The lady and the tiger.

Putin was showing the effete Westerners the superior power of Russian manliness.

Palin would have shot the tiger with a 12-bore, then ripped out and eaten its still-beating heart with a giggle.

Obama would have smiled a dazzling smile and the tiger would have stopped in its tracks and slunk off slightly ashamed.

Gordon Brown would have tried boring it to death before throwing David Miliband out the Land Rover at it.