Russian leader Vladimir Putin headed off an armed confrontation with the leader of a mercenary group in his employ — but at the cost of appearing weak. Editorial cartoonists made sport of Putin’s embarrassment at the hands of Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner Group. Nick Anderson leads the gallery with Putin’s mighty flex exposing his boxer shorts.
Bill Bramhall evokes imagery from Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather.” Jack Ohman portrays Putin and Prighozhin as operatic divas and Putin as “unplugged” from an electrical outlet. Drew Sheneman’s Putin is a circus ringmaster being bossed around by the bear. David Horsey cleverly updates the lyrics of the Beatles’ “Back in the USSR.”
Last week’s other big story was the frantic search for a private submersible lost while diving to observe the wreck of the Titanic. The sub imploded under the tremendous pressures of the deep ocean, killing all five people aboard. Steve Breen and Scott Stantis both contrast the amount of angst and media coverage generated by the sub disaster to the lack of interest in the deaths of hundreds of asylum-seekers who drowned on a boat that capsized in the Mediterranean.
Other news events in the gallery include more on Justice Samuel Alito’s Alaska fishing trip as the guest of a billionaire; Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign; and the censure of Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, by House Republicans over his role in impeaching former President Donald Trump.
Cartoons were drawn by Jack Ohman, Nick Anderson, Bill Bramhall, Dana Summers, Drew Sheneman, Scott Stantis, Walt Handelsman, David Horsey, Phil Hands, Joel Pett and Joey Weatherford of Tribune Content Agency; and Mike Luckovich, Steve Breen and Michael Ramirez of Creators Syndicate.
