macron also went on record supporting any initiative that would jump-start peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, but fell short of offering to host any talks. Bibi successfully re-established rapport with the Elysee Palace (read: French White House) after poo-pooing former French President Francois Hollande’s idea of peace negotiations via international conference. Bibi plans to invite Manny over in the coming months to repay his Parisian hospitality. Merci!

Dunkirk, and How the West Was Won: Dunkirk, the latest Christopher Nolan film, will be released on Friday, and the Pnut was able to participate in a pre-screening. It is a very good movie that is perfectly timed, given all the talk and chatter that the West and Western values may be under attack. The movie is a tight, action-packed film that provides excellent vignettes of how certain men (the film is notable for its complete lack of women) react in the face of complete stress, uncertainty, and doom.

Our only complaint about the movie is that the film relies a bit too much on music to heighten the drama. It’s unnecessary and at times distracting. The visual and storytelling spectacle is already gripping, and the soundtrack feels more suited for a Batman-superhero film than a historical war movie.

The cast is star studded, with many first-rate actors who have previously worked with Nolan. Tom Hardy makes us feel as if we are experiencing an actual dogfight between a Spitfighter and a Messerschmitt fighter plane. He is a mask-wearing character as he was as Bane in The Dark Knight, but this time he’s on the side of the good guys.

The real heroes in the film are not the fighter pilots, sailors, or grunts but the common decency of British civilians who answered the call to save hundreds of thousands of stranded soldiers from being captured by Hitler’s war machine. The true heroes that make Western democracy and society work are less war heroes than the everyday man and woman who works to make society a better place and who invests in creating a free world for future generations.

Nolan is quite the hitmaker: The Batman trilogy, Interstellar, Inception, and Memento. We think Dunkirk will not likely be a high-grossing movie (even though we think it should be), but it will and already has cemented Nolan as a director among the best of this era, and it may perhaps even be his best film.

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