To the Editor:

While U.S . State Department prevents peace in Ukraine, and force marches 400,000 Ukrainian Orthodox Christians to their death to remove Putin Government  from power, they are also preventing peace, force marching Syrian Orthodox Christian and Muslims migrants to their deaths in the Mediterranean in order to remove the Syrian Assad government!

The ‘Assad Anti-Normalization Act’ of the U.S. Congress is designed to inflict as much pain and suffering  as possilbe on the civilian populace of Syria to force them to leave Syria or remove their elected leaders! U.S. House Representatives states about the bill that “condemns the normalization of relations with Bashar al-Assad and his Arab neighbors and imposes sanctions on those who support him” – including the Greek Orthodox of Syria.

In response to Russian-brokered peace initiatives Saudi Arabia, Iraq and  all members of the Arab league countries of the Middle East have made peace and are  restoring  ties with the people of Syria and promised to rebuiding the civilian lives and institutions of Syria ravished by U.S. wars and economic sanctions against them!

Recently, hundreds of Syrian men, women, and children drowned off the coast of Greece, attempting to escape  U.S .economic sanctions and deprivation in Syria, while U.S. media demanded a criminal investigation against Greek Coast guard!

The U.S. sanctions on Syria are to blame. There is no war in Syria. The battlefields have long been silent across Syria, but there is no recovery or rebuilding allowed, because the U.S. sanctions prevent any rebuilding or foreign investments in rebuilding projects, and U.S. occupation of Syria’s oil and gas fields is preventing access to energy revenue and fuel for their own basic needs.

Infrastructure, hospitals, homes, schools, factories, and businesses are all left waiting for the sanctions to be lifted to orders parts and supplies from abroad to begin the long process of recovery from the U.S.-NATO war on Syria for regime change, which ended in failure.

It is the western sanctions, put in place by democracies, that keep the Syrian unemployed and without any welfare safety net, so that people are forced to risk their lives to feed their families back home.

The  criminal foreign Policy of economic sanctions by America now imposed on over one third the population of the world represent ‘Crimes against Peace’ and ‘War Crimes’ – and shame on us in allowing it !

Michael Gianakos

Lebanon, N.J.

Retired V.P. Marketing Fortune 500 multinational corporations – MBA  Finance;

Greek Orthodox Steward.