IMMIGRATION thread

[Husar]

I have time and time again on these boards said that I believe the world would be a better place if around 10% of the population in every country was foreign - spread from all over the world.

Since I do not remember a single instance of you saying that, how about you link me to some? Let's say three instances minimum and you get a +1 if you link me five.

It's just a massive run on sentence. Let me elaborate what I am trying to say.

Everyone who called US led policy in the Middle East 'callous' is naive. Those who blame all the ills of the middle east on the US are naive. Many of the neighboring arab countries are playing Europe as naive. How many refugees has Saudi Arabia taken? Egypt? Algeria? These are countries that much closer in proximity, culture and religion to Syrians than Western Europe on all accounts.

The whole area is full of regimes that from the 1950s are nothing but opportunistic. Once they felt they could, they tried to destroy Israel, once they felt they could, they embargo'd oil, once they felt they could, they promoted Islamic terrorism and funded radical Islamic thoughts to undermine Western influence. Now many of these same countries feel that they can get away with refusing to take in Syrians because they know EU policies and morals will force Europe to take in everyone who tries to come in. They promote this as well, as there is no reason why many of these refugees cannot simply find safe refuge in the first EU countries they come across (typically Greece and Hungary). Instead it is obvious they have fed a message of "Get to Germany or bust".

You are getting played and it is becoming more and more obvious by the minute. Why are the vast majority of refugees men other than to exploit the German legal system that allows declared refugees the right to bring their families along with them?

My point of view is that the Syrian civil war is solely a middle east problem that should be resolved by the middle east community and instead it is being guilt tripped onto Europe. The sad thing is that many Europeans are going along with the guilt trip.

And if you think I'm some monster or ignoramous because of this oh well. My hope is for Europe to remain the bastion of social democracy that I can point to in order to bring America up to European standards (e.g. health care). I don't like seeing Sweden's right wing party jump from 2% to 25% of the vote and I don't like seeing UKIP getting media attention in the UK. The refugee situation is only feeding these groups more and more.

Thank you for this reply. It actually made me think a bit and you may have a point. The obvious sarcastic reply is "but the Saudis are our friends" and the truth behind it is that we helped these people stay in power, which IIRC was among the things I criticized about our handling of the region. And by our I do not just mean the US but also Europe. If it hadn't been for all the oil money and the weapon deliveries, these countries might look and behave quite different today, but that's a what-if.

As for my position on refugees, many people fail to see that I have always said the refugees need to be checked and only those who are actually in need should be allowed to stay, which is the way it actually works. Kadagar posted the rejection rates and failed to see that Germany only allows 41% to stay (not counting appeals and court processes) while in Sweden it is more than 70%. That doesn't mean that we do not sometimes allow the wrong people to stay, but I'd hazard a guess that in Germany there are fewer "wrong" ones than in Sweden, which is another reason the never-ending Sweden-comparison just doesn't work. I've also criticized the lack of will on the part of politicians to actually apply the laws or adjust them to long-known exploits. And I still am told that I have some guilt complex as though people just don't read the parts of what I say that make their attacks pointless. Admittedly I've misread posts myself, but it seems like every week some people are reset and come with the same arguments again. What I argue against is the kind of argument that goes "I want none of these brown people here!" and that said, I await Kadagar's links, perhaps he just had problems communicating his multicultural spirit lately, in which case I may be open for a big virtual hug.