Time magazine’s cover for its Sept. 16 issue features a picture of contented-looking Russian president Vladimir Putin, complete with a black background and a damning caption that declares “America’s weak and waffling, Russia’s rich and resurgent.” But Time’s editors are shielding Americans from the demoralizing picture, putting a cheerful, sky-blue photo on the covers of magazines distributed in the United States. “It’s time to pay college athletes,” says the chirpy, non-political U.S. cover, which shows a ball-carrying football player with arm outstretched. The cover most Americans saw at the checkout counter safely overlooked a widely perceived fumble by President Barack Obama that left Russia to carry the ball in the Syrian war. The foreign-policy fumble prompted anger, embarrassment and amazement among professionals in the U.S. foreign policy apparatus, who slammed it as the biggest foreign-policy flub since President Jimmy Carter. But it also prompted derision and delight among America’s enemies in the Middle East, including Iran, which is backing Syria. The foreign covers acknowledge Putin’s triumph over Obama, telling foreigners that Putin “doesn’t care what anybody thinks of him.” And now for the kicker: The protective covers arrive as Time’s managing editor departs for a job working for one of the architects of the Syrian debacle, Secretary of State John Kerry. In “early summer,” editor Rick Stengel was asked by Kerry, and immediately accepted, the job of running the department’s public diplomacy mission, according to Politico. Throughout the summer, Stengel remained editor of Time while it covered U.S. politics.
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 02:08:23 +0000
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