The just-concluded Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing was remarkably productive, concluding with a landmark U.S.-China carbon-reduction deal. But it takes someone like Jon Stewart to make it entertaining. He gave it his best go on Tuesday night's Daily Show, starting with China's anything-but-dry welcoming ceremony. "Who breaks out 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Drummer Corps' for an economic summit?"
The theatrical critique continued when he noted President Obama's purple Nehru jacket getup. "He's not dressed for a summit, he's dressed for The Hunger Games," Stewart quipped, before noting that summit host countries get to choose "fanciful outfits" for all heads of state to wear. There's no such explanation for recently divorced Russian President Vladimir Putin's unwelcomely chivalrous move to drape a shawl over shoulders of the host's wife. "Oh my God, she thought Putin just annexed the Chinese president's wife," Stewart said. "The guy's an annexing machine." Watch on to learn about the cold-fish handshake between China and Japan's presidents, and the "Mean Girls" relationship between Obama and Putin. --Peter Weber
The Week
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