Thus The Guardian today. “The Russian deputy prime minister tweets photo of leaders with leopard and poodle,” explains the newspaper. Next to each other, the two presidents are shown hugging their pets. Both Putin’s leopard and Obama’s poodle seem to be adolescents. According to the article, Dmitry Rogozin’s tweet has already been retweeted more than a thousand times. “We have different values and allies,” his caption goes. “Tell us how you’d caption these photos,” asks the newspaper. Although I do not intend to take part in the competition, I find myself eager to try my luck for my own entertainment. And here is a caption quite to my liking: “Asian leopard is neither here nor there, but European poodle is right on the money.” It has to do with Rogozin’s vaunted allies, of course. For a proper ally in Asia, Putin should have gone for a tiger instead. More important, Europe is hardly an ally of Obama’s. At best, it is a protectorate. A poodle, that is. Anyhow, I can only hope Putin will not be cross with Rogozin on account of that misbegotten leopard.