Tag: Libya

Hey Osamah, this isn’t the Republicans’ fault

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

‘Invasion of Europe series’

I can’t believe this was even published in The Hill.  It’s an op-ed by Palestinian Osamah Khalil (entitled ‘Between the devil and the deep blue sea’) in which the author blames the deaths of illegal aliens attempting to break into Europe (having launched from Libya) on Republicans (say what?).

Osamah Khalil (assistant professor of U.S. and Middle East History at Syracuse University). https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/activism/6779-the-peace-talks-and-palestinian-representation-in-conversation-with-osamah-khalil

After many column inches of sob stories and stats, Osamah says this:

Bilal [the star of this particular sob story—ed], however, never made it to Libya. He and his family were turned back at Beirut’s airport. Unable to return to Syria or stay in Lebanon, they plan to try again. “We have no other choice,” he explains.   [Just a reminder it is the Obama administration that turned Libya into a major lawless hellhole instead of a minor hellhole thus making it the go-to place for launching the invasion of Europe!—ed]

I hope the Republicans are questioning the security issues involved with US State Department (Obama!) plans to admit 2,000 Syrians this fiscal year, but frankly Congress can’t stop it, if Obama wants 2,000 now, Obama can take 2,000 now!

Thankfully, somewhere in the Obama Administration there are people who have not allowed the flow of Syrians to the US to begin in any significant way.  Why?

Osamah should be complaining about Obama!

In February, the Obama administration announced it was loosening asylum rules but acknowledged that less than 2,000 Syrians would be accepted. Republican lawmakers criticized the decision due to national security concerns. Only a few countries have agreed to resettle the refugees — and even then it is just a trickle. Instead, the richest nations in the world, including the U.S., are placing downward pressure on the countries least able to deal with the massive refugee crisis. The main beneficiaries of the status quo are the traffickers and corrupt officials who prey on desperate refugees. While these criminal networks are often described as national security threats, they have been empowered and rewarded by ineffectual American and European policies.

The boats will continue to sail. Some will make it and some won’t. This reality will not change as long as the Syrian conflict continues and the U.S. and EU are unwilling or unable to adopt more humane immigration and asylum policies or even provide the necessary funds to assist the refugees.

*Khalil is assistant professor of U.S. and Middle East History at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He is also a co-founder of Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network.

Again, I can’t believe The Hill published this screed—-the US doesn’t have enough “humane immigration!”

 

Don’t get me wrong, we should all be grateful that Obama hasn’t flung America’s doors open to Syrians yet, but I sure would like to be a fly on the wall and know why!

See our complete ‘invasion of Europe series’ by clicking here.

Half a million migrants said to be massing in Libya; plan to get to Europe

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Invasion of Europe series continues….

Cecilia Malmstrom, EU Home Affairs chief is a Swede (of course!). http://www.lgbt-ep.eu/parliamentary-work/barroso-ii-commission-malmstrom/

The headline to this story at The New Zealand Herald is “Europe shuns Syria refugees,” but I believe mine is better!  Don’t they call this burying the lead?

“Pathetically few” nations in Europe have stepped forward to offer a safe haven to desperate Syrian refugees, the European Union’s Home Affairs chief says, raising the risk that many more could die at sea as they instead embark on perilous journeys to seek sanctuary.

Cecilia Malmstrom’s warning came as the EU’s border agency, Frontex, reported a leap in the number of people detected entering Europe illegally this year, with Syrians making up the largest proportion.

Up to half a million people are also believed to be massing in Libya and preparing to cross the Mediterranean, a route which claimed more than 700 lives last year.

Yet despite promises of action from EU leaders, who last October were united in their shock after at least 350 migrants died off the Italian coast, there are few signs that this summer will be different.

Instead, agencies trying to save lives are having to contend with shrinking budgets, a political vacuum in Libya and xenophobic rhetoric from far-right parties which has seeped into government refugee policy.  [LOL! I wonder if these leftist reporters have a goal to work one of these words—‘xenophobic,’ ‘racist’ or ‘bigoted’—into every refugee story! Who wrote this biased sentence?  Charlotte McDonald-Gibson —ed]

It is always about xenophobia, and never because sensible conservative citizens of European countries know that they simply can’t afford the economic and social problems that come with open borders and a rapidly changing demography!

See more in our ‘invasion of Europe’ series by clicking here.

Invasion of Europe continues as Italy ‘rescues’ 4,000 migrants in one week

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Some of the Africans rescued by Italian navy taken to the Sicilian port of Augusta. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/21/us-italy-migrants-idUSBREA2K0ZE20140321

This (below) is an Associated Press story published in the Washington Post on Friday.  In the final paragraphs of the article we are given some important statistics.

From the WaPo:

ROME — Italian authorities say they have rescued more than 4,000 would-be migrants at sea over the past four days as the war in Syria and instability in Libya spawn new waves of refugees.

[….]

Italian maritime officials said 2,922 people were picked up Monday and Tuesday, and 1,165 were rescued Wednesday and Thursday.

[….]

The spike in migrants is primarily because of renewed instability in Libya, where refugees from Syria and across Africa gather, awaiting a chance to buy passage on smuggling boats, said Carlotta Sami, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency in Italy.

Let us not forget who helped destabilize Libya—Obama’s three witches:  Hillary, Samantha and Susan!

Who knew Russia was in the top three countries producing ‘asylum seekers!’  LOL! They can’t all be gay men who heard about Villanova?

Syria, Russia and Afghanistan had the largest numbers of people fleeing their homelands to seek asylum last year, the U.N. agency said. Russia was the source of 39,779 asylum seekers, up from 22,650 in 2012. And 38,653 Afghans sought asylum last year, vs. 47,519 in 2012.

These are numbers to remember!

The 38 nations of Europe had 484,600 asylum claims in 2013, 32 percent higher than in 2012. The United States dealt with 88,360 asylum applications last year.

For new readers and as a reminder to our long-time readers, asylum seekers get to a country’s borders (or overstay a visa) and then request asylum (refugee status) claiming they will be “persecuted” if sent home.  Once granted asylum (in the US for instance), they become “asylees” and are given all of the rights and welfare goodies that refugees screened abroad and flown in receive.  ‘Asylum seekers’ (mostly economic migrants) are on the move worldwide—of course all attempting to get into first world countries.

Lampedusa: Women raped and tortured on refugee boat

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Coffins of some of the 300 plus who died attempting to get to Italy.

A Somali ringleader has been arrested.

The story is a few days old, but every time I see a story like this one I am reminded of now UN Ambassador Samantha Power who played a huge role with Hillary and Susan Rice in pushing the US into our ‘adventures’ in Libya supposedly under the belief that it was ‘our responsibility to protect’ the people of Libya from Gaddafi who was able at times to keep a lid on the human traffickers attempting to move through Libya. Now the Libyan coast is lawless.

From the Standart:

Italian police have arrested a Somali man accused of raping and torturing asylum seekers fleeing Libya on a boat which sank off the island of Lampedusa last month killing more than 365 migrants.

Mouhamud Elmi Muhidin, 34, faces charges of kidnapping, sexual assault, people trafficking and criminal association with the goal of aiding illegal immigration after he was identified by survivors.

Some 130 migrants from Eritrea told police they were held for ransom at a detention centre in the Libyan desert by people traffickers from Somalia, Libya and Sudan.

The migrants were forced to pay up to USD 3,500 for their freedom and their onward journey to the Libyan coast and a boat that due to take them to Italy.

Italian authorities have vowed to crack down on the people trafficking rings that have been behind the influx of more than 35,000 asylum seekers so far this year to the country’s coasts.

[….]

According to migrants’ testimony, the 20 women in the group were repeatedly raped and offered to Libyan visitors “as if they were a cup of tea”.

Photo is from this story in which the Eritrean government blames the US for the deaths.

Germany: Lampedusa in Hamburg (disturbing!)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Reader Dave alerted us to a post at the ever-vigilant Limits to Growth blog to update our on-going reporting on the African boat people invasion of Europe.  Be sure to watch the disturbing ‘youtube’ clip that you will never see on American news (maybe not on German news either!).

See our recent posts on Lampedusa here, especially see Cannibalism on the way to a free meal in Italy.  See map of migrant routes to Europe, here.

Here is what Limits to Growth says in its opener:

In Germany, there’s a group of refugee demanders with a website called Lampedusa in Hamburg. The front page photo shows a banner reading, “We did not survive the NATO war in Libya to die on the streets of Hamburg,” which is kind of a double-down statement of Screw the West for ousting the dictator and now give us free stuff in Germany.

Watch the clip!

Here is the text accompanying the clip:

Hundreds of refugees and activists of the “Lampedusa in Hamburg” group took the streets of Hamburg on Wednesday to protests against the alleged unlawful treatment of migrants by the Hamburg Senate.

Protesters marched from the main station to the city hall and back in a 2-hour demonstration to also show their support to the victims of the recent shipwrecks occurred off the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Clashes erupted Tuesday night in Hamburg after around 500 protesters demonstrating in front of the squatted theatre “Roten Flora” reportedly threw stones and bottles to police, who used pepper spray and batons on protesters.

So, this is where we are after Obama’s three witches (including ‘responsibility to protect’ Samantha Power) helped bring down Gaddafi.  He might have been a crazy dictator, but the invasion of African boat people out of Libya is now completely out of control and the consequences for Europe will be hard (impossible?) to reverse.   Call it Gaddafi’s revenge!