(MENAFN- Morocco World News) Washington – It's a photograph that looks strangely incongruous in its contemporary context. Russian President, Vladimir Putin, seemingly holding court at the G20 Summit in Hamburg while Us President, Donald Trump, appears to beg for a scrap of the leader's attention.

Just one G20 ago, the positions would have been reversed, with Putin looking slightly out of place among a united 19 led by cool and confident former US President, Barack Obama. But this is the Trump era and that means strange reversals on many fronts.

When the G7 leaders met in May, Trump was already an isolated figure, having revelled in expressing diametrically opposing views on international trade, the refugee crisis and, of course, climate change.

These reasons alone would have been enough to draw a circle around the isolationist President but it was his personal gaffes which commanded most of the attention and ultimately lowered the US's standing in international opinion.

Physically pushing his way past a fellow leader for a spot at the front in a group picture was considered crass and the act of a bully. Opting for a ride in a golf cart while other leaders walked further isolated him.

Cut to the G20 Summit in Hamburg and, if one believes Trump bravado, he is making international strides. The photographic evidence, however, tells a contradictory tale. At the conclusion of one, two-hour meeting with the Russian leader, Trump announced that he was ready to believe Putin's innocence regarding the issue of Russian hacking during the last US election campaign. What convinced him? Putin said so. No evidence offered, no proof of non-involvement, just Putin's word.

Cynical observers were left shaking their heads at the apparent Presidential naivety.

Cue the photograph, notice the positioning of the two leaders. The tables have turned and the gloating posture of Putin is something which should place every American on notice.

The picture offers evidence of a sort where the Russian leader is concerned. It points, perhaps, to the end of an era that saw US Presidents occupying a place at the head of the international relations table. It points to a smug former outsider in Putin, all too happy at the apparent reversal in his fortune.

MENAFN0907201701600000ID1095608960