Category: Europe

Foreign Policy: The world’s fastest growing religions

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Reader BL directed us to this report from Foreign Policy magazine and some interesting statistics on world religions.  Although the report is two years old I think it is probably still useful, just figure the numbers are larger! 

From Muslims in Europe to evangelical Christians in Africa, it is religious believers who are shaping the early 21st Century. Charismatic movements are sweeping throughout the Southern Hemisphere, while high birth rates among immigrants are provoking soul-seeking in the historically Christian West. For this List, FP looks at the fast-growing faiths that are upending the old world order.

This is what FP says about Muslims whose religion is growing at the fastest rate:

Areas to watch: The world’s largest Muslim populations are in fast-growing countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Egypt, and Iran. Islam also happens to be the fastest growing religion in Europe, where an influx of Muslim immigrants from North Africa, Turkey, and South Asia has sent shock waves into a mostly Christian and secular population whose birthrates have stagnated. The “Muslim question” has empowered anti-immigrant parties in France, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Germany, while sparking a fierce debate over the place of women in Islam and symbols of faith like the Muslim head scarf.

When contemplating political strategies I think one of the greatest miscalculations Far Left secularists and atheists make is underestimating that political strategy and maneuvering (ala Alinsky/Obama) only go so far before running into the great wall of religious zeal.  As we have reported many times on these pages, radical Leftists presently think they can incorporate Muslim demands in their list of chaos-producing open borders immigration platforms.

But, take for example these photos at Atlas Shrugs yesterday about the Muslim demonstration on Capitol Hill.  See any women?  They were reportedly there, just segregated.  So, at what point will Leftists realize that Islamic religious and cultural teaching is not part of the American ideal of freedom for all?  My answer is that not until it’s too late and our Muslim population is too large to stop.  Update:  See Robert Spencers account of the “prayer” demonstration on Capitol Hill, here.

Poor Malta: EU countries can’t even be paid enough to take “refugees”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We’ve been writing about the tiny island nation of Malta for over two years.   The island is one of the first bits of  land that thousands of illegal aliens see as they flood out of Africa across the Mediterranean Sea in an attempt to get to Europe.   Recently the big shots at the European Union came up with a plan that pays EU countries to help Malta, but only 100 of Malta’s present 2000 economic migrants turned “refugee” have been spoken for.

From the Times of Malta:

The six EU member states who have indicated they intend to help resettle some of Malta’s 2,000 refugees pledged to take a total of 100 people altogether, EU sources revealed yesterday.

Although the Commission has kept the number of pledges under wraps, sources yesterday confirmed that only “token pledges” were made and that “Brussels is finding it difficult to convince member states to share Malta’s burden”.

[….]

During a presentation to EU Justice Ministers last Monday, Commissioner Jacques Barrot said that out of the 26 member states invited to participate in the Malta pilot-project last July, only France, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Luxembourg and Lithuania replied favourably. He urged the other member states to follow their example as this was “a test of their solidarity” with other member states.

The EU under a pilot scheme, is offering EU member states €4,000 for every migrant they resettle.

How much is that in American dollars?  I wonder did the US get paid for the hundreds of illegal aliens turned refugee that we brought to the US from Malta?

A few other countries are considering taking a few, but Germany won’t decide until they see how the election turns out!  I’m sure taking these immigrants would be an unpopular move in advance of the election.

The sources said some member states like Germany and Sweden have not ruled out their participation. Germany, which usually takes a leading role in such solidarity programmes, is expected to make its position official once next Sunday’s federal elections are over.

I’ve previously been extremely critical of the US State Department’s controversial decision to take Malta’s illegal immigrants because I believe it encourages more human trafficking and more dangerous attempts to reach Malta in overloaded boats.  I guess these four nations agree with me!

On the other hand some member states are flatly refusing to take part, including the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark and Austria. “These four member states have made it clear that they don’t agree with such a programme as they believe it will serve to attract more illegal migrants towards the EU,” the sources said.

Malta is hoping to be able to resettle the majority of its protected persons through this EU project. This will happen only if every member state pledges to take an average of 80 refugees each from Malta.

And next year twice as many immigrants will arrive and it will require each country to take 160 and so on, and so on.

For more on Malta just type the word into our search function.

French government bulldozes “the Jungle” at Calais

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Last night Blulitespecial tipped me off to the story that the government of France had finally decided to take action against the immigrant slum that had been growing at Calais and that it would be shut down today.  This morning reader BL sent the story that the deed had been done. 

Just a reminder that we discussed Calais last year when a naive reporter was raped when she ventured there to see what an awful life the poor souls were leading, here.

From CNN today:

CALAIS, France (CNN) — French authorities on Tuesday dismantled a makeshift camp dubbed “the Jungle,” which housed illegal migrants fleeing dangerous homelands to seek a more prosperous life in Europe.

French police broke up protests by refugee rights advocates and began clearing the squalid camp. The French government said it was targeting human smuggling and did not say where the migrants would be relocated.

Police arrested 276 migrants, 125 of whom were minors, said Calais prefecture official Catherine Mande.

A statement from the French immigration minister’s office said the “illegal encampments” would be destroyed and then three bulldozers, a dozen trucks and a logging company would return the land to its natural state.

The statement said the goal was to destroy the Jungle and other migrant shanties, “which have become the main launch pad for clandestine immigration into the United Kingdom.”

[…..]

The Jungle — shanties cobbled from cardboard, plastic tarpaulins and scraps of wood — housed as many as 1,000 men from nations such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Somalia.  [One report tells us that the mostly Muslim migrants had built a makeshift mosque in the shanty town.]

Here is a SkyNews story with additional details.

Comment worth noting: Muslim countries need to take care of their own refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Below is a comment from a reader in Denmark with further clarification on the issue of Iraqi asylum seekers being deported to Iraq, an issue we posted on here two days ago.

From Universalgeni:

I live in Denmark and have followed the cases about these Iraqis very closely. The fact of the matter is that the Iraqis in issue here have had their applications for official refugee status reviewed over and over and over again by the authorities. And none of them are in any danger what so ever. No one is persecuting them and they were and still will be perfectly safe in Iraq.

That’s basically the case: they want to immigrate and are trying to use fraud, lies and false refugee applications to get into our country.

The leftish Danish press continue to name these illegal immigrants refugees or asylum seekers. And claim that the occasional bomb explosions in Iraq should be grounds for asylum.

But the Danish laws says no. And I agree. We can’t continue to let so many foreigners in. Here’s a choker: 20 percent of what we pay in tax is used to cover expenses directly connected to immigration. One in every five Danish tax krone’s is spent on primarily immigrant muslims. People can’t afford children of their own because we have to pay for theirs via taxes. Most of the muslim immigrants are impossible to get off public welfare payments and into the labor market.

It’s enough. The muslim world should start handling the refugee situation themselves. They should go to other muslim countries. Not Europe. Period!

We have made this same point repeatedly, Muslim countries must begin to take care of Muslim refugees and asylum seekers.

Denmark: We will take Burmese refugees, but not Iraqis

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’ve had a pile of stuff on the on-going conflict involving Denmark and the Iraqi refugees they have been deporting, but lacking time, have posted little of it.  So, just accept this simple summary.  Many Iraqis who arrived (presumably illegally and then asked for asylum) in Denmark have been ordered deported.  So, political activists hid them in a church and ultimately authorities entered the church and physically removed them—a riot ensued.  Now, according to this report, Denmark says it will take refugees that the UN designates, but only Burmese, no more Iraqis.

Below is the whole short article from the Copenhagen Post:

Despite announcing just two months ago that Denmark could accept the Iraqi refugees as agreed by the UN, Immigration Minister Birthe Rønn Hornbech has now said they will not be the first choice this year.

Head of the Social Liberal party Margrethe Vestager is demanding an explanation for the u-turn and said she suspected that domestic politics may be responsible. ‘Birthe Rønn doesn’t want to be in a position where she is throwing Iraqis out of the country, while at the same time bringing more in,’ said Vestager to Politiken newspaper.

The minister did not wish to elaborate on the reasons for the change, but told the paper that past experience showed that Burmese refugees were good at integrating into their new country.

Quota refugees are different to asylum seekers in that they are resettled in a country following agreement with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Denmark has agreed to take approximately 500 of these refugees annually, who are selected under a number of criteria, such as geographical regions, those who are critically ill and need treatment, those who are at risk of being sent back to their original country or those who are currently in danger where they are living.

Note to Danish government:   If it’s Muslims you are concerned about, although many Burmese refugees are Christian,  take into consideration that Burmese Rohingya are Muslims too.

To learn more than you ever wanted to know about Rohingya, visit our category on the topic here (80 posts!). So far, the US has not officially taken any Rohingya, but Canada, Australia, the UK and Ireland have, among others.