Bolton: Merkel exposed Germany, others ‘to risk of terrorism’

by WorldTribune Staff, December 21, 2016

By allowing more than one million refugees into the country, Chancellor Angela Merkel “exposed Germany, and others, to the risk of terrorism,” former U.S. ambassador to the UN John Bolton said on Dec. 20.

On Dec. 19, a terrorist plowed a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 48.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel. /Reuters
German Chancellor Angela Merkel. /Reuters

“Merkel has been the biggest symbol across the continent of people who supported the policy” of accepting refugees from Arab countries, Bolton said in an interview with Fox news. “It has aroused a lot of resentment outside of Germany… and I think the question is whether enough Germans believe it was Angela Merkel’s mistake and she loses elections next year.”

The German chancellor “has already tried to take some steps inside Germany – calling on bans of women wearing burkas and the like, trying to go after the most visible manifestation of the rise of Islam in Germany,” Bolton said. “I think the feeling that many Germans have had, and are reluctant to say out loud given Germany’s history, is that they feel they’ve lost control of their country.”

Beatrix von Storch, vice chair for the German Alternatives fuer Deutschland Party, told Radio 4’s The World at One: “It is not possible to let in so many refugees and as far we know the terrorist was one of them. We always said the risk is rising, and we cannot handle the risk any more. The policy of Angela Merkel and the way she’s addressing the immigration crisis is responsible for what is happening.”

Bolton also speculated whether the assassin of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, was “part of a larger chain,” which he said he thinks is “highly likely.” If this is found to be the case, “then the Russians will kill somebody,” he said.

“I think [Vladimir] Putin is already using this to bring Turkey closer to Russia. He said it was perhaps a provocation by some. He argued that this is ‘an enormous strategic move to try to slice Turkey away from NATO.’ ”

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