Similar to the picture of the Vietnamese girl burned by
napalm, the picture of the drowned three year old Syrian has brought to light
the plight of thousands of refugees. However there stops the similarity. Compassion
is a great human trait, but before we jump to conclusions many future
consequences should not be ignored.
Amidst the call for accepting refugees from all quarters,
there seems to be a complete ignorance or refusal to look at the root of the
current problem. The United Nations and other organizations usually sit in
their ivory towers and proclaim new solutions to problems very often created by
their philosophies and policies. In the current situation they ignore the
difference between refugees and migrants.
Where are the refugees from? Mainly from war torn Syria and
other Middle East countries ravaged by internal conflict and terrorists run
amok. Syrians have been displaced by their own leader and now are also under
attack from ISIL. Afghans pushed from their country join Syrian refugees in Turkey
and then move to Greece and other European countries in search of refuge.
Further west we have two waves of migrants. The first are
from Africa, displaced by famine and continuous economic and war torn strife
they make their way to Spain via Morocco. The second wave is from war torn
Libya who battle dangerous waters to go to Italy. Most of these migrants pay
enormous sums to callous operatives who on many occasions dump them in the
Mediterranean without any water or food to be rescued by European authorities,
who take responsibility for their rescue.
While much of this crisis is due to economic strife, the
major problem rest with Western countries that have been unable to stop the
rise of despots and terrorism. In my view the greatest culprit is Obama who in
Syria set a ‘red line’ which turned pink and subsequently disappeared. His
foreign policies around the world have been an abject failure His latest deal
with Iran is going to make Iran a nuclear power that supports the dictator
Assad in Syria. His refusal to recognize the true ideology of terrorists is
putting many non-Muslims in danger all over the world.
European countries have fared no better. In their search for
economic growth they have refused to face the terrorism threat both internally
and externally. Their continued policies based on political correctness are
causing many problems that will haunt them in the near future.
Germany, Austria and Italy bound by a guilt complex stemming
from their behaviour in the Second World War are accepting this crisis without
long term thinking. It is very noble and compassionate to accept and help
refugees. However in a weak economy when there are very few jobs created, the
citizens of these countries cannot find jobs and yet these countries will
accept hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees, not over a number of
years but immediately.
The European Union’s migration policies which allows for
freedom of movement will further acerbate the crisis. Smaller nations and
economically stable England will be put under pressure to accept refugees who
have been allowed on European soil. I hope I am wrong, because I can foresee a
backlash of enormous proportion fuelled by nationalism and perhaps the rise of
another form of Nazism.
As for Canada, polls show that a majority want the Harper
government to take more refugees. Those who support the policy cite the
compassionate response of the European countries. Too often in a political
charged environment, the media ignores to explain the facts. Canada has already
promised to take refugees, but the government wants to ensure that they are
legitimate. While the Western countries are doing their utmost to help, rich
Middle East countries have done very little to help their own.
As for trying to compare this crisis with the migration of
Vietnamese to Canada we should recognize the different circumstances. The South
Vietnamese were our allies and fought on our side. Agree or disagree with the
purposes of the war, those who fought on our side could not be left behind. In
the long run many of these refugees have made enormous contributions to the
country.
On the other hand
many of the current refugees and migrants in the current crisis come from
countries that culturally have supported the extinction of Israel and the
collapse of Western culture. Caution is warranted as we may be accepting
potential terrorists in our midst. If they are not, they may well become home
grown terrorists when the economy cannot support them and they cannot find the
riches that they thought would be available to them in the West.
Compassion is great and noble. We should help those in need.
However we need others to help and cannot take the burden upon ourselves for
political reasons and ignore the consequences that may arise in the future.
This new crisis demands well thought out solutions because migrants are not the
same as refugees. Or could we be flirting with an invasion?
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