Mass Migration - a plan, or just a consequence of some other plan

[sToRmR1dR]

Europe Rises Against Merkel's Refugee Policies

_http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151225/1032282661/europe-merkel-refugees.html

Europe's largest countries are increasingly dissatisfied with Germany's dominant status in the EU, and have started harshly criticizing Germany's chancellor.

Many European countries are struggling with the policy of pressure and coercion pursued by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. By offering generous benefits to asylum seekers, she prompted the huge influx of refugees into Europe without creating the necessary conditions and compliance with formal procedures, writes the German news portal web.de.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said that a united Europe should not serve the interests of the 28 EU countries, not Germany alone. Italian politicians have harshly criticized the negligent attitude of the German Chancellor regarding the necessary procedures for the reception of refugees.

"Between July and August Germany took in migrants and didn’t take fingerprints, because Merkel said, 'first solidarity then bureaucracy'. What is valid for Italy has to be valid for Germany," — said Renzi in interview with Financial Times.

A similar view is shared by the Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, who believes that Merkel, in fact, provoked a wave of illegal immigration by inviting refugees to Europe.

"Germany has sent a signal, which went out widely in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa and was heard. That call triggered a wave of illegal migration to Europe. It can not be denied," Sobotka told Süddeutsche Zeitung.

According to the International Organization for Migration, (IOM) 990,671 migrants and a refugees have arrived in Europe since the beginning of the year. At the same time, 3,695 people died at sea when attempting to reach European shores. Since October 16, seven people per day have died on average.

Greece and Italy remain the key points of entry for refugees seeking asylum in the European Union. More than 800,000 people have arrived in Greece since the beginning of the year; approximately 57,000 of them have arrived in December alone.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Czech President Says Europe’s Migration Crisis ‘Organized Invasion’

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20151226/1032338428/zeman-refugee-crisis.html

Czech President Milos Zeman said that the European Union faced with is an organized invasion, but in any case not a spontaneous movement of refugees.

PRAGUE (Sputnik) — The current wave of migration into Europe is "an organized invasion," Czech President Milos Zeman said Saturday.

"I am deeply convinced that what we are faced with is an organized invasion, but in any case not a spontaneous movement of refugees," Zeman said in a yearly address to his nation, as broadcast on local television.

According to the Czech president, the majority of migrants arriving in Europe are young men without families.

Europe is currently struggling to cope with a massive refugee influx, with hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants fleeing conflict-torn countries of the Middle East and North Africa in search of asylum in Europe.

The EU border agency Frontex detected 1.55 million undocumented border crossings in 2015.

The Czech Republic is among countries that have fiercely opposed the Brussels-proposed plan to share out some 160,000 refugees between EU member states under a mandatory quota scheme.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

German Finance Minister Slams Greece Over Refugee Influx Mismanagement

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20151227/1032374596/german-minister-migration-greece.html

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that Athens for years ignored the Dublin regulation that obliges migrants to apply for asylum in the first EU member state they arrive in, the media reported.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Sunday criticized Athens' refugees management amid a major influx of migrants to the European Union.

"The Greeks should not only blame others for their problems, they should also consider how they can improve themselves," Schaeuble said, as quoted by the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Schaeuble added that Athens for years ignored the Dublin regulation that obliges migrants to apply for asylum in the first EU member state they arrive in, the media reported.

According to Schaeuble, German courts decided long ago that conditions for refuges in Greece are inhumane and, therefore, migrants cannot be deported there.

Over 1.2 million illegal border crossings into the bloc have been detected by EU border agency Frontex since the beginning of 2015. Greece is a key transit point for people fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa, in search of safety and refuge in Europe.

At least 800,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Greece from Turkey via the Aegean Sea in 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Migrant Sea Arrivals to Europe Surpass 1Mln in 2015 - UN Refugee Agency

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20151230/1032481659/migrants-sea-europe-million-2015.html

The number of migrants who crossed into Europe via the Mediterranean and the Aegean in 2015 has crossed a one-million milestone a week after land- and sea-based migration passed the mark, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Over 3,700 people have been declared dead or missing this year, according to UNHCR’s compilation of various sources, including governments, coast guard or navy vessels, survivors and family members.

The 1,000,573 people who "take their chances aboard unseaworthy boats and dinghies in a desperate bid to reach Europe" constituted a quadrupling over last year’s total of more than 216,000 migrants.

Nearly half of the arrivals came from Syria, while one-fifth arrived from Afghanistan.

The vast majority, or 844,176 people, traveled from Turkey to Greece across the Aegean Sea. A further 152,700 landed in Italy via Libya, followed by 3,592 in Spain and 105 in Malta.

The UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced in a joint statement the number of migrants who crossed into Europe by both land and sea has reached the one million mark last week.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

'One of Europe's Toughest': Norway's New 'No Visa, No Entry' Asylum Policy

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20151230/1032516821/norway-refugee-crisis-tough-visa-asylum-policy.html

Norway has announced strict new immigration laws and its intentions to turn back all asylum seekers from anywhere in the Schengen zone, especially Sweden, if they do not hold the correct visa. The Norwegian government has declared its new asylum policy as "one of Europe's toughest."

The draft law aims to make the Scandinavian country, voted the best to live in by the Human Development Index, less attractive to refugees and migrants.

Measures proposed include banning family reunification until the applicant has lived and worked or studied in Norway for four years. Other familiar sounding proposals would also make it harder for asylum seekers to claim welfare benefits; instead they would be based on a voucher system rather than money, much like Britain.

In a crackdown on asylum seekers breaking Schengen rules, Norway will stop refugees and migrants who have traveled on from their first point of entry from entering its territory.

Under Schengen rules, asylum seekers must apply for a visa in the country they first step foot in. Yet as the refugee crisis gripped Europe and Italy and Greece struggled to cope with registering the thousands of people, asylum seekers continued with the journey north, hoping to settle in richer European countries.

If the draft law is passed — any asylum seekers arriving at Norway's border will be sent back.

"Norway is choosing an isolated policy by refusing to see that if every country in the Schengen area blocked refugees the same way, they would all get stuck in Greece and Italy," Pal Nesse, senior advisor for the Norwegian Refugee Council told AFP.

The decision by the Norwegian government to take an isolated approach to the refugee crisis is indicative of many countries in Europe.

The UK has refused to take part in the quota system to share refugees fairly among member states and many countries are enforcing border checks on people and refusing the safe passage of anyone not from Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan. Others erected razor wire fences to keep refugees out.

"It is very serious that politicians are using punitive measures that would make life more difficult for a number of asylum seekers who are entitled to protection," Andreas Furuseth, from the Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers told AP news agency.

But immigration minister Sylvi Listhaug insists the new rules are necessary to successfully integrate asylum seekers in Norway and avoid "violent consequences" of the welfare system.

More than 30,000 people have sought asylum in Norway this year, many crossing the border from Sweden.

Earlier this year, Sweden announced its intentions to toughen up the country's rules to deter migrants. Having previously said it would do all it could to help refugees from the Middle East and Africa, it will now only offer resettlement to the minimum amount of refugees that it is required to under European Union law.

As the year comes to an end and the number of asylum seekers and refugees reaches the million people mark, many countries continue to turn their back on shared EU policies and Schengen zone rules and act in isolation.

And as proposals and draft laws become legislation, the increasing numbers of refugees arriving in Europe in 2016 will be met with stricter immigration policies in countries still divided by how to deal with the humanitarian crisis on its borders and shores.

Border Rail Fence Set Up at Copenhagen's Kastrup Station Amid Refugee Flow

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20151230/1032513600/sweden-denmark-kastrup-refugees.html

A border rail fence between Sweden and Denmark at Copenhagen’s Kastrup rail station has been set up as part of Sweden's effort to curb illegal migration, local media reported Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Sweden introduced temporary border checks in early November in an effort to stem the increasing flow of refugees into the country through its border with Denmark. On January 4, ID checks will come into effect at the Denmark-Sweden border.

The Kastrup rail station contains terminals linking Copenhagen Airport and the Malmo Central Station in southern Sweden. The fence, separating the station's platforms, has been erected to prevent migrants from avoiding ID checks by crossing between platforms over rail tracks, according to the Swedish Kvallsposten newspaper.

Work on the fence began on December 20, with the station's owner Sund og Belt company covering the costs. The work has not been expensive, a company spokeswoman said, according to the newspaper. Meanwhile, Danish opposition politicians said that Sweden should have covered the costs related to its border checks, according to the publication.

In late 2015, Sweden became one of the top European destinations for asylum seekers. According to Eurostat, the number of applicants rose from just over 6,500 in June to almost 40,000 in November. Denmark has also seen an increase, but in contrast to Sweden, the country received just over 3,500 applications in November, up from approximately 1,000 in June.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Enormous tasks ahead for new UN refugee agency chief

http://www.dw.com/en/enormous-tasks-ahead-for-new-un-refugee-agency-chief/a-18953295

Italian Filippo Grandi is the new face of the UN refugee agency UNHCR. Despite the biggest refugee crisis since World War II, his organization is grappling with a chronic lack of funds.

At this point in time, it's hard to imagine someone assuming a more difficult job: Italian Filippo Grandi is the new head of 9,300-odd employees in around 123 countries. But even more impressive than that kind of responsibility for staff is his mandate.

As United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Grandi is tasked with ensuring the safety and survival of refugees worldwide. According to preliminary calculations, the number of displaced persons has reached a new high in 2015, with more than 60 million people driven from their homes.

Grandi's predecessor, Portuguese Antonio Guterres, had recently sketched out Grandi's possible lines of action. Speaking to the UN Security Council in mid-December, Guterres called for a kind of "New Deal" for Syria's neighbor states. Based on the economic programs enacted in the US during the 1930s, all those countries which have taken in particularly high numbers of Syrian refugees were to receive financial support.

Lately, Guterres had also urged Europe repeatedly to improve its support of refugees, warning of increasing xenophobia. From January, the largest mass migration since World War II and a Europe which lacks a clear, common approach to refugee policies will be at the top of Grandi's agenda.

"He is about to assume a sensitive post," affirms Karl Kopp, Europe representative of the German refugee aid organization Pro Asyl: "We hope that he'll be able to fill his predecessor's footsteps and that his priorities are similar to the ones championed by Guterres."

Vast experience

The former Portuguese prime minister had been working as High Commissioner for Refugees for 10 years. In contrast to Guterres, Grandi worked his way up the United Nations ladder. His CV reads like a chronology of wars and conflicts of the past 20 years: In the line of duty, he held posts in Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, Rwanda, and Burundi, each time representing the refugee agency.

Over the last 10 years, the now 58-year-old supported the cause of Palestinian refugees. During the first half of that period, he was the deputy head of the UN Palestinian aid agency UNRWA. Between 2010 and 2014, he was in charge of the same institution, holding the position of commissioner-general.

"We need to reach the people ourselves, rather than the people reaching us," he said in February 2014, during a visit to a Palestinian refugee camp close to the Syrian capital, Damascus. The camp had been completely destroyed by bombs; its occupants had not had access to medical care for some time, and many saw fleeing as their only chance of surviving.

Solidarity as a weapon

Grandi is not just a technocrat; he also places emphasis on philanthropy, which became evident during an event hosted by Milan University, where Grandi himself had studied Modern History and Philosophy.

Speaking to students about the early stages of his career, he recounted how he was to look after Cambodian refugees during a visit to Thailand. In his arms, a little girl died of Malaria. That had taught him an important lesson: "In the face of suffering, there can be only one response - pure solidarity," Grandi told the students.

Solidarity is also something Grandi will have to remind international donors of. After all, one of the High Commissioner's tasks is to collect their annual contributions. There is a UN emergency fund to be sure; however, the UNHCR strongly depends on voluntary donations by nations, intergovernmental organizations and private persons.

Frequently, pledges surpass the actual payments. Therefore, the UNHCR has been in a financial crisis for years. Other UN organizations are suffering the same fate. The World Food Program (WFP) already had to reduce daily food rations for Syrian refugees in Jordan.

In 2015, the UNHCR had a total budget of around $7 billion (6.4 billion euros) at his disposal. If additional funds are not forthcoming, it is likely that Europe will see the arrival of many more refugees.

"We are facing the dramatic refugee crisis situation on the one hand. On the other hand, there is a shortage of responsible partners who are prepared to commit themselves to the protection of refugees," concludes Pro Asyl's Karl Kopp.

Fierce competition

On his way to becoming High Commissioner, Grandi prevailed over some high-caliber competitors. Achim Steiner, the German head of the UN Environment Program, had been mooted as well as former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

Nonetheless, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon selected Grandi in mid-November. The Italian has now assumed one of the key posts within the UN hierarchy. His predecessor, Guterres, is now regarded as a promising candidate for the post of Secretary General.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

EU 'Turns Away' From Democracy and Human Rights

http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160102/1032609153/eu-democracy-human-rights.html

The European Union's policies in 2015 showed that it is no longer concerned with its founding missions of democracy and rights, according to a French economist.

The European Union in 2015 has failed in upholding three of its core principles, democracy, human rights and efficient governance, French economist Gerard-Francois Dumont wrote in Atlantico.

Failing to protect refugees and entering deals with Turkey to curb their flow dealt a blow to the EU's human rights mission, according to Dumont. At the same time, the union also stamped out democracy by having its unelected bureaucratic bodies make decisions instead of local institutions.

"Indeed, when there appears a risk of disagreement between the Council and the European Parliament on a draft regulation or directive, negotiations took place behind closed doors to reach an agreed text," Dumont wrote.

According to Dumont, this includes the French government's redrawing of regional boundaries; this it did without consulting local residents and governments. Another issue was the EU bureaucracy's violation of the EU treaty's principle of devolving power to the smallest effective institutions.

Creating the Frontex border guard agency was an example of the European Union violating that agreement, according to Dumont. The organization has created concerns for both southern Europe, where it could intrude in countries' territorial waters, and in eastern Europe, where the intrusion was seen as an invasion of the countries' sovereignty.

The new trend set by Frontex could lead to even more centralization and even an "imperialist" bent in the EU's policies if it succeeds, Dupont wrote. According to him, scaling back the Schengen free travel area would have been a more viable alternative to the transnational border guard agency.

Abandoning Human Rights

The EU's deals with Turkey, which has recently both invaded Iraq and engaged in a military operation against its own people in the town of Cizre is another concern when it comes to human rights, according to Dupont. Another issue is its treatment of refugees, who would be confined to certain member countries as part of the European Commission's allocation scheme.

"It is a kind of house arrest for people who have not committed any crime and that have not been the subject of a court decision. It consists of treating human beings as merchandise," Dupont wrote.

Dealing with Turkey and opening a new "chapter" in its EU accession while the country engages in operations against its Kurdish citizens and cracks down on journalists for questioning the government's smuggling of weapons into Syria is another issue, according to Dupont.

Pledging 3 billion euros to Turkey's curbing of migrants is also questionable, Dupont wrote. Turkey is essentially complicit in the smuggling of migrants into the EU by allowing criminal organizations to "work virtually in broad daylight" and collect what could be as much as 8 billion euros, according to Dupont.

Turkish tank lost control and stomped through houses in Cizre (video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6tmgXU5Jhs


Danish PM Threatens Germany With Border Controls

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160102/1032609019/denmark-germany-border-control.html

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told Danes that the government is weighing up the re-imposition of controls along the country’s border with Germany.

Denmark is considering the re-institution of border controls with Germany, following Sweden’s decision to reinstate checks at its border with Denmark in November, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in his New Year’s speech to Danes on Friday.

"Sweden is stepping up checks at its border with Denmark. It is happening very soon. For the first time since the 1950s one must now have an ID card to cross the Oresund (the Sound, the strait that separates the two countries)."

“It shows what is at stake, and it creates a situation where we must introduce border controls with Germany, if we decide that that is best for Denmark.”

“We don’t want to see migrants and asylum seekers on our highways again. We want to ensure calm and order,” said the Prime Minister.

​‘Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen's New Year Address 1 January 2016. Terror, refugees, integration and democracy were the main issues in the Prime Minister's speech,’ reported the newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

As of January 4, the Swedish authorities will require all passengers traveling from Denmark by train, bus or ferry to show photo identification. In November Sweden began carrying out random checks of people entering southern Sweden, initially for ten days.

According to the rules of the Schengen Area of free movement, a country is allowed to temporarily reintroduce border controls between member states for ten days in case of “a serious threat to public policy or internal security.” The regulations state that after ten days, any prolongation of that period needs to be monitored at the EU level.

On December 21, the number of migrants and refugees that had crossed into Europe by land and sea in 2015 passed the one million mark, according to the International Organization for Migration, four times as many people as in 2014.

Denmark is estimated to have received around 20,000 asylum seekers in 2015, and registered around 15,000 in 2014. Sweden received more than 160,000 asylum applications in 2015, twice as many as in 2014, and the most per capita in the EU.

 

[livingdream]

I have a question to which I do not know the answer. I would love if anyone knows the answer to say (or if he thinks he knows), or that questions be sent to the C's. It is about the migrants. I noticed that they do not come only from war zones, but from areas where there was no war, as Pakistan and Iran, all at the same time. Most want in the EU and even most want to get to one of the centers of the empire: Britain. I have nothing against migrants. But, whether this migration is planned at the level of the elite in the United States and Britain and what they want to achieve in sending migrants to the EU? This is certainly the result of American policy, but I do not know whether this is unplanned or planned result. Or is it the way that the universe warn the EU population on the wrong road traveled by the EU following the United States, destroying other people's countries? Or arrived migrants should help in bringing down the empire? Or preparing a civil war in Europe between different religions?
-http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/11805181/Greece-migrant-crisis-Further-chaos-on-Kos-as-migrants-fight-to-board-ship.html

The reason why many people flee from the middle east is because of the war in Syria and Afghanistan. We already know that Iraq has problems as well with controlling their territory against strong terrorist forces such as ISIS. Many people take their chance to flee as it's most possible now when we have this chaos. But if you look in Syria their minorities like christians are forces out of the country. But again there are politic, poverty and future hope behind those who leave their country.

Today we read a lot about conspiracies. 9/11 conspiracy, World War 2, Cold War, Korea War, etc etc etc. The thing with conspiracies is that you can never prove if they are true or not. That is why people tend to use it very effectively. For e.g. sputniknews is a propaganda news site controlled by the Russian state. Like most of the conspiracy that you can find today are leaked from very unreliable news sites. All countries, U.S, Russia, China, Germany, France spread propaganda throughout the world. They lie because they want you to believe that the real enemy is not them.

Let me tell this. IS is a terrorist organisation and their money comes mainly from Saudi. They got support from oil sheik among others. For e.g. because they share their religious thought about there should only be one religion which in their opinion would be sunni muslims. Notice: 90% of the people in Saudi are sunni. If we look in Syria we got Bashar which is Putins only good connection in the middle east and he wants Bashar to control the state. This to secure the connection to the middle east, just like the annexation of Crimea (to secura the harbor of black sea) Then you got USA who see Russian activity as a threat in the middle east and refuse to let Bashar have control of the state.
Just lately after Russia joined the war, we have seen some diplomatic changes or will to change. Which is positive. yet a long way to go before a peace will come.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Migrant Boy Becomes 2016’s First Refugee Casualty

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160103/1032621956/refugees-boat-greek-coast.html

A Syrian toddler named Khalid has become this year’s first casualty of the Mediterranean refugee crisis after a boat with Europe-bound refugees sank Saturday off a Greek island, a rescue ship, Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), announced.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The boat rammed into jagged rocks off a remote Greek island of Agathonisi in the Aegean Sea. Local fishermen pulled at least 35 people from water hours after the crash.

The boy, reported to be two and travelling with his mother, drowned and another three-month old infant was severely hypothermic, the migration charity said. A total of eleven people were injured as a result of their boat's violent impact against the rocks.

"Today we came face to face with one of the youngest victims of this ongoing refugee crisis," MOAS founder Christopher Catrambone said. "It is a tragic reminder of the thousands of people who have died trying to reach safety in miserable conditions."

Europe is currently struggling to cope with a massive refugee influx, with hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. According to the UN refugee agency, the Mediterranean Sea claimed over 3,600 lives last year.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

European Project Rushing Headlong Into the Abyss - French Newspaper

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160103/1032639428/fate-european-union-project.html

Not since the moment of its creation has the project for a unified Europe faced the kinds of existential threats which have plagued it in the last decade, writes French journalist Jean Quatremer.

In his recent editorial for French daily newspaper Liberation, columnist Jean Quatremer suggested that the continent's never-ending economic crisis, compounded by a flood of refugees brought on by Western adventurism in the Middle East, threatens to push the European Union project to the breaking point.

"Will the European Union make it through 2016? Never since the European community's formation in the 1950s has the project faced such a succession of shocks," the journalist suggested.

Quoting the pessimistic commentary of EU Commissioner Guenther Oettinger and EC President Jean-Claude Juncker, the former recently suggesting that the EU could disintegrate, and the latter stating that he has 'no illusions' about the supranational union's prospects for 2016, Quatremer lamented that ever since the 2008 crisis, Europe has found itself between a rock and a hard place.

"Since 2008, the situation in Europe has gone from bad to worse. It all began with the US financial collapse of 2007, which gave birth, in 2008, to an economic crisis –the worst since 1929, which seems to have no end in sight for Europe."

This crisis, which nearly destroyed the Eurozone, has only been exacerbated by "the adventurism of American foreign policy, and that of the British and the French, destabilizing the Mashriq (the Arab countries east of Egypt) and the Maghreb (the Arab countries of northwest Africa west of Egypt), prompting a million people to seek refuge on the continent and leading to the outbreak of a wave of terrorism on European soil."

"Meanwhile," in 2013-2014, Quatremer continued, the fumbling efforts of 'communal diplomacy' "awoke the Russian bear," causing a crisis in Ukraine and leading to a level of tension unknown since the Cold War.

Moreover, the onset of the migrant crisis, the journalist noted, "revealed gaping fractures between Eastern and Western Europe, demonstrating that the EU's enlargement had turned out to be a botch job."

"If for some Western European countries, primarily Germany, the concepts of asylum and respect for minorities are values inherited from a troubled and violent history, for the old people's democracies of Eastern Europe, this is not the case…While fond of European money, and the rights offered by the EU, solidarity for them is a one way street: they have thus far refused to help the countries overwhelmed by the sudden influx of refugees, even if many of them are partly responsible for the situation, having joined the US intervention in Iraq in 2003."

These economic and civilizational crises, Quatremer says, has led to the rise of European populists appealing to values which have a dangerous right wing tinge. "Following the crisis of 1929, many countries came to the conclusion that fascism would be the best response to the challenges of their time. 80 years on, nations are once again tempted by extreme solutions, this time termed as 'populist'."
"Today, right-wingers with authoritarian tendencies are in power in Poland and Hungary, and participate in government in Belgium, Denmark and Finland. Their strength is growing in Sweden, France, the Netherlands, and Italy. Ultimately, only Germany and the countries that have recently experienced dictatorship (Spain, Portugal, Greece) seem immune. Islamist terrorism, meanwhile, only strengthens these parties."

"How long will the EU, a project born from the ruins of the post-war period, be able to resist the wave of xenophobia and paranoia which once against threaten to take control of our old, exhausted societies?" Quatremer asks.

"Nothing," the journalist concludes, "seems able to prevent the return of the national interest over that of the union, driving Europe into the abyss."

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Zeman: Mass migration organized by the Muslim Brotherhood

_http://www.praguepost.com/the-big-story/51384-zeman-mass-migration-organized-by-the-muslim-brotherhood

Czech president says that migration is part of a planned gradual takeover of Europe

Czech President Miloš Zeman said that the mass migration of refugees from the Middle East into Europe is organized by the Muslim Brotherhood.

In an interview broadcast live from Prague Castle on Czech Radio Plus (ČRo Plus), Zeman said that the Muslim Brotherhood cannot start a war against Europe, but they can gain control of the Continent through gradual migration.

“They do not have the power to start a war in Europe, but what they can do is prepare an increasing migration wave and by degrees dominate Europe, just like they have done in some Western cities, where already policemen are afraid to go at night,” Zeman said.

The president cited as a source of his information Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar, who Zeman said recently claimed the Muslim Brotherhood is trying to dominate not only the entire Muslim world, but not the entire world.

Another source Zeman mentioned was the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, whom he claims called the Muslim Brotherhood called an umbrella organization of Islamic terrorist groups.

"On the basis of these two sources of information, in both cases from Muslims and from prominent Arab politicians, I believe that this invasion is organized by the Muslim Brotherhood, of course, using the funds from a number of states," Zeman said.

Zeman also criticized some European politicians for welcoming refugees and reiterated his notion that young men leaving Syria and Iraq should fight the Islamic State rather than come to Europe.

The Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni organization founded in 1928 in Egypt and has claims to be based on political activism combined with Islamic charity work. It supporters can be found throughout Muslim countries.

It has been controversial and in 2003 Russia banned it as a terrorist organization. As of 2015 it is considered a terrorist organization by the governments of Bahrain, Egypt, Russia, Syria, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

Zeman is the first directly elected Czech president, having been elected by popular vote in 2013. Previously, he was prime minister from 1998 to 2002.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

From Slovenia to Italy: Schengen Slowly Shutting Down

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160105/1032719360/europe-refugee-crisis-schengen-shutdown.html

The decision by Denmark to tighten border controls with Sweden and Germany is having a domino effect on the rest of Europe, piling more pressure on countries already receiving the majority of refugees.

Sweden has imposed strict identification checks for all rail passengers arriving from Denmark while Austria, Germany and Norway ramp up border controls to prevent an influx of refugees entering their territory.

The knock-on effect from the Nordic countries has now reached Italy. According to newspaper Corriere della Sera, Italy is to increase controls along its border with Slovenia following an increase in the number of migrants crossing the border into the Mediterranean county.

According to the Italian Interior Ministry and reported in Corriere, between 300 and 400 refugees are arriving every week. As a result, police patrols will be deployed at the border to check the documents of every single person passing through Slovenia, which is part of the Schengen zone.

Italy, it seems, has become the latest member state to defy Europe's founding principle to allow people to move freely between the 26 European countries in the Schengen zone without a passport or having to stop at border controls.

The Mediterranean country had been accused of turning a blind eye to registering many migrants, allowing them to travel overland to other European countries and claim asylum there. Brussels has since launched legal action against Italy, Greece and Croatia for failing to carry mandatory fingerprinting of asylum seekers and recording their data correctly.

In December 2015, the European Commission ordered Italy to use force if necessary to collect the fingerprints of every asylum seeker and migrant before they moved on.

"We risk paying serious consequences, many other states don't register all of the migrants who arrive and yet we [Italy] are the ones who get sanctioned for it," said Interior Minister Angelino Alfano.

However, while Italy faces legal repercussions if it fails to fingerprint all migrants properly, the number of refugees arriving overland continues to increase as other northern European countries flout Schengen rules and close their borders to more people.

 

[angelburst29]

The lives of more migrants have ended in tragedy today after at least 34 people including three children died when their boats overturned while trying to reach Europe.

34 migrants die in one day after boats capsize off the Turkish coast
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3385431/Four-months-little-Aylan-Kurdi-washed-beach-shocked-world-migrants-lives-end-tragedy-foreign-shore-21-die-one-day.html#ixzz3wPk1Ugyl

Their vessels capsized in rough waters off the coast of Turkey as they tried to reach the Greek island of Lesbos.

Pictures have shown the bodies of the migrants strewn across the shore, some wearing lifejackets, in the resort town of Ayvalik after rescue workers desperately tried to save them.

Today, nine bodies washed up on the beach in Ayvalik, prompting authorities to dispatch coastguard boats and police officials to search the area by sea and by land for possible survivors.

By late morning, the death toll reached 14, before seven other migrants were either rescued or found alive.

However, hours later, seven other bodies had washed up on shore at Dikili, a resort about 50 kilometers 30 miles south of Ayvalik.

They were the victims of a second migrant tragedy and the dead included women and children.

Namik Kemal Nazli, the local administrator for Ayvalik, told the state-run Anadolu Agency that the victims of the first incident are believed to be from Iraq, Algeria and Syria.

There was no information on the nationalities of those drowned in the second incident.

Around 850,000 migrants and refugees crossed into Greece last year, paying smuggling gangs to ferry them over from Turkey in frail boats. Hundreds have lost their lives during the crossings.

The International Organisation for Migration said an estimated 3,770 people died crossing the Mediterranean Sea last year, making 2015 the deadliest year on record for migrants and refugees trying to reach Europe.

Meanwhile, top officials from Denmark, Sweden and Germany will hold talks in Brussels tomorrow amid concern about new border control measures aimed at stopping migrants entering northern Europe.

The meeting was called after Sweden introduced ID checks on all people traveling to Denmark, and Denmark tightened border controls on its border with Germany.

European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said that the meeting's aim 'is to improve coordination between the countries concerned to ensure better management of migratory pressures.'

Denmark introduced border checks on Monday for at least 10 days, citing concerns about public security because of migrant movements and border measures taken by other EU member states.

 

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UN censures Denmark over new measures on refugees

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/01/07/444915/UNHCR-Denmark-Syria-Iraq/

The UN refugee agency has criticized Denmark for a series of new measures it adopted to stem the flow of refugees into the country, with its new head urging the Europeans to facilitate the refugees' take-in.

In a document sent to the Danish government on Thursday, the UNHCR criticized new proposals put forward in Denmark that would make it more difficult for the refugees to reunite with their families.

The document harshly slammed a measure allowing the Danish police to confiscate belongings of the asylum seekers worth more than 3,000 Danish kroner (USD 436) to help pay for their stay, saying it would be an affront to the refugees’ dignity and “a deeply concerning response to humanitarian needs.”

The new head of the UNHCR also urged Denmark and other European states to set an example by welcoming the refugees and stop erecting more barriers.

“We will of course continue to say 'You manage your border as you see necessary', but the right of people to seek asylum should not be jeopardized. That's very, very important,” Filippo Grandi told a news briefing.

The Italian diplomat, who took over as UN High Commissioner for Refugees this week, added, “Now if Europe starts setting limits, pushing back, erecting barriers, being hostile, the rest of the world will follow, I can tell you.”

Europe is facing its worst refugee crisis in decades, with more than one million people having already crossed the European borders this year. Most of refugees are escaping the foreign-backed militancy in the Middle East while there are also refugees coming from impoverished African states.

 

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FT: Turkey plans for the EU fails to curb migrants

http://ria.ru/world/20160108/1356268184.html

EU unhappy with the fact that the Turkish authorities solve the problem of the influx of refugees is extremely slow. The flow of arriving in the EU in recent weeks has decreased slightly, but this is not due to the actions of Ankara, and the bad weather that prevents migrants to leave, writes The Financial Times.

MOSCOW, January 8 - RIA Novosti. The number of refugees arriving in the country of the European Union of Turkey, has not decreased sufficiently even after Brussels agreed to provide Ankara three billion euros for the placement of migrants, writes The Financial Times referring to the deputy chairman of the European Commission France Timmermans.

European officials over the weekend is going to visit Turkey to discuss the issue with the local authorities. According to Frans Timmermans, the Turkish authorities should make greater efforts to implement the November agreement.

"We are not satisfied, and we will continue to attempt in order to fully ensure that we obtain results that agreed with Turkey" - quoted by The Financial Times Frans Timmermans.

Such comments come amid growing concern in Berlin that the strategy of containment of the flow of migrants, involving aid to Turkey not bearing fruit as fast as we would like, writes the FT.

Plans for Berlin to address the refugee problem again came under attention after the incident in Cologne, where the New Year's Eve ten women reported assaults and harassment by men "of African and Arab appearance", and the subsequent talks about the failure of the policy of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, writes the FT.

According to the UN, in the last two weeks the flow of refugees from the Middle East to the European Union fell, but this was more due to the bad weather conditions that prevented migrants cross the Mediterranean, and not with Turkey's efforts to curb arrivals, the article says.

Ankara has long said that the influx of migrants to the European Union may continue. After the agreement with the EU was signed, Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu said that he could not give "no guarantees" and that everything will depend on what is happening in Syria.

As the head of the analytical center "European stability initiative" Gerald Knaus, the expectation that an agreement will reduce the influx of refugees, initially were unrealistic. According to the expert, "three months ago, it was obvious that it does not work, the two sides are to blame for this, because they did not discuss the issue seriously." As suggested by Gerald Knaus, the problem can be solved only if Turkey agrees to return of refugees who left from its territory to Greece and whose application for asylum has not been met, writes the FT.

Hungarian Prime Minister: EU should set the border in northern Greece

http://ria.ru/world/20160108/1356304208.html

Such a measure, according to the Prime Minister of Hungary, is needed in order to stem the flow of migrants. Viktor Orban also said that Bulgaria should be included in the Schengen zone, and Macedonia to assist in the development of the defense system.

MOSCOW, January 8 - RIA Novosti. The European Union should build a new frontier in the north of Greece, to stem the flow of hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking to Europe, said on Friday the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

"I think the next line of defense, which we need to build, is located on the northern border of Greece," - said Orban in an interview on state radio, while expressing doubts that the agreement with Turkey will not be enough to curb the flow of migrants heading to Europe.

According to agency Reuters, the Hungarian politician also believes that Bulgaria, is located north of Greece should be included in the Schengen zone, and Macedonia need to provide financial support to improve the defense system.

Earlier it was reported that due to the migration crisis faced by European countries this year, Hungary has announced the construction of a fence to prevent migrants to its southern border with Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia. In addition, in mid-September in Hungary it entered into force the new immigration legislation that toughened the punishment for illegal border crossing and introducing liability for damage to the border wall.

According to the EU border agency Frontex, for the first ten months of this year the European Union arrived around 1.2 million workers. The European Commission said that the current immigration crisis in the world - the biggest since the Second World War.