German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived at an unexpected juncture this week.
The 65-year-old chancellor, considered humorless even by German standards, celebrated his TikTok debut, promising “not to dance.”
If only. Though Scholz’s unexpected TikTok endorsement was more sad Kabuki than entertaining jig, he was grooving. Coming just a few days before his visit to China, the controversial social network’s home base, Scholz appeared desperate to convince Beijing that a friend was en route.
And for good reason: Scholz needs China.
Note: Politico is owned by Axel Springer, a German right-wing media conglomerate with a rather “on again, off again” relationship with truth and a strong anti-government stance. They’re basically German News Corp.
The thesis of this article is that Germany under both Scholz and Merkel put profits over human rights. They’ve ignored warnings and pressure from allies in pursuit of those profits and are under economic pressure to continue to do so. Hardly a far-right position. I doubt anyone would have an issue with it if didn’t have a terrible headline.
Multiple organizations rate Politico as “center left” or “leans left” in terms of editorial bias and, per the included link, they have not failed a single fact check in the last five years. They’ve actually been rated as shifting slightly to the left since they were bought by Axel Springer.