No parent or even human being can fail to be moved by the terrible pictures of the dead Syrian infants washed up on the beach. There are no easy answers, but I would make two quick observations. Firstly, it was interesting to see a cross section of Brits being interviewed on the news last night about whether we should take in the Syrian refugees. They all - even a grungy looking student - said "no". In my opinion this is not because of a lack of compassion on the Brits part, but a conflating of concern about mass low skilled economic migration, with helping desperate (and often highly skilled) Syrian people. Britain has immigration fatigue, IMO. One of the side effects of spending 12 years importing cheap labour we don't need to make coffees and pick fruit, is that people in this country are no longer able to discern between the deserving and the undeserving immigrant. I have no doubt that the Brits as a whole would be even more welcoming of Syrian refugees had we not committed the disastrous own goal of allowing 8.3 economic migrants into the UK since 2003. Secondly and briefly, the rest of the G7 plus Asia and Australia should be doing more to help the Syrian refugees. The spotlight should also be turned on how many Putin's Russia are taking, particularly given their role as Assad's principle backer.
About to post this. It's super tragic. 'Is the sins of our parents past coming back to haunt the kids?' Blair and Bush certainly have to shoulder some blame, what with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan leading to the rise of what is now ISIL.
yes, there is a huge difference between the migrants at Calais and the Syrians currently in Hungary. trying to deal with them both using the same rules is going to upset one of the groups (and maybe the population of the UK). what we dont need is the benefit tourists. what i dont mind is opening up the doors to those fleeing wars like the washed up family. they dont have a choice in what they're doing because of the scum pushing them out of their own country - ISIS.
Whatever you think of Assad, Syria is a no win situation that will end up going the same way as Libya and Iraq. As so often, the tyrant supplies the stability & when Assad goes the same way as Gaddafi and Saddam, it won't be pretty.
I had a friend about 35-40 years ago who used to say that Britain understood the Middle East much better that America. He predicted that one day America would get involved in the Middle East, and that's when there would be big trouble. How right he was. That's why I feel Blair is more culpable that Bush for what has been unleashed. Bush didn't have a brain, you don't need one to become President, all you need is money, whereas here you have to come through a tough political system. Yet Blair, who is an intelligent man, allowed himself to be manipulated by a thicko, despite overwhelming public feeling to the contrary. Middle East peace envoy? You couldn't make it up. Like Kissinger's Nobel Peace Prize.
Looking at Sky News this morning from the station in Hungary, I couldn't help notice that 95%+ of the people were men in their 20's and 30's. Where are the women and children? All staying behind? These are the people who should be staying behind and fighting, not running away, unless of course all they're looking for is an easy life. They are also 'demanding' to go to Germany. I'd have thought anywhere 'safe' would have been a blessing for them. Something doesn't add up here. Very sad about the small boy washed up along with his brother but his parents survived. I know I would die trying to save my kids. Still, makes a good image for the lefties to try and convince us to squeeze more into our over-crowded island. Again, something doesn't add up with the whole situation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_area an interesting bunch of stats. the whole "the uk isnt doing enough" might be slightly correct, but if you worked it out based on numbers taken per sq kilometer i think there would be a different story. why arent russia, the US, china taking any? germany is approx 50% larger than the UK, they should of course take more in.
I would have thought that human suffering transcends a persons political compass. As a humanitarian, we should be looking to do something long-term and sustainable (that does not involve bombing the crap out of the opponent). I do find it funny how Assad went from Villan to "He's Alright Really" faster than my rust bucket car can reach 60mph. Seems that we consistently repeat the mistakes of the past. Surely lessons from Bosnia and Somalia, etc., would have been learnt. Is it not about time that there was a full U.N. response made. Send in the peacekeeping force, and restore peace in a troubled region, with the backing of nations such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, etc.
It's something we learned from America. Or maybe Kenny Everitt's brilliant creation the American General Bomb-The-Bastards.
If the situation was in a opposite parallel (british fleeing to Syria), would they welcome us; of course not! Unfortunately, it is the old adage of ' anywhere, as long as it is not in my backyard........' This is only going to get worse, if only because there is simply no solution at their end. This means that Syrian citizens and whoever else move to Europe en bloc. Within that movement of humanity there will obviously be no 'filters'. The result being that IS. and others gain a foothold too close to home. When the explosives go off again in London, as they surely will at some point, what will Downing Street say at that point; all non-british citizens have to return to their respective home countries? After the stable door comes to mind. Perhaps Germany had the right idea after all....
Never mind the backing of Saudi Arabia and UAE, these countries should be taking the lead in stopping ISIS/ISIL or whatever they are calling themselves. Saudi has plenty of land and plenty of cash, why can't they give shelter to these migrants. Qatar can build air-conditioned open stadia so why can't they house migrants in relative comfort. Perhaps the answer is that the migrants don't want to go there, no handouts, no jobs. Are they fleeing war or just fleeing their present lifestyle for something better?
ISIS are a brutal killing machine. They have committed the cruellest atrocities imaginable against innocent victims on a large scale. If this was not the case we wouldn't have this situation.
Agreed but between ISIS and Assad these people (Syrians mainly, I'm not talking about Africa) have been suffering for years. Why is it just now that they all want to migrate en masse? Is someone orchestrating this?
We are told that criminal gangs are telling them that for a small fee they will take them to a land of milk and honey. So we are told.
There is a lot too that is not reported by western media. If you visit news sites across the deep web, or now commercial WikiLeaks and sites of similar statute, the fighting is intensifying. There's also the brutal attacks, public executions, kidnappings, stonings and god knows what else occurring. Whilst there is a potential for a some being an 'opportunists' there are a large number that are not. Take for example the Syrian who fled after ISIL killed his wife, and was selling pens on the streets of Beruit, desperately seeking money, to feed his children. These people too are NOT just Muslims running away from the horrors, these are Syrian Christians whom are being by butchered by what can be describe as the most evil force on Earth since the NAZIs
You are correct, they are not just Muslims - but the % of other religions fleeing from Syria is less than 3%. What I really do not understand is why the majority seem to be heading North - a far riskier route than heading to the wealthy Gulf states closer to home. Surely the wealth ,proximity and culture of places like Saudi and the UAE means that they have more of a duty than Europe towards Syrians? What about the 5,000 British people that are already sleeping rough in London alone - who's going to tell them that as a result of letting more migrants in, they have gone back down the housing waiting list by another 4 years? Maybe one solution would be to convert the taxpayer owned Olympic Stadium into a migrant camp and use the £2M of taxpayers money per year that has been promised to West Ham to feed them instead
There is some consternation in the arab states that they are doing nothing for these people. On the one hand, they prefer to import cheap labour from India and `the Phillipines to actually work, and they are not over zealous about handing out citizenships afterwards. However, since these are people fleeing the terror that is Syria, not economic migrants, you are right that those states could do more and don't. Other countries are the same. Still, the question is that while they should be doing something, so should we. I reckon Roystons original remark about weariness in the UK regarding immigration is fairly true. We've had years of misinformation about migrants from UKIP, and there are always those who witter on about the migrants making a beeline for the UK when the truth is that Germany has far more, and a lot of them prefer to go there. There is sadly also the fact that ecconomic migration is cheerfully confused with the sort of life or death fleeing we've been seeing in Greece lately, as if these people are willingly risking their childrens lives in order to recieve benefits. There are problems about this which need to be resolved nearer the source, and my feeling has been for a long time that the countries along the south of the mediterranean (Lybia,etc) are quite happy to turn a blind eye t what is occuring with mafias selling an escape route to Europe and capsizing boat after boat because they overfill them (Lybia probably is'nt the best example as they have their own ISIS problems now). There needs to be a long term solution to these problems, but in the immediate future, the numbers who are dying is an embarassment to the UE, and also needs to be addressed.
Some of the Arab countries are pretty barbaric. Saudi Arabia is one of the worst, although we only ever hear about it when a British citizen gets caught up in the "justice" system. The world would have been a much better place if oil had never been discovered in this part of the world.
I am sorry, but this situation really annoys me. Obviously, it is tragic what is happening to these people. However, has anyone thought of the homeless in this country, the hardships they endure, especially in the winter. If l were homeless, l would be VERY, VERY ANGRY to hear that people who have no connection with this country whatsoever have been given preference over genuine homeless BRITISH people. Cameron thinks he is 'looking good' because he has now agreed to accept even more in to the country. We are already a much overcrowded island. There is no solution to this problem, and it certainly does not help whatsoever to encourage even more of the untold masses to our shores. Close our borders completely NOW BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!! Failure to do so will only result in a crisis that makes the current situation look like a walk in the park. You can only apply so much pressure in any scenario before the cork explodes. How many 'white' children (born in England) are there in your childs' class at school at the moment?; that, my friends, is only going to get worse before the government announce that there is no more room at the inn.....
