It looked to me more like *he* wasn't shaking hands, rather than the other way around.
Maybe he's gonna take his ball and go home now. boo-hoo.

Maybe he had a cold and didn't want to give it to anyone and they'd worked that out ahead of time.

AFAIK, he was the host. Presumably they wouldn't have been there had they hated him that much. Also, he might have said hi previously.

You guys are really digging deep for alternate explanations. Occam's razor FTW, IMHO.

Before the clip was filmed everyone watched as a terrorist of unidentified origin (he was white with a black mustache but suspiciously red hair) wired up Bush's arm to a detonator hidden in his pant leg. That detonator would in turn set off an explosion in the capital city of each person who shook his hand.

But how would the detonator know which cities were which? Why simple. It was connected to an iPhone in Bush's left breast pocket. Each dignitary was in turn hooked up with 16GB (though I think there were to with 8GB) iPod shuffles.

Using Bluetooth, and a special application that was installed on each iPod and the iPhone, they could communicate with one another. The applications were bought for $2.99 each from the App store, though two people got their for free when the terrorists first put the app up trying to increase its popularity and placement in the store.

The applications I'm told use each person's primary WoW login to identify each individual. The locations were supposed to rely on some Google query, but at the last minute the terrorists feared poor internet connectivity and just hard-coded the WoW account name and city pairs into the iPhone app's settings.

At least that's the most plausible explanation I've seen so far.

Here's some background on why the G20 leaders may have been angry at GWB.

Snub or no snub, it's all theatrics. They're on a stage (literally) lining up for the cameras. Every act these people do and every line they say is for power and control. We are the audience, and as the audience, we should not literally interpret the drama we witness, lest we lose sight of what is really happening in the world.

I'm surprised nobody noticed that I made up that story about the detonator and exploding cities.

Everyone knows the iPod doesn't have Bluetooth.

I noticed. And bluetooth or not, that beat the snot out of Mister Occam.

As Mister Mojo might be suggesting, any world leader visiting DC probably needs to consider whether or not they can afford to have a picture appear on the front page of their leading newspaper (if not state-controlled) or on some Web log (if not state-controlled) that shows them shaking hands with the current occupant of the Maison Blanche/Qasre Safid/White House.

Not all of the world's politicians are as incompetent as Bush, so I have to believe that these handshaking details are worked out well in advance.

edit: should read: "as you and Mister Mojo might be suggesting" -- planted device that explodes when you get home....