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

[Persej]

Serbian police lead away one Afghan migrants after he tried to climb over the fence at the border

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3458174/Migrant-crisis-heats-8-000-left-stranded-Greece-Macedonia-blocks-Afghans-Germany-lashes-Austria-letting-thousands-border.html#ixzz411vL6snb

That is certainly not a Serbian police. I think it's Czech (same name for police, same color): http://www.hcdukla.cz/clanek.asp?id=6311

Many police officers from EU came to Macedonia.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Eastern Europe Meets in Vienna to Unite Against Merkel's Migration Policy

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160226/1035378688/vienna-meeting-migrant-policy.html

The governments of Austria and countries on the Balkan migration route have met in Vienna, without Germany or Greece, to discuss measures that will reduce the numbers of migrants coming to Europe, German Economic News reported.

A conference hosted by the Austrian government in Vienna and attended by countries on the Balkan migration route, without Germany, Greece or EU representatives, is a signal of EU disunity on the refugee and migrant crisis, German Economic News (DWN) reported on Wednesday.

"After the failure of Angel Merkel's quota plans numerous other states have decided to bypass them and plan their refugee policy without German participation: Austria has agreed measures for the immediate closure of the Balkan route with Balkan states," DWN wrote.

The newspaper remarked that "this will also benefit Germany," quoting German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble who said prior to the G20 conference in Shanghai this week that "the number of refugees must fall dramatically, or we will not be able to handle it anymore."

The German DPA news agency called the Vienna meeting, which was officially entitled "Managing Migration Together," a "foreclosure signal from Vienna," and reported Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz as saying that the conference is to "send a clear signal that we will reduce the flow (of migrants."

The Vienna conference was attended by the foreign and interior ministers of Austria, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, in the hope of reaching agreement between them about restrictions on migration to Europe.

"What we want is a chain reaction of reason," Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said.

"We want to generate pressure and pace in order to come to a European solution … this is about the security and stability of Europe," she explained.

German national broadcaster Tagesschau highlighted that no representatives from Germany, Greece or the EU were invited to the meeting, and that Austria also intends to include countries that may become part of alternative migration routes, like Bulgaria and Albania.

"Since there is no willingness in Greece to cooperate as we would wish, we are now trying to cooperate with the west Balkan countries," Kurz explained, Tagesschau reported.

"Macedonia has also declared it will take on this great responsibility to stop the flow of refugees at the Macedonian-Greek border as much as possible with international help," Kurz said.

As well as "resistance from Vienna," DPA also reported that "the conservative Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban has attacked the Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel's refugee strategy head-on," by ordering a referendum on the issue of EU quotas that are requiring his country to take 160,000 asylum seekers.

"Until now nobody has asked the people of Europe whether they want to have mandatory quotas for the forced resettlement of migrants or whether they reject it," Orban told a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday.

The prime minister explained that the referendum will ask Hungarians, "Do you agree that the EU can make a mandatory requirement for the settlement of non-Hungarians in Hungary, even if the parliament does not agree?"

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Putin tells FSB to strengthen controls over refugees heading to Russia and Europe

https://www.rt.com/news/333751-putin-fsb-refugees-control/

President Vladimir Putin has called on Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) to closely monitor people arriving in the country as refugees and also traveling onward into Europe, while stressing that the EU refugee crisis has nothing to do with Russia's actions in Syria.

"Control over the flows of refugees heading both to Russia and also on transit to European countries should be strengthened," Putin said at a meeting with the FSB collegium on Friday, where objectives for the state security service for the near future have been defined.

Putin also pointed out that "the so-called refugee crisis emerged long before Russia started its anti-terror operations in Syria." Saying that there are refugees from Afghanistan on the Macedonian border, the president said: "What do Russia's actions in Syria have to do with it?" He added: "Nothing."

"The cause of this refugee crisis is the destabilization of entire regions of the world, first of all in the Middle East," the Russian president said, adding that all Moscow's efforts in the region are aimed at stabilizing the situation in the countries suffering from terrorism, and to provide conditions for these countries' nationals to return to their homes.

The president also stressed the necessity to "safely close the territory of Russia" from penetration of militants from the Middle East and other regions, and to "uncover and neutralize” those who are involved in terrorism activities globally.

"In this context, I would like to say that Russia and its Armed Forces have timely started operations in Syria... Thanks also to [the FSB’s] efforts, the activities of clandestine groups that were ready to strike a blow at our country have been suppressed," Putin said.

Russia Should Prepare for Effects of EU's Uncontrolled Migration Policy

http://sputniknews.com/russia/20160226/1035411199/russia-fms-migration.html

Russia's Federal Migration Service (FMS) Director Konstantin Romodanovsky said that Russia could be used as a transit route by refugees from the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia should prepare to deal with the dangers associated with the currnet uncontrolled migration into Europe, Federal Migration Service (FMS) Director Konstantin Romodanovsky said Friday.

"We need to be prepared for the risks associated with uncontrolled migratory processes in Europe," Romodanovsky said at an FMS board meeting.

He predicted that Russia could be used as a transit route by refugees from the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

"This process is already at its peak in the Netherlands, Germany and France. So far they are traveling to Canada, Australia, New Zealand. Their arrival in Russia is not excluded in the future," Romodanovsky stressed.

The EU border agency Frontex detected 1.83 million illegal border crossings in 2015. Over 100,000 migrants have crossed into Greece from Turkey so far this year as Europe continues to grapple with its greatest migrant crisis in decades.

Finnish premier welcomes Russia plans to tighten control over migrant flow

http://tass.ru/en/politics/859262

Russian president Vladimir Putin earlier on Friday demanded from the Federal Security Service to tighten controls over the flow of refugees to Russia and across it to Europe

HELSINKI, February 26. /TASS/. Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila welcomed on Friday Russia’s plans to tighten control over the flow of refugees amid a growing flow of migrants crossing into Finland from Russia.

The Finnish prime minister was commenting on a statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who earlier on Friday demanded from the Federal Security Service to tighten controls over the flow of refugees to Russia and across it to Europe.

"It is necessary to toughen control over refugee flows heading both to Russia and to European countries via Russia," Putin said on Friday at a FSB board meeting.

"Of course, there is no data as of yet on how this will influence [the flow of refugees to Finland from Russia], but this is exactly what was in the focus in our discussion [with Russia]," Yle television quoted Sipila as saying.

The Finnish prime minister believes Russia’s move comes because of security concerns. "We also spoke about the same fears. Gunmen from Islamic State, who obviously cause general concern both in Europe and in Russia, arrive among a wave of refugees," the prime minister said.

The number of refugees crossing into Finland from Russia via the check points in the north, in Lapland, since the start of the year has already now sizably exceeded last year figures, amounting to 1,000 people, against some 700 people crossing into Finland from Russia last year.

Several dozen asylum seekers arrive in Finland from Russia daily. Most often migrants have no necessary documents for entry, in particular Schengen visas, Finnish border guards say.

All in all about 32,500 migrants, mainly of Iraqi descent, arrived in Finland last year. Others arrived across the Swedish-Finnish border in the north, but many opted for other routes, arriving on ferries from Germany and across the Russian border with Finnish Lapland.

The Russian-Finnish border has become at the moment the main direction that migrants use to reach Finland.

 

[Persej]

"After the failure of Angel Merkel's quota plans numerous other states have decided to bypass them and plan their refugee policy without German participation: Austria has agreed measures for the immediate closure of the Balkan route with Balkan states," DWN wrote.

...

"Since there is no willingness in Greece to cooperate as we would wish, we are now trying to cooperate with the west Balkan countries," Kurz explained, Tagesschau reported.

...

As well as "resistance from Vienna," DPA also reported that "the conservative Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban has attacked the Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel's refugee strategy head-on," by ordering a referendum on the issue of EU quotas that are requiring his country to take 160,000 asylum seekers.

"Until now nobody has asked the people of Europe whether they want to have mandatory quotas for the forced resettlement of migrants or whether they reject it," Orban told a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday.

The prime minister explained that the referendum will ask Hungarians, "Do you agree that the EU can make a mandatory requirement for the settlement of non-Hungarians in Hungary, even if the parliament does not agree?"

Yes, the situation is interesting. Other countries don't like Germany because she first invites refugees by giving them a shelter and then forcing other countries to accept them, and they also don't like Greece because Greece does not want to, or cannot, stop the refugees from coming into the rest of Europe.

And Greece got angry at Austria because they didn't invite Greece to this conference:

Greece Turns Down Request by Austrian Interior Minister to Visit Athens

Greece has turned down a request by Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner to visit Athens for explanations over the recall of Greece’s ambassador to Vienna.

According to an Athens Macedonia News Agency report citing diplomatic sources, the Greek side turned down the visitation request unless measures against Greece are lifted.

The same sources said that Austria has taken a step back after the tough stance of the Greek foreign ministry, which on Thursday called the Greek ambassador to Vienna Chryssoula Aliferi for consultations in Athens.

Austria has repeatedly accused Greece of failing to protect its borders properly and allowing an excessively high number of migrants to continue their journey towards north Europe through the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

“If it is really the case that the Greek external border cannot be protected, can it be still a Schengen external border?” Mikl-Leitner wondered during a meeting of European Union interior ministers on Thursday.

Austria’s initiative to call a meeting of Balkan states to discuss the refugee influx crisis excluding Greece has angered Athens. Greek Deputy Migration Minister Yannis Mouzalas retorted that Mikl-Leitner was “falsifying the truth” and “dragging Austria into increasingly hostile acts towards Greece and the EU.”

Mouzalas said that the European Commission and Frontex have confirmed that Greece is doing its job in protecting Europe’s border in the best possible way. Athens has also expressed its discontent in the belief that Austria has encouraged a series of border restrictions by Balkan states, causing thousands of migrants to be stranded in Greece.

http://greece.greekreporter.com/2016/02/26/greece-turns-down-request-by-austrian-interior-minister-to-visit-athens/#sthash.NHphQRqu.dpuf

So now they want to solve this situation without Germany and Greece. European Union doesn't look so united anymore.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Hungary's Orban Says George Soros Is Destroying Europe

http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/hungarys-orban-says-george-soros-trying-destroy-europe/ri13088

Hungary's outspoken prime minister says billionaire 'activist' George Soros is using the current refugee crisis to attack the 'traditional European lifestyle'

Billionaire "democracy promoter" and certified slimebag George Soros uses every opportunity to accuse Putin of (magically) creating the Syrian refugee crisis, as part of his so-called master scheme to "destabilize Europe". But not everyone is on board with George's claptrap.

Hungary's prime minister, Victor Orban, blames Soros for the crisis:

The Hungarian Prime Minister has lashed out at billionaire George Soros, criticizing the support he has expressed towards refugees from the Middle East heading to Europe, saying that he undermines stability on the continent.
One has to admire Orban's tell-it-like-it-is attitude, which is certainly making him no friends in Brussels:

“[Soros] is perhaps the strongest example of those who support anything that weakens nation states, they support everything that changes the traditional European lifestyle,” Orban said in an interview on public radio station Kossuth, according to Bloomberg. “These activists who support immigrants inadvertently become part of this international human-smuggling network.”

Orban might be hinting at something a bit more sinister than Soros "just" advocating for Europe to open its doors to floods of migrants. According to Europe's criminal intelligence agency, "at least 10,000 unaccompanied child refugees have disappeared after arriving in Europe. Many are feared to have fallen into the hands of organised trafficking syndicates," i.e., are now slaves.

We're not saying anything. We're just saying that George Soros is a creep.

Your move, Europe.

 

[Shared Joy]

Greece overwhelmed with refugees as neighboring countries closed their borders. Athens recalled its ambassador to Austria.

_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKuRTc5KhKM

 

[Keit]

Here's a good example of "enlightened and tolerant" Europe. On their Independence Day, Estonia had a torch march in Tallin, similar to Bandera people in Ukraine. The march was organised by "Soldiers of Odin", who are preparing to the none existent "invasion of refugees". Apparently there is a refugee quota that each European country has to follow, and in case of small countries such as Estonia, the amount is no more than couple of hundred. But the "most hospitable" people of Estonia already prepare to meet the refugees with "warm welcome". There are no refugees coming to Estonia, by the way.

Around 2,500 members of the Estonian branch of the Finnish far-right anti-refugee group ‘Soldiers of Odin’ marched in Tallinn on the anniversary of Estonian independence day, Wednesday. Crowds marched through the Estonian capital with torches while waving flags of the three Baltic Republics, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, and carrying a banner reading "For Estonians!" The Soldiers of Odin are an anti-immigrant group that began patrolling in Finland in January 2016, claiming to protect residents from refugees and migrants.

http://<iframe width="560" height="...BI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[mkrnhr]

Here's a good example of "enlightened and tolerant" Europe. On their Independence Day, Estonia had a torch march in Tallin, similar to Bandera people in Ukraine.

This is very sick. The first image association that comes to mind is the night ceremony with torches organized by the Nazis. The parallels are very disturbing.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

'Fight for Europe' and 'Heal Rifts' Caused by Migrant Crisis - German FM

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160229/1035545136/europe-steinmeier-refugee-crisis.html

As tensions boil between refugees and riot police in Macedonia and France, 7,000 people remain stuck in Greece.

Border shutdowns across the Balkan route have left Greece inundated with refugees and migrants.

"We estimate that in our country the number of those trapped will be from 50,000 — 70,000 people next month," Greek Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas told Mega TV.

Instead of pulling together to solve the refugee crisis, countries across the EU are splitting apart, taking individual actions to stem the influx of asylum seekers into their country.

Austria's Chancellor Werner Faymann is accusing Greece of "behaving like a travel agency" as thousands of migrants remain stranded at the country's northern border with Macedonia.

Austria recently imposed a limit on the number of asylum seekers allowed to cross and held a summit for Balkan nations to discuss migrant flows — but didn't invite Athens.

Greece responded by recalling its ambassador to Austria and threatening to block any future EU decisions until the bloc worked together to deal with the crisis.

In France, makeshift shelters have been set on fire with riot police firing tear gas at migrants wielding rocks at the so-called "Jungle" camp in Calais while French authorities bulldoze part of the shanty town.

Elsewhere in Macedonia, police also fired tear gas at refugees and migrants after they stormed the barbed wire border fence from Greece in frustration of recent restrictions imposed on people moving through the Western Balkan route. Scenes from the chaos showed children chocking on tear gas.

Several hundred men, women and children protested by lying across railway tracks at Idomeni. Others held posters that read: "Open the borders, no food… We are humans not animals."

Stick Together and Stop Squabbling

German Chancellor Angela Merkel still stands by her decision to reject any limit on the number of asylum seekers allowed into Germany, despite rifts within her own government.

"There are many conflicting interests in Europe… but it is my damn duty to do everything I can so that Europe finds a collective way," she told state broadcaster ARD.

Merkel's remarks have been countered by an invitation by Austria's defense minister, for Germany to take refugees directly from Greece.

"The German chancellor… said that formally there is no upper limit in Germany. Then, I would invite her to take the people, who arrive in Greece now and whom she wants to take care of, directly to Germany," Hans Peter Doskozil told Austrian Oe1 radio.

Germany's Foreign Minister says the EU must stay together to solve the migrant crisis and stop blaming each other. Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Greek daily Ta Nea:

"We must fight for Europe. We must stop blaming each other. On the contrary, we must unite forces and work together for a European solution to the refugee crisis.

"This is the only way for Europe to emerge stronger from the crisis," Steinmeier said.

Steinmeier has reiterated calls by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Europe must adopt a common approach to solving the refugee crisis while countries continue to squabble.

"Neither side can benefit when inside the EU one blames the other. In this way we are not moving ahead by even one step in managing the refugee crisis.

"The rifts that are being formed now must be laboriously healed again", Steinmeier said.

Yet riot scenes from refugee camps across Europe and the political rhetoric from Greece and Austria suggest the rifts are widening — not healing.

Wounded police officer while attempting illegal migrants to enter Macedonia

http://kurir.mk/makedonija/vesti/povreden-politsaets-pri-obid-migrantite-nelegalno-da-vlezat-vo-makedonija/

The Macedonian-Greek border today around 11 pm around five thousand migrant tried to forcibly enter the territory of the Republic of Macedonia, which were prevented by the Macedonian police.

Migrants, hurling stones and hard objects to Macedonian police, wounding one of the police officers and damaged the gate of the railway.

MOI informed that police used tear gas to prevent the illegal entry of migrants in Macedonia and they are prevented from intention and returned to Greece.

As MIA reports from Athens, refugees in Idomeni the Greek-Macedonian border currently held peaceful protest by occupying the railway line, after having tried to overthrow the fence.

Greek news agency ANA-MPA reported that the Macedonian authorities currently repairing the fence and spot policemen.

The railway was dismantled, and the 50 refugees who were to enter Macedonia, only 10 managed to cross the border, because of the tension that led to the closure of the border crossing, informed the agency.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Austrian Chancellor: ‘Germany Should Accept Refugees Directly From Greece'

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160302/1035668874/austrian-chancellor-refugees.html

In an interview with the Austrian newspaper Kurier, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann called on Germany to accept refugees directly from Greece, Turkey and Jordan.

According to the politician, Austria is not willing to play the role of a "waiting room". Faymann stressed that refugees from Greece and its neighboring countries should be directly transferred to Germany.

Faymann also suggested that Germany should introduce a daily quota for refugees, according to which a certain number of migrants will be allowed to enter the country on a regular basis.

"It should set a daily quota and directly transfer those refugees from Greece, Turkey and Jordan to Germany," the politician said.

Since early January, Germany has started so to send the so-called economic refugees back to Austria. As a result, Austrian authorities introduced daily refugee caps in order to stop the uncontrolled influx of refugees through their country.

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

The refugee crisis led to a division in the ranks of European leaders and caused chaos across Europe. While German Chancellor Angela Merkel pursues a policy of open doors toward refugees, such countries a Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have rejected any calls to impose a compulsory relocation of refugees on their territories.

NATO "intensively works" with Turkey to push forward refugee mission in Aegean — source

http://tass.ru/en/world/860241

A NATO naval mission to help stop migration in the Aegean sea was put on hold after Turkey denied entry to its waters to the bloc’s warship

BRUSSELS, March 2. /TASS/. NATO is working with Turkey towards finalizing the details of the deployment of its ships in the Aegean Sea to stop the flow of migrants into Europe, a NATO official told TASS on Wednesday.

"Our ships are in place, they are collecting information, and we're working intensively to finalize the operational details with Turkey, Greece and Frontex," the official said. "Everyone is aware of the urgency of the task, and we're on track."

A NATO naval mission to help stop migration in the Aegean sea was put on hold after Turkey denied entry to its waters to the bloc’s warship, the French news agency AFP said on Wednesday.

According to the AFP, despite NATO requests, "the Turks refused" this weekend to allow the vessels to enter into Turkish waters.

The large-scale maritime mission, seeking to tackle human trafficking and illegal migration in the Aegean Sea, was launched earlier this month and aims to help the EU cope with the refugee crisis.

The NATO maritime group consists of ships from different bloc members, including Turkey, which are the German Navy frigate Bonn, the Canadian Fredericton, the Greek Salamis and the Turkish frigate Barbaros.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Tusk tells migrants not to come to EU

http://www.dw.com/en/tusk-tells-migrants-not-to-come-to-eu/a-19088956

'Stay out,' was the clear message European Council President Tusk had for economic migrants trying to make their way into the EU. His remarks came during a visit to Greece, where thousand of refugees are stranded.

European Council President Donald Tusk held talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday ahead of a key meeting between EU and Turkish officials on March 7 and had a clear message for economic migrants looking to make their way into the European Union.

"Don't come to Europe. Don't believe smugglers. No European country will be a transit country," he said.

Tusk's stop in Greece is the latest on his tour of countries along the oft-used migrant route through the Balkans to countries in Europe's north.

Tusk also responded to calls to punish Greece for how it has managed the refugee crisis along its borders.

Tusk's tour is aimed at finding common ground on the migration issue ahead of the summit in Brussels.

After starting the trip in Austria on Tuesday, Tusk has met with leaders in Slovenia, Croatia, and Macedonia. After Greece, he'll move on to his final stop in Turkey.

Macedonia, along with other Balkan states including Serbia and EU members Slovenia and Croatia, have imposed a daily limit on the number of migrants allowed to enter their territory.

This has resulted in a backlog of refugees in Greece, which is leading to a humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

"We have to avoid an illusion that instead of the full respect for Schengen rules, there might be another, easy and convenient European solution," Tusk said, while adding that respecting the rules would not solve the problem either.

During his press conference with Tusk, Tsipras said Greece would provide "dignified" living conditions for refugees currently stuck in Greece but called on other European countries to do their part in taking in refugees on a permanent basis.

"Greece will demand... that there be sanctions to those who do not respect" European treaties, Tsipras said, referring in this case to countries who are not implementing the EU's refugee policy.

On Wednesday, the European Union's executive body proposed setting aside 700 million euros ($760 million) to assist Greece and other states in providing shelter and care to refugees and migrants who are arriving in Europe in great numbers.

The "EU will not leave Greece alone," Tusk said on Twitter.

 

[Iosif]

The world has gone completely mad. It seems like today almost the whole western society has become Nazi. Hitler would be astounded and proud to witness that. The C's were right when they said something like "Hitler germany was just a dry run" for things to come and that the real Holocaust has yet to come. I'm afraid that it has already started though...

To give you an idea of how bad the situation is, even the majority of SOTT followers on Facebook have bought into the propaganda and basically have become Nazi and/or Nazi enablers:

https://www.facebook.com/SOTT.NET/posts/10156459485140313

The vast majority of the commentators don't agree with what SOTT wrote there:

Whether officially or unofficially, ‪#‎Europe‬ is becoming a ‪#‎racist‬, ‪#‎xenophobic‬ fortress. Given the continent's own history of ‪#‎war‬, displacement, ‪#‎fascism‬ and genocidal persecution it should be deeply troubling that it is once again on a slippery slope to such nihilistic mentality. It is doubling worrying when we hear apologists for hard-line measures against ‪#‎refugees‬ talking about "preserving European blood and culture." Given Europe's millennia of migrations, what "pure blood" is there to talk of apart from malign mythical notions?

How much worse can it get, when even a lot of people who "like SOTT" are going Nazi?

I'd like to do a comment about Pashalis's post that I saw a week ago but only now can finish it. I don't know if it should go in another post, I think moderators are going to tell me.

Whether officially or unofficially, ‪#‎Europe‬ is becoming a ‪#‎racist‬, ‪#‎xenophobic‬ fortress. Given the continent's own history of ‪#‎war‬, displacement, ‪#‎fascism‬ and genocidal persecution it should be deeply troubling that it is once again on a slippery slope to such nihilistic mentality. It is doubling worrying when we hear apologists for hard-line measures against ‪#‎refugees‬ talking about "preserving European blood and culture." Given Europe's millennia of migrations, what "pure blood" is there to talk of apart from malign mythical notions?

I agree with this comment of Sott's post, but I also think at the stage when I began to open my eyes. Before knowing Sott I guided me through the formality of writing to rate how serious was a media, though I didn't believe in anyone and I was indifferent to what was happening in the world. So when I started to read Scott some headlines or comments impress me in a negative way by taking sides, condemn and don't just giving "information", in many aspects we are programmed to think that and I had also worked before in a newspaper.

That didn't stop me from opening my eyes and seeing the aim of Sott but it was also thanks to a member of the FOTCM I met with which I could discuss my doubts. Before I get here I had a long but quiet process to set aside indifference and want to see the reality and I try to put myself in the place of the people who don't have the same luck I had and also lives in an increasingly traumatic environment, who receives mainstream information everywhere quickly refuting any real news that exist and who also might have heard bad experiences with refugees through relatives or friends, (or can be on any other subject), add to this the comment of the Facebook post that Phasalis shares, even if is truth to me I think is a bit hard tone taking into account the programming that I mentioned earlier, sure many are blind but also I think others might respond emotionally without considering the consequences of his words and not necessarily became fascists, some may not even read the news.

I think in the chapter of The Wave which spoke of a man who deprogram people asking the right questions and showing the illogic of their thoughts. So I wonder if I'm not being very "compassionate" with those people, who should be able to see if they wanted, but also if whether a tone like this post could not avert, at least temporarily some people who have a chance to grow and learn, considering what I said before.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Estoy de acuerdo con el comentario de ese post de Sott, pero también pienso en la etapa en que empezaba a abrir los ojos, antes de conocer Sott me guiaba por la formalidad de la escritura para puntuar que tan serio era un medio, aunque no creía en ninguno y era indiferente a lo que pasaba en el mundo. Por eso cuando empezaba a leer Sott algunos titulares o comentarios me impactaban en un sentido negativo por tomar partido, condenar y no limitarse a dar “información”, en muchos aspectos nos programan para pensar eso y además había trabajado antes en un periódico.

Eso no impidió que vaya abriendo los ojos y vaya viendo el objetivo de Sott pero también fue gracias a una miembro de la FOTCM que conocí con la que podía debatir sobre mis dudas. Pero también antes de llegar hasta acá tuve un proceso largo y tranquilo para dejar de lado la indiferencia y querer ver la realidad. Trato de ponerme en el lugar de la gente que no tiene la misma suerte que tuve y que además vive en un ambiente cada vez más traumático, que recibe información mainstream de todos lados refutando rápidamente cualquier noticia verdadera que pueda existir y que además puede haber escuchado malas experiencias con los refugiados a través de personas conocidas, (o puede ser sobre cualquier otro tema), sumándole el comentario del post de Facebook que comparte Pashalis que aunque sea verdad me parece un tono un poco fuerte pensando en la programación que mencioné antes, seguro que muchos están ciegos pero también creo que otros pudieron responder emocionalmente sin medir las consecuencias de sus palabras y no necesariamente se volvieron fascistas, puede que algunos ni siquiera leyeron la noticia.

Pienso en el capítulo de la onda donde hablaban de un hombre que desprogramaba de las mentiras a la gente haciendo las preguntas correctas y mostrando lo ilógico de su pensamiento. Me pregunto si no estoy siendo muy “compasivo” con esas personas, que deberían poder ver si quisieran, pero también si un tono como el de ese post no podría alejar, por los menos momentáneamente a algunas personas que tienen una oportunidad de crecer y aprender, considerando lo que dije antes.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Macedonia is defending Europe from itself

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/macedonia/12185464/Macedonia-is-defending-Europe-from-itself.html#disqus_thread

Don’t criticise my country for dealing with the reality of the migrant crisis that Brussels refuses to face

The migrant and refugee crisis is deepening and reaching a critical level. It used to take refugees and migrants six to eight months to reach their destination countries. Now they can do it in just a few days. Today united Europe has more walls than divided Europe had during the Cold War. Greece is facing a possible humanitarian crisis, and there are armies in a state of alert deployed on the borders of Balkan countries.

My country, Macedonia, is on Greece’s northern border and feeling the full force of the migrant crisis. We are facing innumerable illegal entries, the destruction of state and private property, the use of counterfeit passports and violence against security forces on the border – all of this by migrants intending to avoid registration and the verification of who actually has a right to asylum. Yet we are not in the European Union. The crisis is coming from the territory of Greece – a Schengen area state. So Macedonia has to defend Europe from the EU itself.

There are two reasons for the deepening of this crisis.

First, in the past few decades, it seems that many decision-makers in Europe have forgotten their history and geography lessons. The Balkans have long been the key corridor connecting Europe to the Middle East and north Africa. Yet it has taken the arrival of one million refugees and migrants to remind the EU of this fact. For many years in the interim, Balkan countries that are now crucial to the continent’s security have been left languishing without EU membership and the co-operation that entails.

Second, generalisation. We need to be clearer about who the migrants are. At the outset, we became trapped by the generalisation that every migrant was a humanitarian case. Since the Paris terrorist attacks, by contrast, there has been a risk of us regarding them all as security threats. But if we are to secure a pan-European solution, we must observe the different, nuanced aspects of this crisis.

On the humanitarian front, this means recognising that the door that was first opened by refugees from war-stricken areas in the Middle East – who may have a strong claim to the right to asylum, protection and humane treatment – is now being used by economic migrants from Africa and Asia.

On the political front, it is clear that the EU functions excellently in times of peace and prosperity, but not in conditions of crisis. Trust in the European system is being eroded with every passing day. The price of de-sovereignisation is too high. It is self-evident that this crisis cannot be resolved by mere political declarations and bureaucratic procedures, but that it has also to be managed with support and assistance on the ground from the security forces.

Economically, we must accept that 90 per cent of migrants who came to Europe last year used illegal people-smugglers. In 2015, organised crime networks earned between €3 billion and €6 billion from the migration business. But the European Migrant Smuggling Centre started its work only a fortnight ago. This implies that the EU has been caught off guard.

Socially, the crisis is putting the European model of integration to the test. Instead of being united in diversity, will Europe now be united against diversity? Instead of integration without assimilation, will Europe now prefer integration through assimilation? The Arab philosopher Averroes wrote that “ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hate, and hate leads to violence”. Today in Europe, violence instigated by individuals and groups who fear diversity is spreading.

We cannot ignore the new threats to our security. According to Europol, today on EU territory there are between 3,000 and 5,000 radicals, extremists and terrorists. They took advantage of the lack of co-operation between security services in Europe and misused the migrant corridor. Close co-operation among security services is necessary, and so is the implementation of de-radicalisation and counter-radicalisation programmes. The times when European security could be defended at its external frontiers with the Middle East and north Africa are long gone. Now, European security has to be defended within Europe itself.

Macedonia is committed to a common European solution. We are ready for all scenarios, and we will act as other states along the refugee route. As a transit-only country, Macedonia is doing this for the benefit of the EU. Unfortunately, even as we are trying to implement EU decisions, we face unfair criticism for doing so.

It is said that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The EU and the Schengen area are only as strong as Greece. Europe as a continent is only as strong security-wise as Macedonia. Therefore, both Greece and Macedonia need to be helped. The effectiveness of the EU’s response will shape the very future of our continent.

Valdis Dombrovskis: Caught in the European (Dis)union?

http://www.dw.com/en/valdis-dombrovskis-caught-in-the-european-disunion/a-19100044

The European Union is confronted with an unprecedented refugee crisis which is threatening its very existence. Is it time for a structural overhaul? Not if you ask Vice President of the EU Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis.

20 years after a border-free Europe was introduced, the European Union's (EU) very existence is threatened. After having to deal with an economic crisis that is still not over, Europe is now facing an unprecedented refugee crisis.

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than one million refugees made their way to Europe through irregular means in 2015. It's the biggest wave of mass migration since the end of the Second World War. And the number is rising.

But thus far, the EU has failed to address this influx with a joint European response, leading to six member states recently opting out of the border-free Schengen agreement.

What's more, the EU's second biggest economy may leave the Union completely.

On DW's Conflict Zone with Tim Sebastian, Vice President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, emphasized the need for "a coordinated European solution and the implementation of agreed solutions." However, he failed to be more concrete on how exactly this could be achieved.

Border clashes

When DW's Tim Sebastian asked whether welcoming refugees with tear gas on European borders made him feel "personally ashamed," Dombrovskis simply said the EU had to "deal with this problem."

But in response to the violent clashes at the Greek-Macedonian border, the United Nations (UN) refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards said Europe is on the "cusp of a self-induced humanitarian catastrophe."

Last summer, European leaders adopted a relocation and resettlement scheme that foresaw quotas to distribute refugees within the EU. But so far the scheme hasn't been successfully implemented.

Several member states, including Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic, have refused to implement the mandatory quotas. As a result, fewer than 700 of the 160,000 refugees who should have been relocated from most affected states, have been moved in the last nine months.

After Austria and other Balkan states unilaterally cut off the flow of migrants and restricted their borders, despite the Geneva Convention, thousands of people have been stranded in Greece.

A policy no one wants

Dombrovskis says the problem lies with individual member states who fail to stick to laws and rules that were agreed upon, including the so-called Dublin Regulation and the Geneva Convention.

"Those are not rules by the European Commission; they are rules that were adopted by the EU Council and the European Parliament, the core legislatures of the EU," Dombrovskis said.

Even though the EU member states are bound to the international agreements and conventions they signed, they are currently not implementing them.

Faced with Tim Sebastian's criticism that the European Commission is putting out policies that the member states aren't interested in, to then recite these rules over and over rather than coming up with new solutions, Dombrovskis said rules are there to be observed.

"If we now say that member states are not interested in the rules that were agreed upon, then we are in a very difficult situation," Dombrovskis said

Is Schengen dead?

Looking at the current state of the Schengen agreement on free movement, it seems like this very difficult situation has already arrived.

The Schengen agreement has been suspended by six EU member states for half a year already and is likely to be suspended for another two years, leading the former president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, to pronounce Schengen dead. But Dombrovskis doesn't want to give up just yet.

"We are working to save Schengen," he said, adding that member states have the right to temporarily introduce border controls within Schengen if there is an unusual or extraordinary circumstance. "And that is exactly what is happening right now," he said.

Is Greece being let down by the EU?

Responding to Tim Sebastian's charge that the EU has continually squeezed Greece rather than helping the country handle the 2,000 refugees arriving on Greece's shores every day, Dombrovskis said the EU is already doing its bit by helping Greece with money and emergency relief.

Valdis Dombrovskis: "Greece is actually one of the prime recipients of EU funding to deal with the refugee crisis. And the European Commission just now adopted a decision on emergency relief, on emergency aid to deal with the current situation in Greece."

Tim Sebastian: "Very small sums of money."

Valdis Dombrovskis: "Not so very small sums of money. The sums of money are going into the tens of millions."

Tim Sebastian: "It's costing them ten million Euros a month to cope with the refugees. You're not funding them to the tune of ten million Euros a month."

Valdis Dombrovskis: "Well, we are funding them to the tune of what's there in the EU budget for those purposes. And that has actually already increased pretty much. To this point we have mobilized something on the scale of 10 billion euros to deal with the refugee crisis."

Contingency plan for a possible Brexit?

Asked whether the EU has a contingency plan in case Great Britain, the second largest economy within the EU, decides to leave the European Union in the upcoming British referendum in June, Dombrovskis said the main effort right now is to make sure Britain doesn't leave.

"Our plan on which we are working is a plan A for UK to stay within the EU. (…) It makes much more sense economically, both for the UK and the EU."

The full Conflict Zone interview will air on March 9 at 17:30 UTC.

 

[Approaching Infinity]

I agree with this comment of Sott's post, but I also think at the stage when I began to open my eyes. Before knowing Sott I guided me through the formality of writing to rate how serious was a media, though I didn't believe in anyone and I was indifferent to what was happening in the world. So when I started to read Scott some headlines or comments impress me in a negative way by taking sides, condemn and don't just giving "information", in many aspects we are programmed to think that and I had also worked before in a newspaper.

Sometimes SOTT just 'gives the information'. But like you say, sometimes SOTT also takes sides. A lot of people don't like this, usually because that 'side' isn't the one they like, and sometimes because they want totally neutral, unbiased information.

The way I see it, sometimes just the information is enough. But sometimes, the mainstream discourse doesn't just get the information wrong; they also flip the morality of events. When a person or an entire people experience a massive injustice, and are then portrayed as the villains, I think that requires taking a side. It's a question of morality, of conscience.

Seeing such a view for the first time can be shocking and 'press your corns' as Gurdjieff would say. That's a good thing. If properly used it can provoke a reevaluation of one's beliefs and values. Some people will ignore this and strive to reestablish their old equilibrium (unilevel disintegration in Dabrowski's terms). Some will use it to grow. Some will even take the plunge and find this forum where they can work on an even deeper level.

With a project like SOTT, it's almost impossible to have a one-on-one "Socratic dialogue" with individual readers. So that's not what the editors do. Ideally, they present material to provide 'shocks', and to give a worldview that is as accurate and comprehensive as possible with the given resources. Of course, not everyone will respond the same way. But even if it can always be done BETTER (what can't!), just look at all the people whose lives and outlooks HAVE been changed (you included!).

 

[angelburst29]

NATO Weaponizes EU's Anti-Refugee Sentiment Against Russia
http://russia-insider.com/en/how-nato-weaponized-refugees-against-eu/ri13224

NATO wants Europeans who resent refugees to channel their anger against Vladimir Putin 'the unleasher of refugees' instead.

NATO military commander Philip Breedlove howled the other day that Russia is 'weaponizing' Syrian refugees. US senator John McCain said exactly the same thing at the Munich Security Conference a couple of weeks ago. Famous "philanthropist" George Soros said the same a month ago.

McCain, Breedlove and Soros claim that Russian combat operations in Syria are part of a wider plot to destabilize Europe by sewing divisions in the EU. Western media then uncritically picked up and transited these bizarre claims.

Tara McCormack over at Spiked has a great rebuke:

Kosovo has produced the third-highest number of refugees after Syria and Afghanistan, and given that it’s an EU protectorate and NATO bombed it to independence, who is doing the weapons there?

That's right. In fact it's not just Kosovo. Every single major refugee movement we're now seeing was facilitated by a prior NATO intervention.

The plurality of refugees moving to EU are Syrians of which there were already 6 million who had fled Syria for Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Overwhelmingly the Syrian refugees who are now moving to Europe were already in Turkish refugee camps when Moscow's Syria intervention began.

Moreover, the US began its direct military intervention in Syria in September of 2014, a full year before Russia in September of 2015. And had indirectly intervened and armed ("weaponized") the Syrian opposition as early as 2011 and 2012.

Next biggest refugee flow originates from Afghanistan which had been blessed with 15 years of NATO ("International Security Assistance Force") occupation and is a US protectorate.

The third biggest contributor to the flow of people to the EU is Kosovo which has likewise been occupied by NATO troops ("KFOR" or Kosovo Force) since distant 1999 and which, like McCormack correctly points out, is a EU protectorate.

The next major contributor to the refugee flow is Libya – not necessarily as a country of origin but as newly open path for African migrants to reach Europe. Previously Gaddafi had kept a lid on the population movement for the EU, but since he was ousted in 2011 – by you guessed it, a NATO bombing campaign – the floodgates have opened.

So if the refugee flow has been "weaponized" and is part of a wider ploy against the EU as Breedlove and McCain claim and western media echoes, then we have to conclude it can only be NATO that's doing the "weaponizing" and the plotting.

The truth is that if Russian objections against western interference in Libya and Syria, and earlier campaigns had been heeded the EU would not be a facing a refugee crisis today of anything like the present proportions. Far from setting up the EU for refugee pain Russian diplomacy had acted to spare it the unforeseen consequences of NATO's military adventures.

Moreover, Russia's military intervention in Syria has prevented a US intervention of transforming that country into an jihadi-dominated failed state along Libyan lines and has probably actively saved EU from having to accept hundreds of thousands or millions of refugees more.

As I wrote in February:

EU Europe shot itself in the foot by helping US explode Libya and Syria. If anything Libya where the West ignored Moscow's warnings completely has been engulfed by even greater chaos [than Syria].

By staving off US intervention in Syria in 2013 and intervening to prop up failing Assad in 2015 Moscow has in fact done a huge favor to the EU. Doing so has prevented the Syrian state from spiraling into complete non-existence and the likes of Al Qaeda and ISIS filling the void over as had happened in NATO-'liberated' Libya. Certainly had this taken place the number of refugees knocking on EU doors would have been even higher.

Essentially Putin had saved the West from its own stupidity, but it's safe to say no thanks will be forthcoming.

Like it or not Russia is really inadvertently helping the EU and the West, despite the latter's histrionics and attempts to fight the help every step of the way.

But what's really cynical about this move is that the western mainstream would normally condemn the politically incorrect anti-refugee sentiment, but because it thinks it can be channeled against Russia it is instead tapping into it and exploiting it.

"If you hate the refugees, you should really, really hate Vladimir Putin who unleashed them against you" is what NATO Supreme Command is really saying. And that is nothing but an attempt to "weaponize" the EU anti-refugee sentiment against Russia.


Europe’s Slow Motion Debacle
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2016/03/02/europe-slow-motion-debacle.html

From a failed attempt to clear the Calais jungle to the appalling situation at the Greek-Macedonian border, the EU crumbles under the strain of a massive refugee crisis. Even the Kafkaesque Brussels Eurocrat construct admits it – off the record, because official EU must always project a mythical image of unity: «We are on the edge of an abyss».

[...] But what if this European slow motion debacle was not enacted as a Mad Max dystopia, but rather brought about by a tsunami of Muslims ultimately displaced by Western-engineered wars?

Behold Fortress Europe - It was only six months ago that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government took a huge gamble in adopting a so-called «humanitarian» refugee policy; call it the civilized face of the otherwise politically tainted R2P («responsibility to protect») concept, which was ruthlessly manipulated for the invasion and destruction of Libya.

Six months later, we have swarms of refugees stranded all along the Balkan Route – and progressively encircled/trapped by strict border controls, the disappearance of social benefits, creeping fences and walls, and the practical extermination of the Schengen accords. The Merkel gambit is over; Fortress Europe is back with a vengeance.

The Balkan Route, for all practical purposes, is now sealed off to refugees while Ankara, for its part, is slowly building a wall along stretches of the Turkish-Syrian border – not as much to really contain them (after all Ankara must keep open the Jihadi highway), but as a propaganda coup.

Germany’s humanitarian refugee policy is in tatters and corroded by self-doubt; only two weeks ago Chancellor Merkel was wondering whether she should pursue «our European-Turkish approach» or whether the EU should order the absolute sealing off of the Greek-Macedonian border, pure and simple.

And that leads us close to the heart of the matter – which is of course Turkey.

The majority of German conservative politicos want Merkel to seal off German borders to refugees, while Merkel still believes in the Hand of Providence; help from «European partners» – which won’t come – and most of all from Ankara.

And that’s exactly where Turkey’s Sultan Erdogan wants her to be; as a supplicant, not as the leader of the number one European economic power.

Ankara’s power play - One of the key myths of the whole refugee crisis is that Erdogan’s AKP government is doing all it can to «contain» it.

Nonsense. The crisis itself was engineered by Ankara in 2015 – when refugees were «released» from their holding camps in Turkey under threat that they would not be cared for anymore. The refugee flood was not a «spontaneous» creation, as Syrians, Iraqis and/or Afghans suddenly decided to flee to the EU; it was directly instigated by Ankara. And Erdogan from the start was already contemplating the Big Prize; to bribe the EU, especially Merkel, to pay – at least 3 billion euros – so most refuges remain not on Turkish soil, but on one of his own neo-Ottoman sub-plots; a «safe zone» to be built inside Syrian territory.

Extra evidence pointing to Ankara’s plotting is the fact that Turkey has not increased patrols on its Mediterranean coast – the departure point for scores of refuges to try their luck by boat on their way to safety of the Greek islands. The priority for Ankara was to «close» the Turkish-Syrian border. Not really «close» it, as safe passage remains guaranteed for selected «moderate rebels».

The Warsaw-based European border control agency Frontex is absolutely convinced that the Turkey-EU refugee power play will continue. Diplomatically, Frontex’s director Fabrice Leggeri advances that «Turkey has to make it more difficult for the migrant smugglers».

Yet that won’t happen. And Germany – and the EU as a whole – will continue to be hostages of Ankara’s political maneuvering.

A EU-Turkey summit was held in November 2015. At the time, Erdogan promised there would be more security in the Aegean coast and more raids on migrant smugglers. Too little, too late. Turkey's Aegean coast is 2,800 kilometers long. Ankara does not have the resources to police it properly.

So smuggling on a massive scale proceeds unabated. Smuggling rings with the right «contacts» – within Turkish police and AKP-related politicians – only need to pay roughly 3,000 euros for each group of refugees to clear the border and hit the sea.

In parallel, Ankara is clearly at war in Southeast Anatolia against the PKK Kurds. This is the number one priority, not smuggling of refugees, not to mention fighting ISIS/ISIL/Daesh. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu could not be more straight to the point when he visited Berlin late last year: the Erdogan/Davutoglu Plan A is to «annihilate» the PKK Kurds. There is no Plan B.

Chaos, created then applauded - No one in Brussels will do it. So Frau Merkel ultimately would have to be the only EU leader to confront Erdogan and read him the riot act. It’s not only a matter of politely requesting Ankara to reduce refugee numbers. It’s to order him to do so; question him on why he released them en masse in the first place last year; and withhold any future financial rescue package, including the building of refugee camps inside Syrian territory.

The stark fact is that the whole refugee crisis – an existential crisis for Europe – is being used by Ankara as a bargaining chip for an elaborate extortion racket. Erdogan wants a tsunami of EU cash; and he wants a tsunami of concessions regarding Turkey’s negotiations for accession to the EU.

Meanwhile, there’s no concerted EU refugee policy to be seen. Not even a balancing act between humanitarian concerns and «deterrence», altruism and realpolitik. No EU political «leader» will confront the responsibility of NATO’s wars (with petrodollar GCC «support») crafting the whole crisis. The absolute majority of refugees are Syrians, Afghans and Africans who depart the continent via NATO-destroyed Libya.

Polls consistently show that a majority of EU citizens don’t want to «welcome» refugees anymore. As Belgium-based Jean Bricmont, author of Humanitarian Imperialism has correctly stressed, EU citizens who «were never consulted on the issue of refugees and who are constantly asked to make sacrifices because ‘there is no money’ understandably do not accept this moral discourse» anymore.

Bricmont is among the very few in Europe to connect the dots: «The same people who encouraged ‘humanitarian’ interventions and ‘support’ for armed insurrections abroad, that have led to perpetual wars, generating a constant flow of refugees, are now demanding that the population of our countries ‘welcome the refugees’. They first generate chaos there, then they applaud chaos here».

Well, that’s the whole logic of the Empire of Chaos in a nutshell.