Sunday, December 3, 2017

Europe's Migrant Crisis: Millions Still to Come

In this mailing:
  • Soeren Kern: Europe's Migrant Crisis: Millions Still to Come
  • Maria Polizoidou: Preparing for Terrorist Attacks in Greece
  • Amir Taheri: Progress and History in Zigzag

Europe's Migrant Crisis: Millions Still to Come
"African exodus of biblical proportions impossible to stop"

by Soeren Kern  •  December 3, 2017 at 5:00 am
  • More than six million migrants are waiting in countries around the Mediterranean to cross into Europe, according to a classified German government report leaked to Bild.
  • "Young people all have cellphones and they can see what's happening in other parts of the world, and that acts as a magnet." — Michael Møller, Director of the United Nations office in Geneva.
  • "The biggest migration movements are still ahead: Africa's population will double in the next decades... Nigeria [will grow] to 400 million. In our digital age with the internet and mobile phones, everyone knows about our prosperity and lifestyle.... Eight to ten million migrants are still on the way." — Gerd Müller, Germany's Development Minister.
Migrants crossing from Libya to Europe wait to be rescued from a boat by crew members from the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) Phoenix vessel on May 18, 2017 off Lampedusa, Italy. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
The African Union-European Union (AU-EU) summit, held in in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, on November 29-30, 2017, has ended in abject failure after the 55 African and 28 European leaders attending the event were unable to agree on even basic measures to prevent potentially tens of millions of African migrants from flooding Europe.
Despite high expectations and grand statements, the only concrete decision to come out of Abidjan was the promise to evacuate 3,800 African migrants stranded in Libya.

Preparing for Terrorist Attacks in Greece

by Maria Polizoidou  •  December 3, 2017 at 4:30 am
  • These illegal immigrants "come to Europe looking for 'opportunities,' but do not accept any of the responsibilities of an open democracy. They usually engage in all kinds of smuggling: Drugs, trafficking, and even 'jihad.' We cannot allow that." — Former Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
  • "Jihadists are ideologues... They see the world as a battle between believers and unbelievers." Therefore no one is "immune" to their agenda. — François Heisbourg, IISS Council Chair at the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies.
  • Appeasing radical Muslims through open-border policies -- and by surrendering national identity to multiculturalism -- has the opposite of the intended effect. Allowing unfettered entry, rather than causing the immigrants to integrate and liberalize, and leading to friendly ties with Muslim-majority countries, has instead led to their further radicalization.
In September 2017, another 4,000 illegal immigrants and refugees arrived on the Greek islands, overwhelming local communities ill-equipped to receive them. Pictured: Migrants arrive at a beach on the Greek island of Kos after crossing part of the Aegean sea from Turkey in a rubber dinghy, on August 15, 2015. (Photo by Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)
At a recent conference in Rome, held by the think tank European Ideas Network (EIN), former Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, a member of the Hellenic Parliament, declared:
"European democracies in the Mediterranean are in danger of being swept away by a tsunami of uncontrolled immigration. We cannot allow this. Our societies cannot stand it. The European Union itself cannot stand it... [More than] one million 'foreigners' passed then [2015] through Greece and ended up in various countries of the European Union, mainly in Northern and Central Europe. Some of them were real refugees, from Syria and Iraq. But most of them were illegal immigrants from other countries of the world. Today it is estimated that the true refugees that are still coming are 20% of the total or fewer. The rest are illegal immigrants."

Progress and History in Zigzag

by Amir Taheri  •  December 3, 2017 at 4:00 am
No one in Pakistan cared that the "Father of the Nation," Muhammad Ali Jinnah (d. 1948), was a secular politician. Today, the label secular could get you killed. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
One of the key ideas promoted by the European Enlightenment or the Age of Reason of the 18th century is that of progress, according to which human history develops across a curve from a low point to higher and higher points. One may debate and dispute the exact nature of "higher" and "lower" points in that context. But most students of the Enlightenment agree that "progress" has two facets: material and cultural.
Material progress could be measured by such yardsticks and life expectancy, average health of the people, and better living conditions in tangible terms such as housing and the ability to cope with natural disasters. On a cultural level, progress includes literary and artistic creation, scientific and technological discoveries, participative politics and the rule of law.
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