EU states miss refugee targets agreement

[Irbis]

EU member states miss target to relocate 40,000 migrants

Total agreed on is 20% lower than goal set for accepting refugees that have crossed Mediterranean to reach Greece and Italy

Migrants from Pakistan arrive on the Greek island of Kos after crossing the Mediterranean in a dinghy.

EU member states have fallen short of their own target to relocate 40,000 migrants from Greece and Italy in clear need of international protection.

On Monday, the member states agreed to the relocation of 32,256 refugees, starting in October, which is 20% lower than the agreed goal.

They also committed to the future resettlement of 22,504 refugees, although the target of 20,000 was met only thanks to “the readiness of [non-EU members] Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland to participate in this effort through multilateral and national schemes”, according to the Council of the European Union meeting notes.

The total falls short of the combined 60,000 target that was agreed at a summit at the end of June after hundreds of migrants died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Libya.

However, EU states at the time were unable to agree how to apportion the figure between countries as most disagreed with the European commission’s proposed distribution.

Germany, France and the Netherlands, which are taking on the highest number of refugees, are in favour of the allocations the commission proposed earlier this year. However, most other states are not – and have refused to meet the figures suggested.

Refugees

For example, Spain has committed to 1,300 refugees, more than three times lower than the number the EU requested.

The commitments of Baltic and several eastern European nations also fall well short. Latvia is proposing to take in only 200 asylum seekers, fewer than half of what the commission originally suggested. While Slovakia is offering to take 100 refugees, which is fewer than Cyprus (173), a country with a population nearly five times smaller than that of the eastern European country.

Lithuania has pledged to take 255 refugees, fewer than Luxembourg despite the Baltic country’s population being about six times larger.

At the June summit, the Lithuanian president, Dalia Grybauskaitė, had told Matteo Renzi, the prime minister of Italy, that she had no intention of contributing to any solution. Renzi accused government chiefs of wasting time and was said to reply: “If this is your idea of Europe, you can keep it.”

The Italian PM had days earlier written in the Guardian saying that the migrant emergency was not Italy’s, but Europe’s.

Hungary, which is building a fence along its border with Serbia to keep out migrants, has made no offer to take refugees from Greece and Italy. Austria has also refused to commit to a number, but said it would take 1,900 refugees that have yet to arrive in Europe.

Refugee resettlements

The UK and Denmark have used their opt-out to avoid participating in the relocation, although both have made commitments towards the 20,000 resettlement target. However, it should be noted that Ireland, which could in theory also have chosen to be exempt, has instead agreed to accept 600 refugees and resettle a further 520 in future.

As a percentage of a country’s population, the UK’s 0.003% is the second lowest proportion (after Hungary’s 0%) in terms of the number of relocated and resettled refugees. On this measure, Luxembourg (0.064%), Cyprus (0.028%) and Ireland (0.024%) are taking the most.

Jean Asselborn, the Luxembourg minister for immigration and asylum, who presided over the meeting, told Politico that “the figures speak for themselves ... and in some instances are embarrassing”.

EU states have committed to reaching the 40,000 target by the end of the year.

In reality the number reached is even lower, as some states like Austria only agreed to take in 'future' refugees, hoping by then it will be a problem of someone else or they will weasel out by some other way.

I wonder, will the Germans aid, abet and promote egoism, selfishness and xenophobia of right wing European governments like they did in Euro/Greece dispute, or, seeing this time reaching agreement is in German interests, they will maybe show some of their supposed leadership? That was rhetorical question, by the way.

What is especially pathetic is just what excuses right wing religious governments use. Here, in Poland, overrighteous holinesses proposed to make the immigration palatable by enacting heavy racial, religious and ethnic profiling, rejecting Muslims out of hand and trying to shop for Christians and right wingers among refugees.

Someone once said 'I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me'. Must have been some lazy Greek handout grabbing commie, seeing the aversion and hate shown to any idea of solidarity and helping others these idiot hyperreligious bigots show

[Thanas]

I wonder, will the Germans aid, abet and promote egoism, selfishness and xenophobia of right wing European governments like they did in Euro/Greece dispute, or, seeing this time reaching agreement is in German interests, they will maybe show some of their supposed leadership? That was rhetorical question, by the way.

Irbis, cheerleader of granting Germany dictatorial powers in violation of EU treaties. Never thought I'd see the day.

[LaCroix]

In reality the number reached is even lower, as some states like Austria only agreed to take in 'future' refugees, hoping by then it will be a problem of someone else or they will weasel out by some other way.

You are quick to judge something you have no idea of, aren't you?
Austria is one of the countries that already took much more than it's quota, taking up slack for countries that refuse to.
How many refugees are we taking in? We are certainly trying to weasel out, aren't we?


Numbers?
http://www.bmi.gv.at/cms/BMI_Asylwesen/ ... i_2015.pdf
This year (until MAY), we already took in 20000 refugees, by now, it's almost 30000. That's our usual annual average! Our per month influx of refugees is between 2.5 to 3.5 times the normal rate.

Let me remind you that Austria is a tiny country of 83,871 square kilometers, only about half of it not being inhabitable mountains, and just 8 million inhabitants!

We already have to house them in tent cities because we lack the housing necessary - even though we opened old military bases to house them there. We have huge projects running trying to create temporary housing for them.

We simply CANNOT take in any more right now for they would literally sleep on the streets if we did!

[Thanas]

But remember LaCroix, GERMAN LEADERSHIP will make all those housing units magically appear in a second. Then we only need a europe-wide Kommissariat to direct the efforts across all of Europe....whatever the Problem, according to Irbis German people either caused it or perpetuate it. Yes, we Germans are so powerful that we can just ignore stuff like treaties, prior efforts, the will of the populace. And for the better of the populaces ruled over by Diktat as well.

If only Europe were under the iron thumb of GERMAN LEADERSHIP, it would all go better. You heard it from Irbis, and after all he is an expert on how good German leadership is for a country. Why, his own country was so efficiently managed by them, there was no need for it any longer. And according to Irbis, it was for the better too. After alll, German leadership (= disregarding sovereignty, treaties, rights of people) is a good thing.

[Simon_Jester]

I can sympathize with the "why is my country being blamed for not providing leadership in this crisis, how is this our fault again" feeling, Thanas.



That said, countries several times larger than Austria really should be taking in several times more refugees than Austria, not just saying "let the Swedes and Hungarians handle it."

[Alyrium Denryle]

I can sympathize with the "why is my country being blamed for not providing leadership in this crisis, how is this our fault again" feeling, Thanas.



That said, countries several times larger than Austria really should be taking in several times more refugees than Austria, not just saying "let the Swedes and Hungarians handle it."

The germans are. Yes in numbers per capita they are currently not, but in raw numbers, they have taken in something like eight times as many. Not the 10 times as many that we would expect as a matter of proportion, but it takes time to build the infrastructure necessary to do so, and Austria has put some stopgap measures in place that IIRC, are not available to Germany.

[madd0ct0r]

in other news, I remain disgusted at the inselapfen of the UK. A 'few hundred' is cause for newspaper headlines when our grand total so far is 187. total. fuckers
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... -says.html

In fairness we do send a huge amount of aid to the camps in syria, but still. It's not like we don't already have an established syrian minority to make it easier for the newcomers to adapt.

[blowfish]

"A couple hundred" is enough to make people feel good about themselves without having to make a meaningful commitment similarly to how small amounts of charity don't amount to much compared to large scale tax evasion. It's a perfect policy for everyone except the thousands of other refugees.

[Thanas]

inselapfen

What?

[madd0ct0r]

I was shooting for Inselaffe.

[Thanas]

Oh. Sorry.

[Dartzap]

Funny thing (or depressing, depending on your mood) is that oop north like, there are many former pit towns and villages which have seen their populations drop massivley, with some landlords offering to sell entire streets off for a quid. Not exactly hard to build some schools up there and teach refugees how to be builders, or whichever trade we're short off this week, is it?

[ray245]

Well it's not going to be a popular move if this becomes another 'Syrians are building a Syrian Islamic village/town in an old English village!' Headline in The Sun.

[Darmalus]

Funny thing (or depressing, depending on your mood) is that oop north like, there are many former pit towns and villages which have seen their populations drop massivley, with some landlords offering to sell entire streets off for a quid. Not exactly hard to build some schools up there and teach refugees how to be builders, or whichever trade we're short off this week, is it?

Presumable those villages and towns are empty for a reason, no jobs and whatnot. It might not be wise to have collections of refugees with no job opportunities either, especially if those places are isolated from the mainstream culture.

[cosmicalstorm]

I wonder how many Africans should be accepted to make the political left OK? Can you put a number on that Irbis? Is it one million Africans to Europe per year? Is it five million per year?

Sweden is well over 100.000/year in Eritreans, Somalis, Arabs by now. Our famous welfare-system is like a black hole in terms of sucking immigrants towards us. The system was never designed to handle a thousand new immigrants every week and it's due for a collapse that will be complete by 2025. At that point we will have the American dream of having to commit suicide when the medical bill arrives.

Our most immigrant rich city has had ten bombings in the past month.
We are slashing foreign aid and rerouting that to our dysfunctional immigration-system.
Politicians have literally started to build what will become future favelas to make room for the never ending torrent of refugees though they refer to it as "temporary housing modules".
There are Roma beggars on every major street in the cities, on the right wing forums these people are cheerfully nicknamed Election-workers by the people who vote for SD.
The only anti-immigration party has gone from 2 % to 23 % of the voters in a decade, they may well become 30 or 40 % unless some other party also takes up the anti-immigration line.


Is this the Irbis dream?

In a few years the notion of immigration is going to be politically unacceptable here. That's not a great outcome IMO. We should have used our smarts and resources for effective altruism, imagine if Sweden spent 2.5% of GDP on prevention of schistostomatitis, family planning, polio-vaccination etc.

Africas population will double during the next decades, I fail to see how even a Berlin-airbridge scenario would help with that.




Swedens Prime minister with "lonely refugee children".



http://www.thelocal.se/20150724/third-g ... rocks-malm
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/20 ... ving-right
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-as-pop ... 015-7?IR=T
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.as ... el=6139579
http://www.expressen.se/ledare/flykting ... -kollapsa/

[The Romulan Republic]

I wonder how many Africans should be accepted to make the political left OK? Can you put a number on that Irbis? Is it one million Africans to Europe per year? Is it five million per year?

Its not about pandering to a political group, or at least it shouldn't be. It should be about helping people who need help to the best of one's ability.

The only moral answer is as many of those who need to come as we can afford to let in.

Also, I note that you single out immigrants from Africa, which suggests that your concern is more about where they come from and who they are rather than the actual number.

Sweden is well over 100.000/year in Eritreans, Somalis, Arabs by now. Our famous welfare-system is like a black hole in terms of sucking immigrants towards us.

I can just picture you quaking in fear as you count up the vast horde of evil foreigners invading your country.

The system was never designed to handle a thousand new immigrants every week and it's due for a collapse that will be complete by 2025.

I don't put much stock in prophecies of inevitable doom. They so often turn out to be wrong.

At that point we will have the American dream of having to commit suicide when the medical bill arrives.

Maybe the medical system needs reform?

I'm afraid I can't comment much more because I don't know about your country's medical system.

Our most immigrant rich city has had ten bombings in the past month.

Implying more immigrants means more terrorism. Classy.

Of course, I can guess which immigrants you're really referring to- the brown/black/Muslim/African/Middle Eastern ones.

Also, provide a source regarding the number of bombings please. Ten bombings in one city in a month is something I think would have made the news here, but I don't recall hearing any about such a spree.

We are slashing foreign aid and rerouting that to our dysfunctional immigration-system.

Now that, if true, is at least a somewhat legitimate objection.

Politicians have literally started to build what will become future favelas to make room for the never ending torrent of refugees though they refer to it as "temporary housing modules".
There are Roma beggars on every major street in the cities, on the right wing forums these people are cheerfully nicknamed Election-workers by the people who vote for SD.

I bet you their are beggars of every ethnicity, but of course you single out one group as the problem.

The only anti-immigration party has gone from 2 % to 23 % of the voters in a decade, they may well become 30 or 40 % unless some other party also takes up the anti-immigration line.

So we should therefore pander to the bigots, potentially further cementing their power?

Is this the Irbis dream?

In a few years the notion of immigration is going to be politically unacceptable here. That's not a great outcome IMO. We should have used our smarts and resources for effective altruism, imagine if Sweden spent 2.5% of GDP on prevention of schistostomatitis, family planning, polio-vaccination etc.

This sounds more reasonable.

But their are some people who simply need to leave where they are and need somewhere to go.

Africas population will double during the next decades, I fail to see how even a Berlin-airbridge scenario would help with that.

I don't think anyone is saying you have to take everyone in Africa. For one think, a lot of them won't be able to leave. Also, a lot of them won't want to.

Swedens Prime minister with "lonely refugee children".

Not sure what your point is if its not to say "Look, politician betraying country to the dirty foreigners".

[The Romulan Republic]

Admittedly, I am on the fringe on this issue in that I believe that people should be able to emigrate wherever they want to unless they're suspected or convicted of a crime or carrying a dangerous, contagious disease.

[cosmicalstorm]

I wonder how many Africans should be accepted to make the political left OK? Can you put a number on that Irbis? Is it one million Africans to Europe per year? Is it five million per year?

Its not about pandering to a political group, or at least it shouldn't be. It should be about helping people who need help to the best of one's ability.

The only moral answer is as many of those who need to come as we can afford to let in.


Also, I note that you single out immigrants from Africa, which suggests that your concern is more about where they come from and who they are rather than the actual number.

Sweden is well over 100.000/year in Eritreans, Somalis, Arabs by now. Our famous welfare-system is like a black hole in terms of sucking immigrants towards us.

I can just picture you quaking in fear as you count up the vast horde of evil foreigners invading your country.

The system was never designed to handle a thousand new immigrants every week and it's due for a collapse that will be complete by 2025.

I don't put much stock in prophecies of inevitable doom. They so often turn out to be wrong.

At that point we will have the American dream of having to commit suicide when the medical bill arrives.

Maybe the medical system needs reform?

I'm afraid I can't comment much more because I don't know about your country's medical system.

Our most immigrant rich city has had ten bombings in the past month.

Implying more immigrants means more terrorism. Classy.

Of course, I can guess which immigrants you're really referring to- the brown/black/Muslim/African/Middle Eastern ones.

Also, provide a source regarding the number of bombings please. Ten bombings in one city in a month is something I think would have made the news here, but I don't recall hearing any about such a spree.

We are slashing foreign aid and rerouting that to our dysfunctional immigration-system.

Now that, if true, is at least a somewhat legitimate objection.

Politicians have literally started to build what will become future favelas to make room for the never ending torrent of refugees though they refer to it as "temporary housing modules".
There are Roma beggars on every major street in the cities, on the right wing forums these people are cheerfully nicknamed Election-workers by the people who vote for SD.

I bet you their are beggars of every ethnicity, but of course you single out one group as the problem.

The only anti-immigration party has gone from 2 % to 23 % of the voters in a decade, they may well become 30 or 40 % unless some other party also takes up the anti-immigration line.

So we should therefore pander to the bigots, potentially further cementing their power?

Is this the Irbis dream?

In a few years the notion of immigration is going to be politically unacceptable here. That's not a great outcome IMO. We should have used our smarts and resources for effective altruism, imagine if Sweden spent 2.5% of GDP on prevention of schistostomatitis, family planning, polio-vaccination etc.

This sounds more reasonable.

But their are some people who simply need to leave where they are and need somewhere to go.

Africas population will double during the next decades, I fail to see how even a Berlin-airbridge scenario would help with that.

I don't think anyone is saying you have to take everyone in Africa. For one think, a lot of them won't be able to leave. Also, a lot of them won't want to.

Swedens Prime minister with "lonely refugee children".

Not sure what your point is if its not to say "Look, politician betraying country to the dirty foreigners".

1. And the political result of that is a broken country that can never accept any more refugees.

2. Yes I do worry about Africans, I would be a lot more happy with immigrants from Vietnam or China where people are able to read and have a culture that puts an emphasis on going to work.
Most Africans will never work, and most of their children wont either because they are currently finishing Swedish school with basic grades passed.
It's hard to say what will happen in 30-40 years because the world will change so much that I can't understand it. Maybe we will have mindloading of education by then.
But 2015-2035 will be a period when Sweden has a vast population of poor immigrants with no work, not exactly a dream scenario. The liberals here in Sweden view this as an excellent chance to go back to minimum wage and removal of unions. I don't like that.

3. Yes, I am worried about Africans. We should be accepting far fewer Africans. We have no ability to integrate that many Africans. The areas with many Africans will turn into weird Swedish mini-Detroits.

4. I hope I am wrong, I am a doomsday prophet here now.

4. Re the grenade attacks in Malmö, I did provide a link, shall I provide more?

5. It needs to be expanded vastly to take care of the population that is growing old and to take care of the 100.000 new immigrants who arrive every year. We will accept 500.000 new refugees come 2020, maybe more. Many of them have huge health-care needs.
Reform will not happen. What is happening is that funds are being slashed. Privatized health insurance for the rich is on the move.

6. No. The utter majority are now Roman beggars who moved here from Romania and Bulgaria when the EU laws permitted that. Do you want some links about this issue? It's not controversial that they are Romas, certainly it's not some bunky nazi-theory.

7. Yes, it is my belief that immigration from countries where the ruling system is based on clans and warlords will result in that kind of system being brought with them. And that is what is happening in Malmö, Rinkeyby, Husby, Tensta.
In a not distant future large areas in Sweden will be ruled by bandit-lords and criminals. Human rights, womens rights will be kissed bye-bye.
Keep in mind that this is not about the majority of immigrants being criminals or untermenschen, but a sizeable minority is enough.
How many percent of Afghanistans population needs to be Talibans for them to rule? Not that many.

8. It does not matter what we should do, the end result is that Sweden will be ruled by political parties that do not accept further immigration. That will happen after the election 2018, probably. Might be until 2022 if all the other parties combine to form some weird counter-goveremnt. But that is looking less and less likely. In a bit more distant future, we will also have political parties backed by our new immigrant population and forgive me when I say that I doubt they will be based on progressive values. More likely they will be some light version of Hezbollah in terms of values.

9. That picture of adult men mostly for local consumption, the politicians and the Swedish media have told the Swedish population that we have to take care of children who are fleeing here. But most of them are adult men who abuse the system. This will result in Sweden scrapping that system.

If there ever is a local crisis with a lot of real children who needs to flee in the future, like what happened in Jugoslavia, they will not be allowed to Sweden because we broke the existing system.

I don't think anyone is saying you have to take everyone in Africa. For one think, a lot of them won't be able to leave. Also, a lot of them won't want to.

This is the question I want answers to, how many immigrants should move from the rest of the world to Europe every year? Nobody ever wants to put numbers on that.

[The Romulan Republic]

1. And the political result of that is a broken country that can never accept any more refugees.

Why? Because bigots whine about it?

Well, no wonder you think they should be pandered to, seeing as you are one.

2. Yes I do worry about Africans, I would be a lot more happy with immigrants from Vietnam or China where people are able to read and have a culture that puts an emphasis on going to work.
Most Africans will never work, and most of their children wont either because they are currently finishing Swedish school with basic grades passed.

This is some of the most blatant stereotyping I have ever seen. You've lost all credibility.

It's hard to say what will happen in 30-40 years because the world will change so much that I can't understand it. Maybe we will have mindloading of education by then.
But 2015-2035 will be a period when Sweden has a vast population of poor immigrants with no work, not exactly a dream scenario. The liberals here in Sweden view this as an excellent chance to go back to minimum wage and removal of unions. I don't like that.

Neither do I, presuming you're not just pulling it out of your ass, but sometimes you have to take a stand on a matter of principle (like the rights of refugees) even if it means risking defeat on other issues.

3. Yes, I am worried about Africans. We should be accepting far fewer Africans. We have no ability to integrate that many Africans. The areas with many Africans will turn into weird Swedish mini-Detroits.

More stereotyping. You disgust me. Viscerally disgust me.

4. I hope I am wrong, I am a doomsday prophet here now.

You are wrong about a lot of things, so take comfort in that.

4. Re the grenade attacks in Malmö, I did provide a link, shall I provide more?

I didn't read the whole thing, but from the start, it appears you provided a link on three grenade attacks, not ten bombings as you claimed occurred. Big fucking difference.

Three grenade attacks is still a big deal, but the difference is important.

In any case, its not fair to blame or harm refugees in general for the actions of a few assholes. Of course, since you see most or all Africans as lazy and uneducated and think more immigrants means more terrorism, that's probably beyond your warped comprehension.

5. It needs to be expanded vastly to take care of the population that is growing old and to take care of the 100.000 new immigrants who arrive every year. We will accept 500.000 new refugees come 2020, maybe more. Many of them have huge health-care needs.
Reform will not happen. What is happening is that funds are being slashed. Privatized health insurance for the rich is on the move.

Maybe you should put your efforts into demanding reform rather than writing it off as impossible and bashing immigrants.

6. No. The utter majority are now Roman beggars who moved here from Romania and Bulgaria when the EU laws permitted that. Do you want some links about this issue? It's not controversial that they are Romas, certainly it's not some bunky nazi-theory.

Links are always welcome, provided they're not from some Neo-Nazi-type source. I don't want that shit in my internet history.

7. Yes, it is my belief that immigration from countries where the ruling system is based on clans and warlords will result in that kind of system being brought with them. And that is what is happening in Malmö, Rinkeyby, Husby, Tensta.

Has it occurred to you that the people who are leaving those countries are probably generally the ones who don't fucking like the way it is their?

In a not distant future large areas in Sweden will be ruled by bandit-lords and criminals. Human rights, womens rights will be kissed bye-bye.

You've gone full Right wing lunatic. Good to know.

Keep in mind that this is not about the majority of immigrants being criminals or untermenschen, but a sizeable minority is enough.

That you refer, apparently sincerely, to "...a sizeable minority..." of immigrants as untermenschen says it all.

How many percent of Afghanistans population needs to be Talibans for them to rule? Not that many.

If you think a few people can turn Sweden into something like Afghanistan, you're a paranoid loon.

Well, you obviously are a paranoid loon.

8. It does not matter what we should do, the end result is that Sweden will be ruled by political parties that do not accept further immigration.

Then what are you worrying about? If you're so sure your vile side is going to win, why the fear?

That will happen after the election 2018, probably. Might be until 2022 if all the other parties combine to form some weird counter-goveremnt. But that is looking less and less likely. In a bit more distant future, we will also have political parties backed by our new immigrant population and forgive me when I say that I doubt they will be based on progressive values. More likely they will be some light version of Hezbollah in terms of values.

Any basis for that last part other than "They're foreign so they must want something like Hezbollah"?

9. That picture of adult men mostly for local consumption, the politicians and the Swedish media have told the Swedish population that we have to take care of children who are fleeing here. But most of them are adult men who abuse the system. This will result in Sweden scrapping that system.

I'll admit that the folks in that picture don't look like little children. Still, unless they pose a threat (not just being immigrants or from a race, religion, or place you don't like) they should be welcome.

If there ever is a local crisis with a lot of real children who needs to flee in the future, like what happened in Jugoslavia, they will not be allowed to Sweden because we broke the existing system.

Hope you're wrong about that. Not that I expect you'd actually care about foreign children, especially black, brown, African, Middle Eastern, or Muslim children.

You know, maybe the anti-immigrant crowd wouldn't have such strength if people like you didn't spew propaganda for them.

You cannot use the existence of your own vile shit as proof that your vile shit is justified.

This is the question I want answers to, how many immigrants should move from the rest of the world to Europe every year? Nobody ever wants to put numbers on that.

As many as need to come and you can afford to take.

That said, I think America and Canada should be doing more to pick up the slack when it comes to refugees.

[cosmicalstorm]

We will see what happens Romulan Republic. My bet is that the pro-immigration side of things will be politically stone dead in large parts of Europe for the forseeable future, and in my opinion that is mostly because they have based their politics on wishful thinking and shouting "Racism, racism" to anyone who opposed them.

More specifically, keep an eye on Sweden in the next few years. Sweden has taken the pro-immigration argument further than any other country in Europe and that is about to come back and bite Sweden in it's collective ass. We will have a far right party make a landslide victory in the next election. We will have a collapsed welfare system and our example will no doubt be used by anti-immigration parties all over the world. This would not have been necessary but now it is happening thanks to pro-immigration extremists like yourself.

[The Romulan Republic]

We will see what happens Romulan Republic. My bet is that the pro-immigration side of things will be politically stone dead in large parts of Europe for the forseeable future, and in my opinion that is mostly because they have based their politics on wishful thinking and shouting "Racism, racism" to anyone who opposed them.

You can be anti-immigration without being racist, but if the people being accused of racism were like you, I'd say their was good reason to accuse them. And in any case, I believe that other people are worthwhile and matter regardless of where they come from.

And again, you cannot use the existence of bigotry against immigrants to justify bigotry against immigrants.

More specifically, keep an eye on Sweden in the next few years. Sweden has taken the pro-immigration argument further than any other country in Europe and that is about to come back and bite Sweden in it's collective ass. We will have a far right party make a landslide victory in the next election. We will have a collapsed welfare system and our example will no doubt be used by anti-immigration parties all over the world. This would not have been necessary but now it is happening thanks to pro-immigration extremists like yourself.

Is it extreme to believe that people are worthwhile and have a right to a decent life regardless of where they're from or what race or religion they belong to? If so, that says something rather horrible about the world.

And if Europe goes Nazi again or something similar, if 70 years is long enough to erase Europe's shame and horror at the true price that bigotry can have, those of us who believe in democracy, humanity, equality, and justice stand ready. We bested that foul ideology once and we can do it again if we must, though I'd much prefer it if we did it in the courts and elections rather than on the battlefield.

We must never abandon the concept of equality in the face of bigots and tyrants.

A small number of attacks does not justify condemning millions of people.

[The Romulan Republic]

Of course, maybe Europe won't go Nazi. Maybe they'll just go for a softer form of bigotry based on isolationism.

Small comfort to refugees dying in Syria and Africa.

Edit: I loathe terrorism and I believe that law enforcement should do everything in its power short of violating the law/peoples' rights to prevent it and bring terrorists to justice. This should go without saying. But if the price of helping all those desperate people is that a few violent scumbags might slip in too, that's a price we should be willing to pay. Or are we so cowardly that we will condemn vast numbers of innocents out of fear?

[madd0ct0r]

not to go too far down this tangent, but isn't there a theory that the shootings (and the bombings later) were being carried out by the right wing?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/o ... nts-gunman

[The Romulan Republic]

Wouldn't surprise me.

Terrorism is not the exclusive province of Muslims or foreigners. Their is a long and foul history of Right wing terrorism.

[madd0ct0r]

I've been searching through articles, but only a mention arrests, none seem to mention sentencing or prosecution. The police never mention race or ethnicity either to confirm or deny, except in one article where they say it's not racial, it's criminal gangs.

The targeting of council hall and a jewish synagouge does suggest some sort of racial/ethnic thing going on, but wouldn't exactly rule out Brevik either. (although the isreali press is reporting it as 100% muslims fault)