Receiving the prestigious “Lamp of Peasce” award from Franciscan monks in Assisi, Italy, the birthplace of St. Francis, 64-year-old three-term German Chancellor Angela Merkel said more must be done to end the Syrian War. Merkel wholeheartedly backed the seven-year-old Saudi proxy war that began March 15, 2011 to topple the Shiite regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Sharing the award with past recipients like the Dalai Lama and former Polish President Lech Walesa, Merkel graciously accepted without mentioning that her backing of the Saudi proxy war over the last seven years killed more that 400,000 Syrians, displacing another 12 million to neighboring countries and Europe. Syria’s bloody war and the European Union’s refugee criis, drove the United Kingdom to the Brexit vote June 21, 2016, refusing to take the EU’s allotted Mideast refugees.
Like former President Barack Obama who received the Nobel Peace Prize Dec. 10, 2009, Merkel’s award doesn’t take into account her strong backing of Saudi Arabia’s Syrian proxy war. Without funneling arms-and-cash to Syrian rebels, the worst humanitarian crisis since WW II could have been avoided. Receiving her prize in a hall lined with Italian renaissance painter Giotto, Merkel called Syria “one of the biggest humanitarian tragedies of our time,” urging all responsible parties to end the crisis. Merkel admits nothing about her support of the Saudi proxy war, leading the worst humanitarian crisis and max exodus since WW II. No one particularly likes al-Assad but Merkel shares blood on her hands with President Barack Obama, the U.K. and other members of the EU. When Obama got the Nobel Prize in 2009, the committee didn’t know he backed the Saudi proxy war.
Receiving the “Lamp of Peace” award, Merkel joins Obama in working diligently for years to topple al-Assad. How ironic that Merkel receives the prestigious peace award when she did her utmost to destabilize Syria. “This conflict has become a conflict of regional interests, a conflict of religious . . . and that why today’s award reminds me and many other European leaders that we should be more involved in solving his conflict,” Merkel told the Franciscan monks. British-based charity, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says more than 500,000 have lost their lives in the Syrian War, some 85% civilians. If Merkel had not backed the Saudi’s Arab Spring, toppling dictators around the Middle East, supplying arms-and-cash to Syrian rebels, al-Assad would have seized back control of Syria. Only after Russian President Vladimir Putin joined al-Assad’s fight Sept. 30, 2015 did the tides turn.
Only recently cobbling together a new governing coalition in Germany Feb 6, Merkel’s on shaky ground after taking in a million Syrian refugees in 2017. Merkel blasted President Donald Trump for pulling out the Iran Nuke Deal, working with her EU partners and Russia to salvage the deal. Trump reminded the EU that there’s a big difference between the EU and U.S. with respect to foreign policy. Trump said the Nuke Deal prevented the U.S. from constraining Iran’s destabilizing influence in the Middle East. Yet Merkel sees nothing wrong with slamming Trump calling the world’s attention to her support the Saudi proxy war to topple al-Assad. Trump did everything possible to stop Obama’s covert policy of giving arms-and-cash to Syrian rebels seeking to oust the Damascus government. Merkel backed Obama’s policy, adding to the death toll and crisis in Syria.
Lighting a candle at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi, a 13 the century saint who advocated for the poor and preached peace, Merkel received the award for her liberal immigration policies for Syrian refugees, taking in some 1,000 into Germany in 2017. Assisi’s Franciscan convent chief Father Mauro Gambetti granted Merkel the “Lamp of Peace Award” for her “commitment to promoting peaceful coexistence among peoples.” Accepting the award, Merkel has no have second thought about backing the Saudi proxy war for over seven years. Now that al-Assad’s firmly in control of Syria with Russian help, Merkel seems less willing to back anti-al-Assad rebels seeking to topple his Alawite Shiite government. Receiving the award, Merkel also acknowledged the plight of Ukrainians, struggling to reclaim their sovereignty after Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea March 1, 2014.
When Western leaders like Obama and Merkel back policies that cause horrific casualties on the Syrian battlefield, the world rewards them with peace prizes. “This lamp is an inspiration for me. I will keep it on my desk,” said Merkel, without admitting her policy backing the Saudi proxy war to topple al-Assad caused the worst humanitarian crisis since WW II. Had Obama and Merkel seen the tide turn to al-Assad, they would have pulled the backing of Syrian rebel groups. There’s no “commitment to promoting peaceful coexistence among people” when a national leader chooses to arm a rebellion in a foreign land. While it’s good that Merkel took the lion’s share of Syrian refugees, it’s not good she created such widespread panic in the EU. Hungary’s 54-year-old President Viktor Orban, Czech’s 73-year-old President Milos Zeman and Poland’s 45-year-old President Andrzej all reject Merkel’s liberal immigration policies, threatening to break up the EU.
