EU Immigration Crisis Megathread

[Martinus]

I am going to a "Welcome, Refugees" gathering on Saturday.   

All those millions of refugees trying to get to Poland appreciate it Marty.

This is mainly to counter a lot of blatant racism in public discourse lately. Poles are a nasty nation.

[Eddie Teach]

I am going to a "Welcome, Refugees" gathering on Saturday.   

All those millions of refugees trying to get to Poland appreciate it Marty.

srsly is there a more out of the way country for the Middle East - Germany road than Poland?

New Zealand!

[Admiral Yi]

You could also do the "tough love" approach the Aussies have with regards to stopping the boat people, that is process all asylum claims offshore and automatically deny everyone who tries to bypass the process.

It would be better than Merkel going all Denethor on Europe. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLpPAz0tz98

Australia intercepts border jumpers at sea, so there aren't hordes of media on hand.  Also, Indonesians aren't fleeing genocidal wars.

[grumbler]

srsly is there a more out of the way country for the Middle East - Germany road than Poland?

New Zealand!

But they've got Dunharrow, which is set up to handle refugees.

[Syt]

The Alternative für Deutschland, AfD, a party that started as Euro-sceptics and favoring neo-liberal economics and then kept drifting further and further right until their founder left in disgust, has called for an immediate solution of the refugee crisis by:
- re-introducing controls on all German borders
- re-introduce a strict visa regime for the Balkan countries
- deciding all applications within 48 hours with immediate deportation
- all applications without valid personal ID will automatically be rejected
- the right to apply for asylum in Germany is to be canceled effective immediately - you should only be able to apply from abroad; if that's not possible due to war in your home country, you should do so in a neighboring country
- all expenses for asylum seekers should be covered by the EU states that gave them transit

The party most recently polled at 3.5% on federal level (you need 5% to get into parliament).

[Josquius]

The personal id one... In theory seems sound but... Kind of cuts things off for people from
3rd world hell holes or who fell afoul of their government.

[mongers]

This refugee and migration crisis is certainly bringing out some unpleasant attitudes to the fore, especially on social media like facebook.

What surprising me is some of the most strident, anti-migration posting seem to come from Brits living in other countries, who you'd think almost by definition are economic migrants themselves. 

[alfred russel]

The history nerd in me is waiting for the German decision to take in the migrants to be compared to the decision to take in the huguenots.

[Josquius]

There was a large gathering of people at the central station waiting for the refugee train. They had welcome signs and had made lunch for several hundred people.

Only problem was that the Danish police had held the train back because they wanted to register all the refugees on board. It was 4 hours delayed and the group dispersed.

This is why trains were all cancelled this morning?

[Syt]

The history nerd in me is waiting for the German decision to take in the migrants to be compared to the decision to take in the huguenots.

Oh, a commentator in one paper already did that (German interior minister is named de Maiziere, after all). He also pointed out that there's a lot of Polish names among right wingers in North Rhine Westphalia (a lot of Poles moved to the Ruhr during industrialization looking for work), that the most popular German schlager singer was born in the Soviet Union, and that a former war refugee from Yugoslavia is among the most recognized German authors (not to mention folks like Klose and Podolski).

[Crazy_Ivan80]

The history nerd in me is waiting for the German decision to take in the migrants to be compared to the decision to take in the huguenots.

maybe in a few generations it will be compared to the taking in of Mohammed by the then-not-yet-Medina-people.

[Ancient Demon]

European leaders are a bunch of clowns.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

European leaders are a bunch of clowns.

not the fun sort however.

anyways: I've heard some people claim that during WW2 refugee-men of fighting age and from allied nations were 'encouraged' to join the army and aid with the liberation of their nations. (Not sure if it's true though). (if true:)Maybe that's something all those young men migrating from safe country to safe country to Germany (after initially, and rightfully, fleeing Syria) could do? That way they help solve this mess meaning all these refugees, that surely want to go home -as proper refugees desire, can return to their homes that much faster. And maybe bring those who have ruined their country to justice. Before the Russians do it (heard someone claim they have a couple thousand people on the ground. All on vacation of course)

[Martinus]

The Alternative für Deutschland, AfD, a party that started as Euro-sceptics and favoring neo-liberal economics and then kept drifting further and further right until their founder left in disgust, has called for an immediate solution of the refugee crisis by:
- re-introducing controls on all German borders
- re-introduce a strict visa regime for the Balkan countries
- deciding all applications within 48 hours with immediate deportation
- all applications without valid personal ID will automatically be rejected
- the right to apply for asylum in Germany is to be canceled effective immediately - you should only be able to apply from abroad; if that's not possible due to war in your home country, you should do so in a neighboring country
- all expenses for asylum seekers should be covered by the EU states that gave them transit

The party most recently polled at 3.5% on federal level (you need 5% to get into parliament).

The last bullet point seems to come close to PDH's old idea of taxing foreigners living abroad.

[Martinus]

This refugee and migration crisis is certainly bringing out some unpleasant attitudes to the fore, especially on social media like facebook.

What surprising me is some of the most strident, anti-migration posting seem to come from Brits living in other countries, who you'd think almost by definition are economic migrants themselves. 

No kidding. Poles seem all of sudden to be against the very idea of economy-related migrations...

We get to a point where being reasonable and decent seems almost heroic.