Proving her international chops, 48-year-old far right National Front candidate Marine Le Pen met with Lebanon’s Christian President Michal Aoun in Beirut, courting the French Lebanese vote. France’s Lebanese population swelled during Lebanon’s civil war [1975-1990] war, where Christian and Islamic groups battled for power. Le Pen also met with Lebanon’s Sunni Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri Monday, deciding to cancel a meeting with Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, insisting she wear a headscarf. Le Pen, whose National Front Party backs France’s headscarf ban, politely declined the meeting. “You can pass on my respects to the grand mufti, but I will not cover myself,” Le Pen told reporters, winning her votes in France. Le Pen hopes to win the first round of voting April 23 to replace Socialist Party French President Francois Hollande, looking for another six years.
Considered a long-shot because France leans more socialist, Le Pen has a real shot this year riding anti-Muslim sentiment from devastating terrorist attacks in Paris and Niece in 2016. French citizens have witnessed firsthand Islamic terrorism washing up on French streets, largely due to Hollande’s overly permissive socialist immigration policies. Refusing to don a headscarf, Le Pen makes a statement that she won’t kowtow to anyone. “I met with the grand mufti al-Zahar,” said Le Pen in 2015 in Cairo who didn’t require her as a Western politician to put on the hijab or head covering. Le Pen’s politics, like U.S. President Donald Trump, speaks to rank-and-file French citizens who’ve watched civil liberties erode under growing pressure from the Islamic community. Looking to capitalize on terror attacks and anti-immigrants sentiment, Le Pen looks poised to do well in the upcoming election.
Le Pen’s been a member of the European Parliament since July 14, 2009, familiar with the pro-immigrant political bent, especially coming from 62-year-old German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Working inside the EU taught Le Pen some valuable lessons, especially about the reasons behind the U.K’s June 23, 2016 Brexit vote. Le Pen, like Trump, opposes the EU’s support for the six-year-old Saudi proxy war in Syria, killing over 300,000, displacing 12 million more to neighboring countries, including about 2 million to the EU. Pressure from the EU to take more Mideast refugees drove Britain out, realizing their $12 billion payment yearly to the EU only got them more misery. Le Pen rides a magic carpet of anti-immigrant sentiment creating an opening for her conservative party. When you consider how EU support of the Saudi proxy war in Syria caused the refugee crisis, it’s astonishing.
Merkel’s clever political maneuvers in Germany most likely guarantee her another six years as chancellor. Moving her chief rival in the 2017 elections Frank-Walter Steinmeir from foreign minister to president, Merkel has all but eliminated any competition. Merkel was read the riot act by Bavaria’s Horst Seehofer, head of Germany’s conservative Christian Social Union party. Unlike France, where there’s an opening for Le Pen, there’s little chance of anyone, including Martin Schulz, head of Germany’s liberal Social Democratic Party. Recent polls show Schulz gaining ground on Merkel but, without Seehofer ending his support, he’s not likely to get enough voter for a coalition government in the Bundsstag, Germany’s lower house. Le Pen finds Hollande’s support of the pro-Saudi proxy war policy in Syria completely hypocritical, inviting Islamic terrorism to France.
Calling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad the “only viable solution” to govern Syria, Le Pen distinguishes herself from Hollande and Merkel, making her a real viable option in France. No matter how much Hollande demonizes Le Pen as a right wing fanatic, rank-and-file French citizens find her policies a refreshing break from the EU dominance over France. Since the June 23, 2016 Brexit vote, Merkel and Hollage have been in damage control mode, hoping no contagion spreads to the other 27 EU countries. Many of the EU’s central European countries, like Hungary and the Czech Republic, oppose the EU’s pro-immigrant policies. Creating the immigration crisis in Europe and Mideast, the U.S. and EU must admit its failed Syrian policy has caused today’s refugee disaster. Demonizing Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t fix bad decisions by the U.S. and EU.
Le Pen offers France the same hope as Trump, looking to protect France from Hollande’s pro-immigrant policies. Le Pen takes it one step further blaming the EU for backing the six-year-old Saudi proxy war in Syria that flooded the EU with Mideast refugees looking to escape the current war zone. “I hope France will make a better choice than this fascist right. We cannot ask the Lebanese people to forget the crimes the Syria regime against it and we cannon return en masse [Syrians] while there is the Syrian regime. It’s double insult,” said Hollande, using the same kind of propaganda Trump faced during the 2016 election. Hollande and Merkel created the mess in Syria backing the Saudi proxy war against al-Assad. Al-Assad has every right to defend his sovereignty against Saudi-U.S.-EU-backed terror groups seeking topple his Damascus regime. Le Pen’s 100% right about Syria.
