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What's wrong with White House clocks? London and Moscow's 3-hour time gap sparks wild theories

The White House clocks for London and Moscow showed a 3-hour gap instead of 2 in the pic and Twitter pointed out it could be an old pic or photoshopped

It was quite perplexing for social media users as they wondered why the clocks for London and Moscow, which are two hours apart, were showing a three-hour gap in a White House photo of President Joe Biden meeting with the vice president and the national security team about the ongoing situation in Afghanistan. 

The photo came into focus after news of Taliban completing its takeover of Afghanistan with the capture of Kabul made headlines. As Taliban troops took control of nearly all major cities in Afghanistan, the US struggled to evacuate almost 10,000 American civilians from the capital. In the midst of countrywide upheaval, defense authorities are allegedly attempting to reach an agreement with the extremist group.

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In the meanwhile, the Taliban has threatened to release radical troops unless the United States decreases its attacks. Biden has stated that any Taliban activity endangering American lives "will be met with a swift and strong US military response." Frustrated Afghan war veterans have gone to social media to criticize Biden, questioning why their comrades had to die when Kabul fell. But on August 15 Twitter was abuzz trying to work out the mystery of the time on the two clocks. 

Following a photo tweeted by the White House showing Biden in an empty conference room meeting with the VP and the national security team via webcam, Internet sleuths were quick to notice something was definitely wrong with the picture. 'London and Moscow' was trending through Sunday, as the cities showed a three-hour time difference instead of two. Moscow, Russia is two hours ahead of London, UK. Many went so far as to say that the photo was old at best or a stock photo at worst. 

'Is this a stock photo?'

"Ummmm either their clocks are wrong (doubtful) or this is an old photo just recycled and not even from this weekend. There's currently only 2 hours between London and Moscow. What's actually going on?," a Twitter user said. "Old photo. Look at the clocks. London and Moscow haven’t been 3 hours apart since March… But nice try," another added. "Recent White House photos show a 3-hour time diff. b/w London & Moscow. There are a few good explanations for this. Either Camp David's clocks are wrong or the photos are from before March 28, when London went ahead on Daylight Savings Time, but Moscow didn't. This is *fine*," wrote journalist Kyle Becker.

"Tehran is 1.5 hours ahead of Moscow but only 30 mins in this pic!" a Twitter user quipped. "Note the time in London and Moscow on the clocks. Clocks show 3 hour time difference. However, there is currently only a 2 hour difference. Before March, London and Moscow have a 3 hour time difference because of daylight savings. Is this a stock photo?," a tweet read. Others suspected photoshop.

'All Trump's doing'

As people wondered if it was possible that the White House set a digital clock incorrectly,  conspiracy theories began to float. Some wondered, "Maybe because it's a stock photo meant to convey what is happening without actually revealing too much..?" "I don’t know how, but this is all Trumps doing. He controls the clocks too!" said another. "I demand that Twitter immediately suspend the account of @WhiteHouse for spreading disinformation. The clock times reflected in this photo would only have been correct in March when Biden last visited Camp David. Twitter must stop allowing false propaganda to be spread!," a third joked.

'Camp David support staff screwed up the clocks'

Others on Twitter tried to solve the mystery. "These clocks are either incorrectly set at the time of the picture (not on DST) or the picture was taken during non-daylight savings time. Or as someone else said, the display for the Moscow clock has a vertical light out which would change 19 to 18," said a Twitter user. "Beijing also does not have Daylight Savings Time, and the London-Beijing gap seen here - 7 hrs - suggests this pic was taken in summer. In winter the gap is 8 hrs. This suggests the Camp David support staff is embarrassingly lackadaisical and screwed up the clocks, not more," said another.

"London and Moscow? Yeah. It SAYS London, but it is OBVIOUSLY GMT which is why the difference is 3 hours. So there's your answer, people. You can all get some sleep now," a netizen opined. "Wait, why is "London and Moscow" trending, is this some reality TV thing...no, it's an ex-Trump flunky spreading conspiracy theories about clocks," wrote journalist Mike Rothschild. "Everyone: *creating conspiracy theories about why there is a 3 hour difference between London and Moscow* The White House employee who forgot to change the time," a netizen said, sharing a popular meme.