Let’s not get climate change involved shall we. The wsj just had something to rebuke the Ice age melting.
Obama’s Half-Baked Alaska http://www.wsj.com/articles/obamas-half-baked-alaska-1441321015
I was going to post something similar, katliamom.
Scary thing is, the refugee crisis/mass migration is not temporary. It's the "new normal" due to drought, economic conditions, and subsequent civil war, brought on by climate change.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/18/mass-migration-crisis-refugees-climate-change
We certainly don’t have to discuss climate @DrGoogle - but that won’t change the fact that it played a huge role in the impoverishment of a huge percentage of Syrians, and is one of the reasons they’re fleeing.
Closing our mind to it won’t make it disappear - or stop massive migrations.
The author of this article might be accused by those with the opposite opinion as “apologist.” A non-apologist would say: I am smart and invented the technology to conquer the world first (and efficiently make use of those who are not as smart as me to have a mass production to benefit all of us – I do these not-so-smart people a “huge favor” of giving those “lower caste” people jobs. It is therefore justified for me to receive more rewards due to my intelligence and my own hard work.
Somehow, when I read the above quoted paragraph, I am thinking of substituting the phrase “a substantial number of climate refugees” with “a substantial number of slaves”, “climate change” with “social injustice and inequality”, “Britain” with “US”. These are all consequences of human’s greed + industrialization.
I may be accused of being an apologist by those who have a different opinion.
The "just something" WSJ has to supposedly rebuke Arctic ice melting is clearly posted and labeled as opinion/commentary. As if one couldn't tell from the title. 8-|
Exactly so. Everyone wants a better life, and if they go to Saudi Arabia, they’re told to get lost in no uncertain way, so they don’t do it. But if they go to Europe, especially places like Sweden, nobody tells them no, so this is what happens. When Europe goes ahead and accepts a million, the message it sends is for ten million more to come; when the Arab or other local countries ship them out, the message it sends is, don’t bother to try to settle down here.
Europe needs immigration or otherwise face a demographic disaster. Been to Italy lately? How many small children did you see? And if it wasn’t for immigrants, Germans – whose birth rate has been declining dramatically – would be in deep doo doo pretty much now.
Europe does not need more people. They already have high unemployment and many countries are in crisis over all the promised benefits that cannot be paid, so they are on austerity programs. Europeans of childbearing age cannot afford to have children. They cannot afford to move out of their parents homes. The last thing they need is more competition for jobs and housing. The last thing their governments need is more demands on an already overburdened welfare system.
How many ISIS terrorists are going to slip in with the mass of people coming from Syria? This crisis is the perfect cover.
It's hard to see how Europe can absorb the ongoing tide.....but the alternative is million of displaced children growing up with inadequate food, housing, and education in refugee camps or in impoverished war-torn towns. How many future ISIS terrorists would be spawned in those conditions if Europe and the rest of the world do nothing?
Germany is still dealing with post-WWII guilt. By accepting large numbers of migrants, they can feel good about themselves, which is something they long for. But they have violated EU regulations and thrown their neighbors into turmoil. The 800,000 target number is just a magical number that is unenforceable. As I said earlier, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. They were so hard with Greece; this laxity re refugees is a pendulum swing that bespeaks a moral insecurity. The migrant crisis will be the death of the EU, not Greece.
While we’re at it the Pilgrims should go back and make nice with the British, the Irish should go back and enjoy hte potato famine and the Jews should go back and take over Russia. @@
The oil rich nations aren’t doing much, but poor Jordan has been overrun by waves and waves of refugees - starting with 2 million Palestinians.
Austria has above 10% unemployment rate.
Syrians Take Arctic Route to Europe http://www.wsj.com/articles/syrian-refugees-take-arctic-route-to-europe-1441273767
There is another route, Article route.
We’ve known for a very long time now that Syrian refugees were escaping to Turkey, have seen the refugee camps hastily built there. “My” dear Syrian-American girls’ uncle was able to get himself and family out to Turkey quite a while ago, thank goodness. I guess now, those refugee camps have burst. They are fleeing, trying to get to Germany which is sympathetic.
The top five wealthiest Gulf states have taken no refugees. None. And have stated clearly that they will not do so. Whether one is a climate change true believer or adamant denier, that is not relevant to the immediacy of the Syrian and Iraqi refugee crisis. They are fleeing to avoid being murdered or enslaved or tortured. Many had perfectly fine lives before wars unrelated to the climate tore their countries apart and monsters like Putin, Assad and Khamenei feasted on their carcasses. I am currently reading a book called The Arabs: A History by Eugene Rogan and I highly recommend it.
Excellent post, @zoosermom. In the forth year of the Syrian civil war, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey have taken in the largest numbers of refugees - some living in formal camps, some roaming the streets of Beirut, Amman or Turkish cities. I only wish Saudi Arabia, the Emirates as well as Canada and the US would allow Syrians who already live there to sponsor refugee relatives for a certain number of years.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet but Syria under Hafez al-Assad was heavily supported by the former USSR and the former GDR (until 1990, Assad died in 2000 or 2001). In exchange for general influence but also maritime access to the Mediterranean and probably some oil, Syrians were invited to study medicine or engineering in both countries. Many branches of the Syrian secret police had been trained by the East German Stasi. The religious point about Sunni-Muslims made by someone above is probably more relevant but there is definitely a long-standing tradition of Russian support to Syria.
I thought this was also an interesting article.
I look up a brief review of the book “The Arabs: A History” referred to by zoosermom. Seems interesting.
"The Arabs: A History
by Eugene Rogan 532pp, Allen Lane,
Early on in his book Eugene Rogan, who teaches the modern history of the Middle East, confesses that in “any free and fair election in the Arab world today, I believe the Islamists would win hands down”. Again, towards the end of this engrossing and capacious book, he reiterates that the “inconvenient truth about the Arab world today is that, in any free and fair election, those parties most hostile to the United States are most likely to win”.
Today, Arab fear of the west and resentment at the humiliating and socially damaging effects of westernisation fuels Islamism and the spread of terrorism. How have we come to this pass? Rogan answers this question by tracing the history of Arab hopes and ultimate disappointments from the early 16th century, when the Ottomans conquered most of the Arab world, to the present day. This is primarily a modern history, and the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries are briskly treated."
I teach ESL to brand new adult refugees mostly from Burma (Karen), Nepal and Butan who have been living up to 15-20 years in the camps in Thailand. OMG - What a grateful and gentle group of people I have the pleasure of getting to know.
Their arrival in America had something to do with the United Nations as I learned during a summer school that the UN deducts the $1200 cost of their flight to America at a rate of $250 a month from the emergency monies they receive from the county to help establish a new home. They also receive 90 days of medical/dental from the county.
I feel both humbled and honored to be able to walk with them as they take the baby steps necessary to begin to learn our language. That being said, it is very much a financial burden on the countries/communities who take them in. I don’t know if we give aid to Syria, but I think any country which receives aid from America and refuses to help their own, should immediately be denied any future payments.
@zoosermom #34
You beat me to the comment that the neighboring, rich Arab states have taken in ZERO syrian refugees. They leave it up to the despised infidels to take care of their persecuted Arab brethren.