Westward, Ho!

For some time now, we have been following events in that troubled Middle East country, Syria.  It seems some sort of civil war is in progress there spurred on by the continuing dissatisfaction of the population with the performance of their president, Bashar al-Assad.  Beginning in Tunisia in December 2010 the revolutionary wave known as the Arab Spring had spread to other Arab League countries and by the end of February 2012, rulers had been ousted in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.  The scope of the movement covered almost all countries of Arabia and Saharan Africa.  While most of the participating nations have settled into some sort of relative peace, Syria’s movement festered into a full civil war.  Despite diplomatic efforts by countries around the world, little progress has been made to amicably settle the conflict.  Certainly Assad does not want to give up his position as president.  And why should he, his daddy (Defense Minister General Hafez al-Assad, who seized power in a “corrective revolution” in 1970) gave it to him in 2000.  Nice gift!

Bashar al-Asad

During the last few years things have gotten quite nasty there and now those with the means and initiative to use them are swarming to Europe.  It seems that from Syria it is a dry trip (meaning one does not have to swim a body of water) across Turkey, Bulgaria, and Serbia to the Hungarian border.  So why do these Muslims eschew their cultural ilk in Turkey?  Why do they not settle in Bulgaria or Serbia where there are substantial numbers of the followers of Allah?  Why do they proceed onward some thousand miles to establish their refugee camps in a Christian, Central European country?  Because Hungary is a member nation of the European Union.

From what I have gleaned watching the news, and who knows how accurate that is, the EU has a very tolerant attitude toward refugees and will support those who qualify for said status.  I do not know what the criteria for refugee status are, but I would conjecture that persecution by a mad dog despot is probably on the list: Very magnanimous of those Europeans.  We should applaud their sense of charity.  Hoo-ray, hoo-ray!

 

But wait, it seems that while the collective EU welcomes the downtrodden with open aid, Hungary, where the refugees are actually making footfall, is not so generously inclined.  Their welcome baskets seem to be filled with teargas and water cannons.  Hmm!

PS Late breaking but unrelated news:  An 8.3 magnitude earthquake occurred off of the western coast of South America at 1845 hrs (ET) Wednesday.  Well, you know what they say, “Chile today, beachfront Argentinean property tomorrow!”