Europe’s Refugee Crisis

Stumped Politicians

Europe’s welfare states are currently flooded with refugees. Many of these refugees are fleeing the chaos of assorted civil wars in the Middle East, primarily in Syria, Libya and Northern Iraq. Naturally, it would be utterly inhumane to simply send such refugees back to where they have come from. How could one possibly look oneself in the mirror after sending people back to territories controlled by ISIS, or bombarded with barrel bombs by Assad’s air force?

 

nickelsdorfRefugees after crossing the Austro – Hungarian border at Nickelsdorf today.

Photo credit: Leonhard Foeger / Reuters

 

This has Europe’s political class in a bind. The migration of people would pose no problem in a free society of property owners. Every property owner could decide for himself whether to accept refugees. In a free society communitarian enclaves would surely exist as well, and it is absolutely certain that private charity efforts would be orders of magnitude greater than in a society in which the State has arrogated all social responsibility to itself. It is hardly conceivable that migration would ever become a major bone of contention in such a society. It is quite different in welfare States with a severely hampered market economy.

In such states, migration will always be cause for highly emotional disagreements, because citizens know they will have to pay for it all involuntarily – and the costs are exceedingly large. The political and bureaucratic classes, who themselves are parasitizing society’s wealth creators, are of course not directly affected by the decisions they are taking in this context. The eurocrats employed in Brussels will continue to receive their generous salaries and perks, no matter what. However, a number of politicians are likely to face problems in domestic elections, and as we will discuss further below, the outcomes won’t necessarily be desirable. While the political and bureaucratic classes are unlikely to lose out, for a number of reasons it is absolutely certain that the citizenry at large will.

 

syrian refugees+insertTotal number of Syrian refugees according to the UNHCR. Insert: cumulative and new asylum applications filed by Syrian citizens – click to enlarge.

 

Cui Bono?

Here is an assessment of the current crisis by Paul Joseph Watson, who raises a number of interesting points:

 

Paul Joseph Watson discusses the refugee crisis

 

A few additional comments to this: The vast bulk of economic refugees arriving in Europe does end up firmly attached to the teats of the European welfare state (as an aside, economic refugees are at present indeed exploiting the fact that the number of genuine war refugees is exploding; there is e.g. a brisk trade in fake Syrian passports in places like Turkey and Egypt). As the European press reports, in Norway it takes on average seven years before a successful asylum seeker finds a job. 85% of Muslim immigrants to Switzerland become recipients of social welfare. Practically all refugees from Chechnya, Afghanistan and Somalia residing in Vienna are receiving “needs-oriented basic welfare provision” (in this case, approx. $9,950 per person per year, plus extras like a top-up for heating costs in winter). Meanwhile, a recent Oxfam study asserts that 50 million Europeans no longer can afford to pay for proper heating in Winter.

Obviously, refugees will greatly prefer to go to places that promise such free goodies. None of the refugees that have landed in Hungary want to stay there – they are all eager to go to Germany or Sweden, where the greatest welfare benefits beckon. Sweden’s extremely politically correct politicians are best described as complete lunatics. No other country in the world accepts as many immigrants per capita. Large areas in Swedish cities have become “no go zones” and crimes such as rape are literally off the charts (5 of 6 rapes are committed by foreign nationals, so this problem is directly connected to Sweden’s generous immigration policies).

 

asylum applications per capitaAsylum applications per capita -Sweden leads by a huge margin

 

valdtakt_forsok_fullbordade_1975-2014Rape in Sweden – attempted (yellow bars) and completed rapes (gray bars)

 

Returning ISIS jihadists who want to take some time off or retire from the exhausting business of beheading, crucifying or blowing up their innocent victims can expect a welfare benefits package in Stockholm that is reportedly actually better than the one Sweden’s own soldiers stand to receive. Luckily Sweden’s evidently mentally challenged political class is at the very extreme end of immigration lunacy in Europe. Bad luck for native Swedes, but not indicative yet of Europe as a whole.

As Watson notes, the main beneficiaries of mass immigration of people who invariably end up on the welfare rolls are leftist parties that promise even more welfare benefits – at least once these people get a vote. However, one should not forget that the immediate political beneficiaries are extreme nationalist parties, such as e.g. France’s Front National. Considering the FN’s mercantilistic and economically illiterate economic policies, this is like jumping from the frying pan into the fire – as we mentioned above, society at large is bound to draw the short stick in any case.

Let us also briefly look at a video from a refugee camp in Hungary, in which migrants are engaged in some sort of protest. As you will notice, there are indeed a great many able-bodied young men on display, whose battle cry turns out to be “Allahu Akhbar”. We don’t know the context and what exactly they are protesting against, but images like these are not likely to comfort Europe’s “silent majority”:

 

Migrants protesting in a Hungarian refugee camp

 

Watson is also correct that ISIS has threatened to use the refugee crisis to smuggle fighters into Europe – the result of the US and Europe deciding to poke this particular hornet’s nest (ISIS previously had no interest in Europe except as a place for recruitment). Indeed, ISIS claims to have already smuggled “thousands” of jihadists into Europe, hidden among genuine refugees (obviously, it is not very difficult to smuggle them into Sweden, but now it has presumably become quite easy to smuggle them into the rest of Europe as well).

It is unknowable to what extent this is simply propaganda designed to create fear,   but it is certainly imaginable that ISIS would consider sending the odd extremist abroad to provide vengeance services on its behalf. One should stop to once again think of the “cui bono” question in this context. Who will benefit if Islamist radicals commit terror attacks in Europe? Quite obviously it won’t be Europe’s citizens. But the Deep State all over the world is absolutely certain to benefit greatly, as both its powers and funding are likely to be expanded further.

Let us briefly consider what Edward Snowden’s revelations about ubiquitous (and evidently at least partly illegal) surveillance by the NSA and the GCHQ have so far achieved. We would be tempted to say “nothing”, but that wouldn’t be entirely true. In reality, they have resulted in the “legalization” of practices that would leave the former Stasi of East Germany pale with envy. Every terror attack will further cement the status of a system that appears inherently prone to abuse like few others. Recent examples include Australia, where a total surveillance apparatus with practically zero oversight is coming into force this October (judicial warrants are no longer required for “authorized agencies” to spy on practically every aspect of a citizen’s digital life). Even tiny Austria is planning to institute 10 new spy agencies (!) with “vast new surveillance powers”, by all appearances with even less oversight. So the “cui bono” question is not too difficult to answer.

 

A Few Oddities

Incidentally, we have been wondering why the refugee crisis is exploding to such an extent right now. Why not a year ago already? After all, the civil wars in Libya, Iraq and Syria have been raging for quite some time. A number of explanations suggest themselves. Word has probably gotten around that European welfare states are a worthwhile destination. Moreover, ISIS is gaining more and more ground in Syria and with Damascus surrounded, the collapse of the Assad regime is coming ever closer – and keep in mind that Assad is the only guarantor of security for Syria’s Christian and Shi’ite minorities. If we were among them, we’d have packed our bags a while ago already.

What else is different to before? One thing is the recent expansion of war in the region by Saudi Arabia (which is committing war crimes on a grand scale in Yemen with Western connivance – something the Western mainstream press is more or less silent about) – a country that incidentally is not prepared to take in even a single Syrian refugee (!). The other is Turkey’s decision to suspend the peace process with the Kurdish PKK and go on the attack all over the Kurdish region. Perhaps though there are also reasons we don’t know about (yet). In any case, it is odd that the crisis is suddenly coming to a head like this.

Here is another oddity we have come across: there are US based sources creating web sites like this one that is telling Germans to openly break the law and smuggle refugees into Germany. According to the “whois” registration entry the web site belongs to an organization with a US address. Originally the “whois” entry mentioned the Ayn Rand Institute, but after we sent an email asking for comment, this was scrubbed (it is possible that the institute’s name was misused – its German chapter has commented elsewhere that the institute “had nothing to do with the site”).

Here are two articles in the German press on the topic (you will have to use Google translate for an English version): “US web site Fluchthelfer.in openly calls for smuggling asylum seekers into Austria and Germany” and “Was the Ayn Rand Institute abused by “Fluchthelfer”? We cannot comment on this further, because we don’t know enough, but it is an oddity we thought we would mention (perhaps some of our readers know more about it?).

 

Ultimate Responsibility

Lastly, we fully agree with Mr. Watson that it is Western meddling in the Middle East and North Africa that is ultimately at the root of the crisis. Note that we are not just saying “US meddling”, as the European vassals were all eager to participate in bombing Libya to bits and arming assorted “approved” parties in the civil wars in Syria and Iraq.

However, as German historian Michael Lueders argues, it is not just the arming of jihadists in Libya and Syria that has set off recent events, but it ultimately all goes back to the more distant past. Lueders not unreasonably argues that if one considers the situation properly, then the putsch instigated by the CIA and Mossad in Iran that deposed the democratically elected Iranian prime minister Mossadegh in 1953 (an early example of a “colored revolution”) is what eventually brought “political Islam” into its own.

 

Mohammed-Mossadegh-007Former Iranian prime minister Mohammed Mossadegh

Photo credit: Carl Mydans / Getty Images

 

The Islamic revolution against the brutal regime of the Shah in Iran was led by Shi’ite clerics, but it did establish the general principle that the best chance the political opposition in Muslim countries ruled by authoritarian despots had was to make use of Islam and religious institutions. In short, Sunnis were inspired by the success of the revolution in Iran as well. Secular dictators like Ghaddafi, Saddam and Assad were able to keep a lid on the would-be Islamic revolutionaries by buying off the clerical authorities in their countries and entering into an uneasy truce with them (the same holds true in Saudi Arabia, where the House of Saud is in alliance with Wahhabist clerics).

Naturally, these secular dictators weren’t and aren’t exactly the nicest people either. However, the West, and especially the US, has managed to thoroughly destroy the good image it once enjoyed among Arabs. After WW2, the US in particular was widely regarded as an honest broker and trustworthy ally. Decades of bombing and invading Muslim countries have created the exact opposite perception. Ironically, nothing was gained by these interventions, unless one regards total chaos as a “gain” (we suspect the Deep State is quite happy, but objectively it is an unmitigated disaster). Oh well, at least the US has just generously offered to increase the number of Syrian refugees it plans to take in from 7,000 to 10,000. Ms. Merkel will undoubtedly be relieved.

 

Conclusion

It is difficult to be objective about such an emotion-laden topic. It is clear that genuine war refugees need and deserve help, especially if one considers that the West had a hand in creating their status. On the other hand, it is high time to stop doing the things that result in such crises. We are continually amazed at US politicians who denounce the recent agreement with Iran (which objectively is very tough on Iran, not to mention that both US and Israeli intelligence services have agreed for some time that Iran has discontinued trying to build a nuclear bomb sometime back in the early 2000ds already – Google for the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran). What is the alternative? Even more chaos in the region by attacking Iran as well? That would be stupid beyond belief.

 

nickelsdorf2Heartbreaking.

Photo credit: Leonhard Foeger / Reuters

 

Lastly, European politicians should be aware that the established parties are in danger of being routed by far-right fringe parties in coming elections (unfortunately libertarian ideas enjoy very little political support in Europe, so protest votes as a rule tend to either benefit the extreme nationalist right or extreme leftist parties). They should also try to make a plan that goes beyond just “throwing the doors wide open” as Mr. Watson has put it above. And lastly, they should resist the temptation of handing even more unrestrained power to the spook agencies when fresh attacks by fundamentalist radicals occur. So far ubiquitous surveillance hasn’t netted any benefits we are aware of, but it certainly harbors numerous dangers for a supposedly free society. Admittedly we remain quite pessimistic on all counts.

 

Charts by: UNHCR, Vox Europe, Affes statistics


 

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Llpoh
Llpoh

Europe would not have a refugee prroblem, well, if it stopped taking in refugees.

Refugees are supposed to stop at the first point of safety. That is not Sweden or Germany.

I hope the krauts like life under Sharia. Because that looks like a distinct possibility.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Call it what it is ILLEGAL DUMPING!

Roy

The closest Historical rhyme to the refugees comes from the Peloponnesian wars, the siege of Troy. The Israelis, Swiss and Saudis are not accepting the Trojan Horse. They know the successful parasite will always kill the host, always.

Billy
Billy

Want to know what’s even more fucked up?

Greece just intercepted another shitbox steamer coming from Turkey. Cargo? TEN THOUSAND SHOTGUNS! Plus ammo.

The last one was carrying TWENTY THOUSAND KALASHNIKOV AK47’s and explosives…

I shit you not. I recently read a book called “The Wasp”… was a fictional book about a guy dropped into enemy territory with a shitpot full of stuff to make trouble. The examples in the book he was given during recruitment were of 4 burly guys killed in a car crash and a couple escaped cons…

The car crash – the driver was trying to kill a wasp. Even though he was about a million times larger and stronger than the wasp – and the wasp only being armed with a small hypodermic needle for a stinger with some formic acid in it – the wasp still caused the wreck of the vehicle. One vehicle turned into scrap and 4 men dead – damage all out of proportion to the wasp’s size and strength…

The other case – the two escaped cons – tied up 38,000 people searching for them for 14 hours and cost millions of dollars… they were only caught because they ran out of gas…

The point is, a determined individual with minimal resources can wreak havoc if their actions are precise and applied where they will do the most good… or bad, depending on your point of view…

Now say you had access to 30,000 weapons, ammo and explosives… and a force of “refugees” hundreds of thousands strong, spread out all over Europe, free to move wherever they wish, ethnic enclaves willing to hide them, support them….

The Greeks caught two… how many did they miss? Europe has spent the last 70 years disarming their populations… they are sitting ducks…

Damn them for this… Goddamn them to hell for this… every death that results from this madness is on their heads… the average German or whomever most certainly does NOT want hundreds of thousands of these fuckers in their country… it’s those in charge foisting this on the people… and I hope they are held accountable.

http://www.rt.com/news/greek-seize-ship-kalashnikov-503/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn-UCR5p0y0

GilbertS
GilbertS

I can’t understand why we can’t even discuss rounding them up and shipping them back.

It would save a lot of time to just machine gun the rafts while they’re still out at sea. They’re just going to cause trouble once they get ashore.

KaD
KaD

“How could one possibly look oneself in the mirror after sending people back to territories controlled by ISIS, or bombarded with barrel bombs by Assad’s air force?”

I could. When they’re dropped off back where they came from you give them an AK and tell them to deal with their own problems, they’re not welcome elsewhere.

ASIG
ASIG

By the time Europe realizes what they’re dealing with the only fix will be civil war.

kokoda
kokoda

Next blockbuster movie: European Vacation

IMDB Summary: Action, Thriller – every EU country is shown with Infidel Tourists visiting the many No-Go Zones. The ‘action’ is repeated beheadings of liberal tourists. ISIS doesn’t have to post videos on the Internet, as major news media cover all the action. Developed as the sequel to Jurassic World, the do-gooder num-nutz liberals keep showing up for the festivities.

GilbertS
GilbertS

I used to work with a guy who was retired army intel. Last year, when the fake border crisis was going on, and they had all those pics of illegals sitting in detention, he turned to us and said, “I don’t see a bunch of illegals in that room. Do you know what I see? An Army.”
He told us we should take all the illegals crossing the border, force them into military training, give them a uniform, new pair of boots, and a gun, and send them back to their countries. Once scores of their own citizens start coming back armed and trained, either they’ll bring some Change They Can Believe In with them, or they’ll be wiped out. Either way, not our problem.
I can’t help thinking if we did arm and return the illegals who come to us, their home countries might not be so eager to let them go. Then again, we could just arm them and push them back into Mexico and let them deal with it. Then, Mexico might not be so eager to help get them to our side of the fence, either.
Arming them and sending them back (drop the ammo off on the beach when you leave them for safety’s sake) would also be a cheaper solution than a lifetime of feeding them and their kids and the rest of the village when they chain-migrate everyone they know. And it couldn’t possibly destabilize anything worse than it already is.

P.M.Lawrence

… the putsch instigated by the CIA and Mossad in Iran that deposed the democratically elected Iranian prime minister Mossadegh in 1953 …

It is amazing how often this myth gets peddled. He was overthrown, but he wasn’t democratically elected, he was a dictator himself. He previously had been democratically elected, but he used that to mount a coup of his own and dismiss the parliament (majlis). Calling him democratically elected is like saying that Napoleon III was democratically elected because he used that to mount a coup to become emperor or that Hitler was democratically elected because he used his election to turn the Reichstag into a rubber stamp with his Enabling Law. Unlike those two, Mossadegh was constitutionally dismissed and couldn’t even claim being formally elected when he carried out his own coup!

Rich
Rich

” Lueders not unreasonably argues that if one considers the situation properly, then the putsch instigated by the CIA and Mossad in Iran that deposed the democratically elected Iranian prime minister Mossadegh in 1953 (an early example of a “colored revolution”) is what eventually brought “political Islam” into its own.”

Talk about reinventing history! First of all, the first thing Mossadegh did, after getting elected, was to nationalize Iran’s oil and try to toss out BP. It was the British, with the help of the CiA, that deposed Mossadegh . Secondly, the Iranians are Shia. The waves of Muslims swarming into the EU are Sunni. Oil and water (Shia and Sunni) don’t mix.

That said, if enough Arab Muslim invade Europe, will history repeat? (3 minute video)

Look for a boom in prison construction and guarded gate communities. When will people ever learn that it is not a good idea to feed the bears.

Dan Reich
Dan Reich

The party is just beginning. As energy resources are drawn down and hostile environmental conditions make it harder to grow food, the situation as observed in Europe will be duplicated exponentially everywhere, including the USA.

Rich
Rich

Will the US welcome these Christian refugees into the country, with open arms?

“GROWING EL NIÑO MAY LAUNCH HUGE LATINO MIGRATION TO U.S.”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/09/12/growing-el-nino-may-launch-huge-latino-migration-to-u-s/

Overthecliff
Overthecliff

See those people in the refugee pictures? They hate everyone who is not a Mohammedan. Their holy book teaches them that. They are coming to KILL you.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Look at that p[icture and tell me it isn’t staged by or for the press.

A man carrying a child and a couple of women at the front with nothing but young men following them.

You wouldn’t expect that if it weren’t arranged that way, the press must be noticing that people are noticing the lack of women, children, elderly and sick among these refugees and trying to change that perception.

Southern Sage
Southern Sage

Not a single one of those people is a refugee. They are economic migrants. They ceased to be refugees the instant they left the country of first refuge (in most cases, Turkey). They should ALL be forced to leave, period. Compassion has nothing to do with it.

starfcker
starfcker

Actually this could be great for europe. They seem to have a shortage of testosterone filled men to breed their women and defend their countries.

GilbertS
GilbertS

Looks like even lefty touchy-feely Germany is getting the picture. They just set the EU back 15 years or more by bringing their borders back up. Watch for the borders of the EU to reappear. And just a month ago, I saw where the Polish/’German border used to be… One thing I used to love about traveling was all the cool visas and stamps you ended up with in your passport. It used to be cool to sleep the night away on a Eurail train and get your passport stamped every hour or two as you passed one border after another. I guess those days will be coming back. At least now when you travel, your passport will look like you traveled.

Peaceout
Peaceout

Good post Billy I think you are spot on with your analysis. The freight containers were designated as aid materials for the refugees what other conclusion can you draw.

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