Angela Merkel defends George W. Bush over an awkward G7 massage photo

Angela Merkel has come to George W. Bush’s defense after an awkward photo of him appearing to give her a back massage at the G7.

The former chancellor’s new autobiography Freedom shares her life story, along with some of her experiences as leader of Germany from 2005 to 2021.

One moment Merkel described was when former President Bush raised eyebrows when she froze while rubbing her neck during a meeting between world leaders.

The moment in 2006 came in St. Petersburg, when the G7 was known as the G8, when Russia temporarily joined the group that also includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the US.

The viral moment was seen by the US president as an inappropriate physical contact, but Merkel defended her friend.

“The scene with the shoulder grab that went around the world is a very good example of the fact that context is always important at such moments,” Merkel writes in her new book.

‘However, Bush and I had a basic trust in each other and have now experienced how misleading images can be when they are disconnected from the place and the people involved.’

She concluded: ‘It was a joke, not intended to intimidate or belittle me, but just a bit of fun in the midst of dry and serious deliberations. Bush and I loved and respected each other.”

Merkel also spoke about another viral moment at the G7 with then-President Barack Obama in Germany in 2015, where she said she wasn’t angry and was just talking about the size of a beach chair.

Merkel writes that she “expected something at that moment, but not that” and says she threw her arms in the air in “shock” when Bush put his hands on her shoulders, but clarifies that she “not for a moment” heeded the Bush’s actions as anything other than a jape.

This is just one of the few stories that Merkel provides insight into in her new book.

She also spoke about the viral photo of her and former President Barack Obama, which showed her looking angry with her arms outstretched as she spoke to him while sitting on a bench at the G7 summit in her home country in 2015.

According to the former German leader, she only mentioned the size of a beach chair.

Merkel has revealed in her new memoir the sexism she faced during her time as Chancellor of Germany – including how a photographer once lay on the floor under a table and tried to take pictures of her ‘cruel’ shoes.

The autobiography chronicles her birth in East Germany and her rise to the top of world politics – and lifts the lid on her several encounters with royalty and world leaders, including when Bush was surprised with a massage at the G8 nearly two decades ago -top. .

She said the moment was not sexist, as some perceived it.

But Merkel did reveal how she was constantly subjected to comments about her approach to fashion, including her work clothes and haircut.

The now 70-year-old, who was Chancellor for sixteen years and sixteen days, says she was aware of the jokes that circulated about her.

One chapter tells how a female photographer once “threw herself” to the ground to try to take pictures of Merkel’s crooked shoes; elsewhere she discusses the trouser suits that made her famous and how she almost completely ditched skirts and dresses during her time in power.

Then-President George W. Bush also placed his hands on the shoulders of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Stralsund on July 13, 2006, during a two-day visit to Germany

Donald Trump’s apparent defiance of Merkel – famously captured in this 2018 photo taken at the G7 summit in Canada – is also touched upon, with the former German chancellor saying the US president-elect treats every meeting as a competition.

Merkel at the opening of the Oslo Opera House in Norway in 2008; she became known for her affection for practical pantsuits, but occasionally wore glad rags during her tenure

Donald Trump also appears in the memoir, in which Merkel recounts how, during the 2018 G7 summit in Canada, he threw two Starburst candies across a table at her and said, “Here, Angela, so you can’t say I never told you gave something’.

One famous photo shows Trump with his arms folded, looking defiant as other world leaders surround him, but the former German chancellor plays down the incident, saying Trump showed his annoyance at the amount of German cars in New York and that they realized that America President Elect views every meeting as a ‘competition’.

She revealed how she scolded herself for asking him to shake her hand in front of the cameras when they met in 2017, before realizing his rudeness was intentional.

“He wanted to create conversation with his behavior,” she writes, pretending “as if I were having a conversation with a completely normal person.”

She concluded from her visit to Washington: “There can be no cooperation for an interconnected world with Trump.”

Gender-based comments that did reach her included jokes about her hair and frequent comments about the color and style of her clothing, including her preference for cardigans and skirts when she served in the German cabinet.

Trump wanted to ‘create fodder for conversations through his behavior’, says Merkel; the couple pictured in 2019 at the G7 summit in Biarritz

Merkel’s book covers her life from 1954, including her birth in what was then East Germany, to 2021

President Vladimir Putin (R) and then German Chancellor Angela Merkel give a joint press conference after their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow in January 2020

Merkel’s memoir follows her rise from her childhood in the German Democratic Republic and memories of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 to becoming chancellor in 2005.

She also shares memories of her meetings and conversations with some of the most powerful people in the world, and weighs in on her experiences with leaders like Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“He saw everything from the perspective of the real estate developer he was before entering politics,” she wrote of newly elected President Trump, who now returns to the top role in January.

“Each lot could only be sold once, and if he didn’t get it, someone else would. That’s how he saw the world.’

She wrote about how Trump didn’t shake her hand in front of photographers at a White House meeting in 2017, even after she whispered to him that they should.

“As soon as I said that, I internally shook my head at myself. How could I forget that Trump knew exactly what effect he wanted to achieve.’

She also suggested that Trump was intrigued by Putin, with whom he spoke numerous times as president.

“(Trump) was clearly very fascinated by the Russian president,” Merkel assessed. ‘In the years that followed, I had the impression that politicians with autocratic and dictatorial tendencies fascinated him.’

‘We spoke on two different levels. Trump on an emotional level, me on a factual level,” she continued. ‘For him, all countries were in competition with each other, where the success of one was the failure of the other.’

“He did not believe that cooperation could increase the prosperity of all.”