www.boingboing.net/2006/07/19/bushs_grope_blitzmas.html
Michael Shaughnessy says, I can only imagine what Chancellor Merkel was thinking and it can't be positive. While 'personal space' is less than what you have in the US, Germans still have social tabus on touching, especially in such a public forum as the G8 summit. Germans may be obsessed with shaking hands, but it is a very brief shake. Touching of this sort is for -very- close friends in private. At least this produced yet another cool German word: "Blitz-Massage."
Bush "gropes" Germany's (female) chancellor Merkel Reader comment: Christoph Kesselmeier says, Hello from old Europe. As a German I must say that Bush meeting Merkel naked in the sauna would be inappropriate because of the lack of seriousness, but _way_ less offensive for her. He decides to cross her physical borders without asking for her consent or without being in a context that implies consent. However, this might be just one of the many cultural misunderstandings you get used to working internationally. Though - I never got a spontaneous massage by any business contact from US yet :-) Liz says, With regard to your posting at Boing Boing, isn't the legal term for what Bush did to the German Chancellor "assault & battery"? Although I do understand that those in power are above the law, I think it's always helpful to remember what they might be arrested for in a real democracy, don't you?
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