We have repeatedly warned from this page that illegal migration has shaped itself into a national security threat that unceremoniously pushes aside “humanitarian concerns” and the hypocritical touting of the issue by various “NGOs” and other self-appointed “experts” and ready critics, not to mention the UN itself.
Yet another catastrophic military intervention by the West, this time in Libya, and the widespread internal destabilization of other Arab countries, have created the conditions for the illegal migration threat to assume unprecedented proportions. The developing crisis has finally attracted the attention of “central” European powers to the fast approaching breakdown because of uncontrollable waves of North African undocumented migrants crashing onto European shores.
The invasion of the Italian island of Lampedusa, which lies about 75 miles off the Tunisian coast, by waves of Tunisians seeking entry into Europe has helped jolt the perennially non-committal, dilly-dallying EU into turning its gaze onto the threat. Help also came from the Italian PM, who quickly decided to relieve pressure on his country by doing the obvious: giving the arriving desperadoes travel papers and an exit into what they perceive as greener pastures across the border into France. Suddenly, the French found themselves on the receiving end and sped to confine the unwanted travelers on trains that would not be allowed to cross into France from Italy. Within days, Paris and Rome -- the former incensed at the Italian free passage move, the latter relatively relieved that finally the whole European “central” crew was being kicked into awakening -- issued an urgent joint call for the revision of the Shengen open-border treaty.Where is Greece in all of this?
As usually, the Greek government is dozing off or, worse, deliberately choosing not to grasp the opportunity lest our EU overseers are disturbed.
Already buckling under the unwanted burden of over one million illegal migrants, mostly Muslim and mostly from Asia and Africa, Greece continues to fatally underestimate the illegal migration national security threat.
Under an open strategic illegal migration attack from Turkey, who seeks to destabilize this country through deft manipulation of international embarrassment and the sheer economic hemorrhage caused by the flood of these uninvited throngs, Greece is still swaying between empty macho announcements (“We will build a border fence”) and complete inaction in the face of her crumbling human security and sovereignty.
We have no illusions about the impact of the Papandreou government’s “multicultural” credentials on its overall behavior, but even a government of such political and social myopia could surely see the opening now being offered this country by means of emulating Italy.
Greece has voluntarily turned itself into a convenient cesspool for protecting Europe’s “advanced” countries by refusing exit to the hundreds of thousands who arrive here straining at the leash to reach paradise in France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian countries. The center of Athens has been turned into a filthy ghetto, while illegal migrant troubles have already shaken places like Patras and Igoumenitsa, both getaways to Italy, the latter currently being overrun by angry illegal migrant mobs despairing at not being allowed to climb onto departing ferries.
All along, Greece has been nevertheless subjected to relentless pounding by these and other “friends and allies” over the illegal migrants’ “human rights” that are being violated, our critics declare, with complete abandon by the Greek state. In this entire patently hypocritical and openly patronizing avalanche of words there’s rarely, if ever, mention of the enormous burdens Greece, a bankrupt and imploding country that will soon be unable to provide for her own, is called upon to bear without the slightest concrete aid from those she’s helping shield against the illegal migration wave.
So, here’s the chance: Borrow a leaf out of Silvio Berlusconi’s book and begin issuing travel permits to the hungry and the angered -- and let the ugly flow begin to slam against the gates of Fortress Western Europe.
Desperate situations call for desperate measures and Greece, already reaching territory beyond desperate, has nothing to lose but her already tattered shirt.
The gamble is worth taking because the gains could be potentially enormous while the losses nothing really worse than what our European overseers, with the collaboration of the Papandreou government, are already dishing out upon us by having turned this country into a helpless guinea pig to the benefit of the markets and jittery bankers.