However, and unsettling as it may be, she is neither a leftist nor a secularist. She has explicitly (and under unforced circumstances) stated that the Christian concept of the human person is the essential foundation for human rights: note that, not the "Enlightenment" concept, not the merely "Western" concept, but the "Christian" concept.
Not leftist, not secularist, nor is she stupid. It is rather amazing to me to see her flailing around now, sounding compromised, confused and clueless when, really, she should know better.
Germany has had a mutually beneficial relationship for decades with Turkish "guest workers" who were respectable, law-abiding, working people. The German workforce depends on the 1st and 2nd generation descendants of these Gastarbeiter. Merkel has perhaps had trouble realizing that this is a whole 'nother thing.
Merkel's learning curve may be steep, but she will --- I predict --- get rid of the predators and parasites. I hope she can still extend welcome to the true innocents and allies: the Christians, the Yazidis and the tough, anti-ISIS Kurds.
The big, BIG underlying problem, is that German's birth rate and fertility rate have been cratered for 40+ years. They made the world's most obvious existential mistake: failure to procreate. They have very few young Germans. They are perhaps the first --- but will not be the last --- nation to commit suicide by contraception.
They have foolishly thought they could build a German future on Turks.
I fully agree with you and its funny years ago she said that Multiculturalism is a mistake and even admitted that there were migrants who were causing problems now she does a 180, there is something going on, either she has an onset of dimentia, or she is being controlled from behind the scenes, something does not smell right.
I didn’t know that about Merkel (per your 2nd paragraph). Why would that be ‘unsettling?’