Clash of Civilizations

No one has a good option for this refuge crisis. If one assumes the majority are from Syria and escaping a 5 year old civil war than the next step is asking bordering countries (usually) to take them in. Most people by now are aware of the problems of Syrian refugees:

http://theconversation.com/anti-immigrant-walls-and-racist-tweets-the-refugee-crisis-in-central-europe-43665

1. There is no way to tell if they are actually from Syria. One thing the Middle East has a lot of is economic misery. If large number of Syrians are crossing into multiple EU countries and overwhelming the ability of states to track asylum seekers, why wouldn't Egyptians, Algerians, Libyans, and other North Africans join the cluster? Life in Europe is far better whatever economic and social ills exist. This expands the problem from a refugee incident to a broader migrant one.

2. The EU countries make decisions collectively where immigrants are concerned. An increase in population in one country means in increase in all countries given the easy access to public services and transportation links (Schengen agreement) within the EU zone. When Germany decided to accept huge numbers of mostly Muslim migrants, it subjected the rest of the zone to the problems of crime and unemployment at play within their own borders. 

3. Refugee camps are miserable crime infested swamps that are slightly more appealing than a ravaged worn torn homeland; children in particular are subject to abuse. But at least they provide a holding area until some of the politics and legal constraints can be hammered out by host countries.

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/upfront/2015/09/reality-check-europe-refugee-crisis-150905084518848.html

4. The contrast between open liberal societies and closed Islamic ones should not be overstated. Much of the Middle East operates under some form of Sharia law which has an all-encompassing mandate. In other words, in doesn’t tolerate alternate legal codes or carve out exemptions for non-Muslims, Christians are constantly harassed and pushed out (see Yazidis). Young men from North Africa often see women as second class citizens and incidents of sexual assault are rising. Cologne, Germany was the scene for hundreds of complaints from women stating that ‘Young African Men’ groped them. Many said they were raped as well and that the police were ineffectual in stopping crime, and even seemed to cover up some of the worst incidents for fear of offending the migrant community.

The inevitable ‘clash of civilizations’ is underway and only a strong unified approach to the immigrant crisis will bring Europe through it. The difficulty for Germany in particular, is not losing the faith of citizens who rightfully feel they were forced into absorbing large chunks of people, many of who resent their way of life. This is a real mess for Europe with only bad options and a slim chance that the Continent retains its current union. The cultural differences would be tough to weather in good economic times, with the overwhelming numbers of migrants being absorbed into cities, towns and countryside villages, doubly so. This from the BBC:

§  The 28 member states have not agreed on an EU-wide mechanism for relocating migrants, meant to ease the burden on Greece and Italy. Only small groups have been relocated so far - and several states in Central and Eastern Europe refuse to accept migrants

§  The Schengen agreement on freedom of movement is in jeopardy - Hungary fenced off its borders with Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia; some other Schengen countries have re-imposed border controls: Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, France and Belgium

§  The Dublin regulation is not working effectively. Countries are no longer sending back migrants to their first point of entry to the EU

§  Thousands of migrants - many of them Syrian war refugees - still arrive daily from Turkey

§  Processing of asylum applications is slow and there is a big backlog - so reception centres are overcrowded

§  Germany - the main destination for migrants - is rethinking its open-door policy, partly because of outrage over assaults on women in Cologne at New Year

Clearly these countries are not on the same page with how to handle the crisis. The international press praised the German chancellor Angela Merkel when she agreed to accept 1 million migrants. With no plan in place for where to house and feed them, this promise can’t possibly hold. I can’t imagine what the least bad option is for Europe, but I think it has to do with getting Muslim majority countries to take in the majority of migrants that are desperate. If Germany and the EU can keep Greece afloat, which has no intention to repay its loans, they should be able to come to an agreement with Middle Eastern governments to resettle Muslims.