The astounding Putin-MBS high five

This bizarre image lit up social media. Reporters have been tweeting out jokes about what the two men must have saying. “You would be happy too if you just got away with murder,” wrote Aaron Blake of The Washington Post, as he offered his caption.

But the video is also deadly serious. As these two leaders laugh it up — and are in the process of thawing tensions between their nations by working in partnership to shore up crude oil prices — there is a total absence of moral leadership from America’s President. The video comes out as Americans are still recoiling from the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi and on the same day it was reported that the UK authorities believe Putin approved of poison attacks that killed a Briton and harmed a former Russian spy and his daughter. (Saudi officials have insisted that bin Salman had nothing to do with the murder and Putin’s government has said the nerve agent attacks in the UK weren’t its doing.)