The world is trying to figure out how to wrestle with the problem of Syrian refugees.
In the U.K., one contingent has taken to posting pictures of the flag and daring folks to re-post it with pride. No problem doing that!
The flag of the U.K. is centered on the cross of St. George.
St. George, of course, was Syrian, and St. George's cross was originally the flag of the Republic of Genoa, Italy. For the record, British flags are now mostly made in China.
On the other side of the fence, things are no less absurd, with Al Jazeera lecturing Europe about their obligation to take more refugees.
This is Al Jazeera - a company financed and based on Quatar, which has taken ZERO Syrian refugees.
Who else has has taken ZERO Syrian refugees?
Along with Quatar, the roster includes Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iran, Russia, Morocco, Algeria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, ... and the list goes on.
It's a perfectly reasonable question to ask whether the solution to problems in the Middle East is relocating them all to France, England, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Sweden.
Western countries cannot take all of the world's displeased and dispossessed -- there are simply too many. And it's not just Syria that will send refugees if allowed; it's Sudan, Mali, Libya, Chad, Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sierra Leon, Iraq, Liberia, Kenya, Eritrea, and Zimbabwe.
The immediate problem, of course is Syria. The real solution there, let us not forget, is not relocating Syria to Salisbury Plain, but in killing Assad and destroying ISIS.
For that to happen, however, the very countries not taking refugees are going to have to do more on the ground. Instead, the Saudi military (one of the largest in the world) is cloud-hidden whereabouts unknown, and the Russian military are Assad's most trusted military advisers and weapons suppliers.
Meanwhile, millions of young Syrian men and women who should be fighting for their country are, instead, fleeing. We used to call that "cut and run," but perhaps it makes sense in the absence of guns and bullets.
But that brings me to the most obvious point. Perhaps the solution is to meet every refugee at the border, give them a bolt-action rifle and a two boxes of ammunition, and turn them around. You know what to do with that gun, right? FIGHT! Fight like you have something worth protecting. Fight like you have no other option. FIGHT!
The era of mass emigration and apologies for cut-and-run fleeing has to come to an end. It's time people in the Middle East stood up to fight for their future. Freedom has never been free; it's high time we told that to the world.
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| Most people cannot find Syria on a map, but they have opinions! |
8 comments:
Whhoo boy! Not going to touch this one! Well- just a little- as an American lecturing the world you sound like a rapist standing up for women's rights- doesn't fly. And why bolt-action rifles- AKs work much better!
I just forwarded this to public@NYTimes.com, but I have no illusions that they will address this side of the story.
Jeffrey Thurston, what are you babbling about? Seriously.
"As an American..." Was I elected leader of all the US and creator of all U.S. policy? Please let me know!
And what do you know about Syria? Anything? Do you know anything about world immigration or refugee numbers or policy?
I know as much you do about Syria- I read- I'm caught up- nay- obsessed with the Middle East hijinks of our Neocon Masters. Syria has been one of their targets since forever- the road to Tehran goes through Damascus and Baghdad. All of those wretched refugees are our DIRECT responsibility- we've been thrashing around over there as the Israeli Golem since 9-11. You personally probably had nothing to do with these crimes but Americans have no place lecturing the world about anything. The world should send all of those people to Israel- let them deal with the fruits of their pathetic ambitions. I know enough about refugees to know it was the most horrible crime when the Soviets created millions of Afghan refugees but now that we've outdone them 5 to 1 in at least 5 countries it's just a normal problem for Western immigration and policy experts to "solve" and not a crime at all!
"The era of mass emigration and apologies for cut-and-run fleeing has to come to an end. It's time people in the Middle East stood up to fight for their future. Freedom has never been free; it's high time we told that to the world." ... Tell that to the people of Egypt who did just that and then were BETRAYED by us for electing a leader of their choice. Our Masters didn't like the outcome- the Arab Spring became Divide et impera. In the short term the chaos we loosed benefits only Israel- in the long term I think it will swallow them. The one thing Obama may have done in his Presidency is to make him great is to pass that Iran Deal- it may be the beginning of the end for our Israeli Fifth Column...
You might be wrong. I might know a good deal more. The day my parents got married, they went to Syria to live. My brother was born in Lebanon, and I grew up in the Arab world.
I have not only testified before Congress on immigration and refugee matters, I have appeared on CNN, Crossfire, the Today Show, etc. talking about the same.
Syria has been a mess for longer than you have been alive, as anyone familiar with the country's history knows. For the last 45 years the country has been governed by a very small Alawite tribe run by Soviet and Russian-backed dictators. Before the Assad's it was other thugs from the same Baathist party that have the world Saddam Hussein.
Israel did not screw up Syria and neither did we -- you can thank the Syrian people for that. Ditto for Iraq, Iran and the rest of the Middle East.
The simple truth is that much of the the Arab world is a pre-modern world that rejects separation of religion and state, that thrives on an underground economy based on bribes and corruption, in which state allegiances are weak, taxes are barely collected, services are spotty, and courts and the rule of law are largely a joke.
None of this was created by anyone but the Arab world which has tolerated it and fed into it since independence from whatever country once occupied that particular stretch of land.
The great arrogance of America is that we can change anything in that part of the world or that we have ever controlled anything in that part of the world. Nope and never. Their problems almost entirely come from within and that is where their solutions will have to come from too.
If the Syrians who have fled Syria were given a bolt action rifle, and were willing to use it to fight, ISIS would be destroyed tomorrow and Assad would be living in Moscow. People who want to be free and will FIGHT cannot be stopped, provided they are given even the most basic of modern weapons. The problem in the Middle East is two-fold: No guns, and no will to fight.
Patrick- I respect you very much as a terrier expert- no one I've read is as interesting or astute when it comes to these little dogs. As far as foreign policy etc.- not so much. I grew up pretty much the same as you but in Colombia- I listened all my life to my Dad talk pretty much the same liberal/American/bootstrap talk you are putting out in this post. I notice you didn't address my Egypt comment- because the truth is glaring there- we backed a coup which removed all the fruits of the Arab Spring. If you honestly believe there's no Israeli ot American influence in the disaster which has befallen these pathetic countries in the last 14 years then you are obtuse. "The great arrogance of America is that we can change anything in that part of the world or that we have ever controlled anything in that part of the world. Nope and never." This is a true statement- you just left out the part that we CAN and HAVE made things much much worse. And of you can't see israeli/neocon influence in this disaster then I beleive you choose (as most Americans do) to know nothing.
Jeffrey, what you know of the Arab world could be put in a thible with lots of room left over. I will not waste my time on your idiocy and ignorance.
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