35_aoa wrote:Good on you sir. I had the unfortunate task of watching many of them (through a monochrome ATFLIR feed) either being gunned down by ISIS firing squads, or running for their lives through northern Iraq/north-eastern Syria. My only wish during that period of time was that I could have done something for those kids and families. I'm glad there are some folks out there like yourself who are.
...what shall I answer to that...?!?
For me, the situation in the Middle East is well beyond infuriating.
If I start bragging about all the ones guilty/responsible for it, there is going to be no end...
oldiaf wrote:Apart from Syrians .... Why the Iraqis remember to go for Europe now ?!!!
There is a mix of primary reasons: unbearable conditions at home, unbearable conditions in refugee camps of Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey... and then it's simply summer. Weather is good and traffickers have no problem with loading them into anything that swimms, then send them over the Med for Greece or Italy.
The weather is 'responsible' (so to say) why as many of them are arriving ('now'): most of those trying to do that trip in winter disappear somewhere in the Med, without a trace (at best, their bodies appear then on beaches of southern Italy). Traffickers don't care about them: they cash per head, bunch 200 people on a boat that could barely carry 20, and then send the boat in northern direction. Most of the times engine malfunctions much too soon. If not, they issue calls on international emergency frequencies and then run away... (these ***** know much too well EU coastal guards are going to do their best to save people in emergency...).
And regarding 'economic reasons'... well, most of those I've got to see were kids, youngsters/teenagers and pregnant women. Lack words to describe it any better, but I've seen very few adult men the last few days. Most have been registered as refugees in Greece (which is in the EU) and Turkey (not in EU) already, but (for reasons I'll discuss below) they are obsessed with getting to Germany. After travelling over Macedonia and Serbia they got stranded in Hungary. Hungarians are treating them really... at least in fashion that for many of refugees is reminiscent of the way Assad's thugs were treating them in Syria....
After these people have spent days (if not weeks) in simmering heat around the major train station in Budapest (or in various camps in Serbia), German Chancelor Merkel came to the idea to simply let them in, last week. Austrian government agreed to let them pass...
Meanwhile, Merkel agreed with Hungarian government to tranship refugees from Budapest and Debrecen to the Austrian border. Hungarians... sigh... they're really.... sigh... they provided busses that brought the first large group - 2000-3000 - about 4-5km close to the Austrian border. Then they simply dropped them there and left them march over... More were brought in per train from Budapest to Vienna. Meanwhile, there are several huge columns literaly marching all the way over 300km from Budapest (or from Debrecen, for example) in direction of Vienna...
Hand at heart: **** the rest of the EU, especially all the a-holes pocketing billions of EU subventions since decades, but are now looking the other way. If it has to be, we'll solve this on our own.
Here in Austria all the possible NGOs are organizing (and providing) plenty of aid for refugees. Even the ÖBB (national railway company) started providing about a dozen of trains a day to carry them from Vienna to Salzburg, where they change to German trains - which are then re-distributing them around Germany.
For people like me, there is meanwhile little to do but help distribute water-bottles, food, clothes, help with translation (primary to English, less so to Arabic, since my Arabic is very poor), perhaps with some 'orientation' too... Various NGOs are doing much more. Yesterday I actually drove quite deep into Hungary and picked up three Syrian families: brought them to one of gathering points in Austria... Some say this should be punishable by Hungarian law, as 'human trafficking', but I would never demand any money for that, and actually... well, after hearing about that thug of a Hungarian neo-nazi reporter beating some of refugess, I couldn't care less any more... I would nearly say, 'good no Hungarian appeared in front of my eyes', during those few hectic hours...
One of particularly shocking things is the number of pregnant women - and kids in general. It's a subjective feeling if you like, but most of people I've got to see were either pregnant women or kids... That said, it's not as if the 'rest' was any much older: most of 'adult's I've got to see were in their 20-somethings.... A kind of 'blow' was a 7-days old girl: born on flight, literally 'somewhere in Hungary', last week... (she's meanwhile in Germany, together with her mother).
Another impression was their incredibly naïve belief in Germany as some sort of 'land of milk and honey'. 'Everything is going to be fine if they get there'.... Especially teenage Syrians, even few Afghans I met yesterday, are kind of obsessed with 'becoming Germans'. Out of thousands that passed through Austria the last few days, less than 100 decided to stay here (in Austria). Didn't have heart to spoil anybody's expectations, nor really time to explain them something about reality (especially those with apparent beliefs similar to those of neo-Nazis here), but it's sure so that there is going to be plenty of rude awakening once they're there (in Germany)...
Overall feeling: majority of Syrians (and Iraqis) I met were well-educated, coming from 'higher middle class'. No surprise: poor people lack the money to pay traffickers... Most are speaking English. They make a rather 'progressive' impression: next to nobody religious (in the last six days I saw only a few praying, only one woman wearing chador/burqa; on the contrary, saw plenty of young ladies wearing jeans, some even shorts). Many had relatives living somewhere in Europe too. None of them was really eager to flee their homes, but since it had to be, they did so and then they want 'to Germany' (again: call this 'subjective' - but keep in mind I wasn't running any kind of official polls there, just chatting...).
Now, while - and as usually - all the Syrians I met were (i.e. are) lovely people, very friendly, cheerful and thankful, there was one thing that never stops disturbing me in negative fashion too: men, and especially young men always get all the priviledges. They are always 'first' - no matter what needs. Even young boys are often taken better care of than pregnant women (by refugees themselves)...
Guess, we'll have a lot to do alone in this regards in coming years... just for the start...
Al-Qaida before was brutal just like ISIS now but the fact it was the European countries closed their doors for them back then and re-open it now .... Simply the Iraqis ( most of them ) are migrating for economic reasons rather than safety.
...given it was Ba'thists who transformed the former AQ in Iraq into this beast of Daesh... and a quasi-Ba'ath regime in Syria who left them flourish (with help of money from Tehran)... PLEASE, let's stop here and right now. Like I said: this is all
beyond infuriating for me.
Back to 'Speicher Affair'...
05 Sep 2015, 17:07
