gotchanewsdaily.com 
Sadistic Putin: Merkel has been famous for keeping her personal life private, but her phobia of dogs after she was bitten in 1995 is well known. That didn’t stop Putin from giving her “a large stuffed dog” as a “special gift” in 2006 and bringing a Labrador to a meeting with her a year later.
“While Putin and I posed seated for the photographers and cameramen at the beginning of our meeting so that they could take photos and cutaways of us, I tried to ignore the dog, even though he was moving more or less right next to me,” Merkel wrote.
“I interpreted Putin’s facial expressions to mean that he was enjoying the situation. Did he just want to see how a person in distress reacts? Was it a small demonstration of power? I just thought: stay calm, concentrate on the photographers, it will pass.”
The Pope’s counsel: Pope Francis had some wise words for Merkel, a devout Christian, on how to deal with Trump.
“Bend, bend, and bend some more, but take care it doesn’t break,” he urged her — advice that ultimately did not deter Trump from withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accord or Putin from invading Ukraine again.
(More) Putin power plays: Putin infuriated Merkel in 2015 when he made her and other then-G8 leaders, whom he was supposed to join for an aperitif, wait for 45 minutes.
