what does "shuffling papers"mean?
At 2:30 he and his colleagues filed back into the Gold Room. He told the Germans briefly that President Kennedy had been injured. General Friedrich Foertsch replied for his comrades that they hoped the injury was not too serious. The Chiefs did not reply, and for the next two hours they put on a singular performance. Aware that the shadow of a new war might fall across the room at any time, they continued the talks about dull military details, commenting on proposals by Generals Wessel and Huekelheim and shuffling papers and directives with steady hands.

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in this case the shuffling of the papers is not literal. it means in literal form, looking through, searching through. a handful of papers but not directly focused on one, shuffling is used as a search through the papers in an unorganized manner

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Literally "shuffling papers" means moving them around, taking the ones on top of a stack and moving them to the bottom as you would do with a deck of cards before you start to play a game.

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In a situation like this, a way to look busy is by "shuffling papers". 
"to look busy" is a way to hide the underlying nervousness in a difficult circumstance.  
[search: "How to Look Busy at Work Without Really Working"]

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