You would be less than human if you didn't feel some sorrow for the refugees flooding into Europe. They are mere "collateral damage," which is not an uncommon result of war. But, that doesn't make them less than human, does it? That is the moral dimension of this refugee tsunami.
I read an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal, alleging it was all Obama's fault for not being a neo-conservative and for not aggressively invading/controlling both Syria and Libya. That is the political dimension.
I recall the aftermath of the long Algerian War from 1954-1962, when the withdrawal of French forces lead to another refugee tsunami of 900 thousand Muslims from Algeria into France, who was completely unprepared for the onslaught. The Muslims ended up in French ghettos, where under-education, unemployment, and poverty created a new generation of extremists. They were not integrated into French life, which was a terrible mistake. There is a lesson here for all the European nations today. That is the sociological dimension.
Europe has the same problem as the United States, i.e., they're not manufacturing enough young people to sustain entitlements to old people. They need young people to have jobs and pay taxes. Keep the new refugees out of ghettos, get them educated, get them jobs, and - most importantly - get them paying taxes. That is the economic dimension.
There is no way to avoid short-term pain for Europeans, but they must integrate these refugees quickly to avoid long-term pain for the next generation. That is the truth.
I read an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal, alleging it was all Obama's fault for not being a neo-conservative and for not aggressively invading/controlling both Syria and Libya. That is the political dimension.
I recall the aftermath of the long Algerian War from 1954-1962, when the withdrawal of French forces lead to another refugee tsunami of 900 thousand Muslims from Algeria into France, who was completely unprepared for the onslaught. The Muslims ended up in French ghettos, where under-education, unemployment, and poverty created a new generation of extremists. They were not integrated into French life, which was a terrible mistake. There is a lesson here for all the European nations today. That is the sociological dimension.
Europe has the same problem as the United States, i.e., they're not manufacturing enough young people to sustain entitlements to old people. They need young people to have jobs and pay taxes. Keep the new refugees out of ghettos, get them educated, get them jobs, and - most importantly - get them paying taxes. That is the economic dimension.
There is no way to avoid short-term pain for Europeans, but they must integrate these refugees quickly to avoid long-term pain for the next generation. That is the truth.
