Yes, you’re right Virginia. It is tempting to go after Health Minister Jim Wells and ask him if he usually says bad things about gays when his mind is a bit distracted. But I won’t. There are bigger and more lethal events that demand attention.
Like around Pozzallo. It’s a seaside resort in Sicily where I spent a couple of very enjoyable weeks in 2013. It’s also a port where ships are now arriving with the dead bodies of African migrants/refugees who’ve been suffocated in cramped quarters as they try to find a new life. These wretched people are dying in their hundreds as they try to escape the horrors of living where they do. From Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan and Iraq they’re coming, prepared to pay exorbitant sums of money in the hope that the perilous journey across the water will bring them a new life in Europe. The EU response? Let’s tighten the borders, let’s destroy the boats on which these people are trying to arrive.
Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq – why do they sound familiar? They’re all places where the West – Britain and the US in particular – intervened, did what they could directly or indirectly topple the top man on the grounds that he was evil, and then left a country which was essentially lawless. So when Ed Miliband says David Cameron was in part to blame for the terrible refugee problem Europe now faces, he was speaking no more than a mild truth. The West – the people to whom we pay taxes so they can arm their soldiers – upended authority in the countries mentioned because they didn’t like the line their leaders were taking. Acting in ways not favourable to UK, US interests. So regime change was decided upon, armies travelled thousands of miles to create a situation where authority now has broken down. Of course Cameron is partly to blame for the horrors we’re now seeing. Of course Miliband is meek in his words of criticism of Cameron, and of course the Tory party are pretending to be outraged that such a thing could be said of their leader. They know it’s true and that’s why they’re yelping as loudly as they are.
As Bernadette McAliskey said on the radio yesterday, you don’t solve the problem by creating Fortress Europe and destroying boats which might attempt to bring refugees. Rather than seeking to confine the hapless migrants, we should be seeking ways to support them, show some sense of shame for the misery to which we have reduced them and their country. Examine your conscience, Cameron, before joining the EU politicians rushing to slam shut the gates of Fortress Europe.
Can we start a fund at least feed those who survive and local authorities start a book of condolence for the dead. Dont see any flowers in City Centres in London, Brussels, Rome etc.
Coffin Ships. Families fleeing dire poverty, hunger and suffering. Packed into refugee boats ran by profiteering middle men. Coffin Ships. How far back do we need to stretch in our recent past and our own psyche to learn the lessons of our own people scattered to the winds of fate. Unlike these hapless souls in this expedient economic culling, at least the Irish, those of our people who survived the crossings to the USA, had a chance of escaping such man made misery. Burning the Boats of these desperate people, and closing the borders, leaves them with nothing, not even a fools hope. To do so, or being complicit in doing so through inertia, is to allow “Genocide”….too strong a term? Not so when we know their fates when we burn the Bridges. These are our people too.
Jude, you forgot to include Obama in your comment.
Both Folk
The Empah once went from N.T. Ham to Siam
Now the UK’s the Siamese Twin of Uncle Sam;
From a water bed in Club Med
These cruiseship hipsters said:
Let the underdog gollywogs eat goddamn clam.
Gaza remains blocked by land, sea and air. The IDF routinely prevent humanitarian aid reaching Gaza. Gaza remains in ruins. Fishermen are unable to fish. Western governments have the resources but lack the political will to deal with the result of military intervention in the Middle East given the proliferation of refugee camps and problems associated with people trafficking.
The migrant/refugee situation in Africa is of truly monumental proportions.
But how did it so suddenly burst into such a gigantic calamity?
Remember the Arab Spring engineered by the Americans, backed up by the UK and France.
The US thought it would be a good idea to impose democracy on certain Middle East states, especially those which did not find favour with Obama – and of course no thought was given to the possible aftermath or exit strategy.
But they were crafty enough not to put boots on the ground, so after stirring up all these countries into turmoil they never planned on, the Americans look on from afar, tut-tutting about the problem as though it was nothing to do with them.
They were the instigators of all this and so should be responsible for clearing up the mess.
But this could only be done by the UN – and who runs that organisation – the US, so don’t expect anything to be done by the toothless UN.
Shame on the US and the UN!
Lets invite them over here which would be a lot more practical and sensible than signing books of condolence which means nothing to anybody
I agree with the books of condolence, neill – a dumb practice.
Well said Neill. Big problems, need real solutions, and not lip service only paid to them, or condolences only, paid to the shadows of those, last to die. The War on poverty needs must require real systemic change.