Friday, October 9, 2015

Russia, Syria on United Front against Terrorism (II)


by Pyotr ISKENDEROV | 10.10.2015

The urgent NATO meeting in Brussels was another good example of «double standards» practiced by the leadership of the organization. Instead of studying the ways to interact with Russia in the air campaign against terrorists in Syria, NATO made a decision to take a tougher stance against Moscow claiming it to be almost fully responsible for instability in the region. 
This is the result of policy implemented by Washington being concerned over Russia’s growing influence in the strategically important Middle East, and the separate game that Ankara wastes no time to play. A Russian aircraft violated Turkish air space by mistake and Turkey brought the incident to the top of the agenda of the NATO session. In the final statement the participants noted «the extreme danger of such irresponsible behaviour». «Russian military actions have reached a more dangerous level with the recent violations of Turkish airspace on 3 October and 4 October by Russian Air Force SU-30 and SU-24 aircraft in the Hatay region,» the statement says. Actually the wording echoes the Turkish version of what happened, fully ignoring the essence of the events in Syria.
The Turkey’s intention is more than clear. Its main goal is to forcibly overthrow Syria’s President Bashar Assad and ensure that the further development of the events in that country meets its interests. Ankara realizes well that the air strikes launched by Russia complicate the accomplishment of this mission postponing the implementation of its plans for uncertain period of time.
Essentially, a US-UK-Turkey alliance is being formed to oppose not only Russia, but also such leading European powers as Germany and France, not to mention Central and Eastern Europe. The Turkish political establishment interprets this tendency the following way: a US official has said he does not believe the incident was accidental putting the blame on Russia. UK ambassador to Turkey Richard Moore tweeted: «Russia’s incursion into Turkish airspace is reckless and worrying. UK, and its other NATO Allies, stand shoulder to shoulder with Turkey». In fact, it was Obama who gave a signal to react this way.
Besides, Turkey goes to any length to make its voice heard inside NATO to counter the European Union, the organization it has practically frozen ties with. According to available information, its tacit encouragement of asylum seekers flows to Europe is viewed by Ankara as leverage to influence the European Union and make it act in accordance with Turkey’s interests. The main goal of its NATO policy is to make the alliance concentrate on the situation at the Turkish-Syrian border. By inciting anti-Russian hysteria, Ankara strives to position itself as a key NATO ally in the region. It utilizes the catchphrases of Euro-Atlantic solidarity to cover up its real plans and intentions. In Azerbaijan, a friendly country for Turkey, they speak about it more plainly. «Turkey believes that Russia’s military actions will bolster Assad. That’s what Russia is trying to achieve. From Ankara's perspective, Assad getting stronger spells total failure of Turkish policy on Syria,» writes  Azerbaijani Trend News Agency.
More often European politicians come up with sound judgements. For instance, Czech Defense Minister Martin Stropnicky said the Russian air strikes against the Islamic State terrorists could stabilize Syria. The official believes it is reasonable to welcome anything that may calm down the situation there. He set as an example the exacerbating European refugee crisis which is a direct result of the Syria conflict.
Conservative members of the UK Parliament Defense Select Committee also supported the Russia’s decision to use its Air Force for striking terrorists in Syria. In particular, Bob Stewart actually called on the West to put up with the Bashar Assad’s rule, stating that «in order to defeat the great Satan you might have to put up with a lesser devil as well». James Gray, his fellow Defense Select Committee member, said, «You can't fight both Assad and IS at the same time». Julian Lewis, Chair of the Defence Select Committee,summed up the results of debates saying that unlike the West, Russia has a consistent strategy on Syria.
Today the Russia’s consistent Syria strategy – which applies to the situation in the entire Middle East, not Syria only – is intensively enforced. It gives rise to outright panic in the West. Strategy is what the United States and its close allies lack there. Their half-baked actions motivated by self-interest destabilize the situation and create breeding ground for terrorism, which has become the main threat for the world and Europe in particular. Turkey is playing its own game which has nothing to do with constructive and well thought over approaches. 
European ruling elites are extremely reluctant to admit the fact that Western geopolitical experiments in North Africa and the Middle East are directly related to the refugee flows of hundreds of thousand people while terrorism bred by the West is going on rampage in Syria and Iraq. They will certainly realize it as time goes by if only the national elites will not be ousted by more radical political forces that give priority to national interests.
Tags: ISIS Middle East Russia Syria

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Deutsche Welle: « New President of the United States Cannot Ignore Russian Leadership"


Russia, Syria on United Front Against Terrorism (I)

Pyotr ISKENDEROV | 09.10.2015 | 08:00
The military operation started by Russia in Syria evoked jittery reaction in the US. The Pentagon called Moscow’s actions «aggressive» like if the US-delivered air strikes against Syria were peaceful by definition.
At that Russia’s actions in Syria are taken in accordance with all standard procedures to meet the norms of international law. Russian President Vladimir Putin informed international community of Russia’s intention to take an active part in the anti-terrorist operation on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic during his address at the United Nations General Assembly session. Then the Federation Council, the upper chamber of Russian parliament, unanimously endorsed the President’s request to use military force abroad. Finally, Russia had given an advance warning to the United States about its plans.
After all that, why does Washington react so hysterically to the fact that Russian aviation has started to strike terrorists?
The answer is simple: Russia strengthens Bashar Assad’s position. Washington believes that the steps taken to bolster Assad or, even more, boost military cooperation between Moscow and Damascus in coordination with Tehran, pose a much bigger threat than the Islamic State.
The coordinated activities of Moscow, Tehran and Damascus in Syria hinder US plans to drastically change the existing borders of the Greater Middle East. The terrorists of Islamic States have an important role to play in the implementation of this scenario. Washington wanted a regime change in Syria with Assad leaving his office as far back as three-four years ago. Now the military support of legitimate Syria government may change the way the events unfold in Syria, as well as boost Russia’s clout in the Middle East. This is the region the United States has routinely viewed as its ranch or a testing range.
In a nutshell, these are the main implications of the joint actions undertaken by Russia and Syria:
First, Russia is taking practical steps to expand its role in the fight against international terrorism that poses a direct threat to Russian interests and exerts an increasingly destabilizing influence on Europe. The hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers that flood European countries are a direct consequence of the West’s connivance with terrorist activities in Syria.
Second, Russia provides military and political support to legitimate governments in the Middle East. It runs contrary to US efforts to disseminate the virus of various «color revolutions». The West has resorted to international interference in many parts of the world (The Serbian region of Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya) in the last decade and a half. As the experience shows, each time it led to strengthening of the positions of terrorist and extremist groups.
Third, Russia has never completely left the Middle East in the last quarter-century, though it considered it to be a region of secondary importance for a long time. Now it strengthens its position in the region.
Fourth, Russia is taking an important step on the way of forming a new international security structure based on a broad coalition of states supporting the idea of multipolar world and operating out of direct control of the United States. In many respects it will constitute an alternative to what is imposed by Washington and its allies. The coalition strives for a new type of international order which presupposes interaction, compromises and absence of «double standards», including in the field of international cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
The West’s accusations against Russia blaming it for «aggressive actions» in Syria are launched to divert attention from the failure of its own strategy in the Middle East.
As US magazine Newsweek rightly notes that, no matter what Moscow does, «…the problems surrounding increased U.S. intervention in Syria remain the same as always. There are few rebel groups left in Syria that could be considered «moderate» or acceptable to U.S. policymakers, while those that do exist are not focused on battling ISIS but on overthrowing the Assad regime. And though some of Russia’s targets are clearly 'moderate' anti-regime forces, it has also targeted the Nusra Front and other extremist groups. There is no doubt about Russia’s motives here, which are focused on eliminating threats to the Assad regime, not fighting extremists. But stepping up support to these extremist groups simply because Russia has targeted them would be folly; the enemy of my enemy is not always my friend».
The same can be applied to the situation in Iraq, another country chosen by Washington to be used as a testing ground. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he has no objections against Russian aircraft striking the Islamic State positions on the territory of his state. According to al-Abadi, he has sent a corresponding request to Moscow because it serves the interests of Iraq to appeal to anyone pursuing the goal of countering the Islamic State.
In his previous interview with France 24 channel, the Iraqi leader said that he would welcome Russian air force strikes on positions of "Islamic state" in Iraq. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that it did not rule out the possibility of air strikes in that country in case a request is received from the Iraqi government. When asked about the likelihood of starting airstrikes, Ilya Rogachev, director of the Ministry’s department for new challenges and threats, told journalists, »If we have either a corresponding request from the government of Iraq or a resolution from the U.N. Security Council, the adoption of which to a conclusive degree matches the will of the government of Iraq… If we have these sufficient grounds, then the political and military appropriateness will be evaluated».
Russia would consider the possibility of extending the air strikes on Iraq only if it received an official request, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The intensive expansion of military and political contacts between Moscow and Baghdad could present another dramatic challenge to the US.
According to Deutsche Welle, «a new President of the United State, no matter who takes office, would not be able to ignore the Russian leadership. He (or she) will have to deal with it just because Russia has a foothold in the Middle East. Putin is filling the void left by the Obama administration in the region without much hassle. Who could have thought that US-supported Iraqi government with its military would become Russia’s ally?»
All these factors explain the Washington’s jittery reaction to the Russian military operation which serves the propose of providing regional stability and security – the things President Obama likes so much to talk about.
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Russia dismisses U.S. refusal to share intelligence in campaign in Syria

News | 09.10.2015 | 00:06
Xinhua - The reluctance of the United States to share intelligence on Syria will not hamper Russia's operations in the war-torn country as Moscow has sufficient information from other sources, a Russian official said Thursday.
"We get this information from sources in a number of other countries, coordinating it with our partners within the Baghdad Information Center," said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria have set up an information center in the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad to share information about terrorist facilities in Syria.
Russia has been repeatedly accused by Western politicians and media of launching strikes against facilities irrelevant with the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group and causing civilian losses since it started operations in Syria on Sept. 30.
To prove that Russia was indeed striking IS targets, Moscow proposed to Washington and its allies involved in the U.S.-led coalition to share reconnaissance on Syria. Russia's proposal, however, was rejected, said Ryabkov.
He said the refusal to cooperate proved that Washington and its allies have their own goals in Syria, which had nothing to do with providing conditions for a national reconciliation there.
"I will risk saying that the United States and other countries involved in the coalition have put themselves in a politically ticklish situation where question arises as to which side they are fighting in this war," he said.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday that the Russian air force has attacked a total of 112 targets, destroying 19 command posts, 12 ammunition depots, 71 armored vehicles as well as factories and workshops producing various explosives, including devices used in car bombs.
Russian warships based in the Caspian Sea joined the air campaign Wednesday, launching 26 cruise missiles from a distance of 1,500 km and destroying 11 terrorist targets in Syria, according to Russia's Defense Ministry.
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Syrian army makes new gains in western province of Lattakia

News | 09.10.2015 | 10:46
 
PressTV - The Syrian army, backed by allied forces and the Russian Air Force, has made significant advances against militants in different parts of the country.
A Syrian military source said on Thursday that the Syrian troops, along with forces belonging to the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, “have seized most of the hilly region of Jeb al-Ahmar," a highland in the western Syrian province of Lattakia.
There have been heavy clashes between Syrian forces and terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, in the area for months.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that “violent clashes” erupted between the government forces and militants in the area of Jeb al-Ahmar.
The UK-based group said the government forces made advances during the clashes and controlled “several areas there.”
Clashes are reportedly still under way in the area between the Syrian forces and the militants.
Elsewhere, during an operation covered by the Russian Air Force, units of the Syrian army targeted militants in the eastern countryside of the western province of Hama, killing 32 of them and injuring 38 others, Syria's official news agency, SANA, quoted a military source as saying.
Reports also said that four armored vehicles and three canons belonging to the militants were destroyed in the operation.
Another Syrian military source added that the Russian Air Force, in cooperation with the Syrian Air Force, conducted a series of “precise” airstrikes on several Daesh positions in a number of areas, including Atarib, Deir Hafer, al-Mansoura and al-Bab, in the northern province of Aleppo.
The source said hundreds of militants were killed in the joined operation and a large ammunition depot belonging to the terrorists was destroyed.
Russia launched a major air campaign against foreign-sponsored terrorists in Syria on September 30 upon the request of the Syrian government.
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Brief aus Syrien aus dem Jahre 2007

 von Susanna Böhme-Kuby  im Ossietzky

Mit dem Irak, dem Land zwischen Euphrat und Tigris, verbinden Bewohner unseres heutigen Zeitdorfes trostlose Bilder von Gewalt und Verwüstung. Die Zerstörung auch der antiken Zeugnisse jener »Wiege der Menschheit« durch anglo-amerikanische Bomben zeigt an, in welchem Maße der Menschheit das Bewußtsein von Geschichte und Zusammengehörigkeit verloren geht. Alle sozialen Übereinkünfte werden durch den Krieg außer Kraft gesetzt.
Im Nachbarland Syrien, zwischen Mittelmeer und Euphrat, sieht die Welt ganz anders aus. Was sich den Reisenden hier bietet, ist ein Bild des Friedens, religiöserer Toleranz und orientalisch bunter Geschäftigkeit, das Bild eines Landes im Aufschwung, das auf Kooperation mit dem Westen, mit Europa, setzt.
Längs der 100 Kilometer Autobahn von Damaskus nach Homs, der großen Industriestadt, reiht sich eine Anpflanzung an die andere: Pinien und Zedern. Der breite grüne Aufforstungsgürtel sticht ab gegen die lehmfarbigen Hänge des Anti-Libanon-Gebirgszuges zur Linken und gegen die zementgrauen, halbfertigen Neubausiedlungen der Ortschaften, meist unverputzt, übersät mit Satellitenschüsseln. Lastwagen aller Arten sind unterwegs, uralte Busse mit holzumrandeten Fenstern und private Personenautos, deren Zahl in die Höhe geschnellt ist, seit die hohen Einfuhrsteuern herabgesetzt worden sind.
Die Bevölkerung des Landes hat sich in den letzten dreißig Jahren – auch dank der Investitionen ins öffentliche Gesundheitswesen – weit mehr als verdoppelt: von knapp acht Millionen auf etwa 19 Millionen, von denen 75 Prozent jünger als 30 Jahre sind; das Durchschnittsalter soll bei 16 Jahren liegen! Die meisten Kinder lachen und winken; wohin man geht oder blickt, begegnen einem Schüler und Studenten. Seit 1970 besteht die neunjährige Schulpflicht, ab der zweiten Klasse lernt man Fremdsprachen, heute überwiegend Englisch. Neben den fünf großen staatlichen Universitäten gibt es inzwischen auch private Hochschulinstitute, internationale Kooperationen werden ausgebaut, der Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst (DAAD) hat in Damaskus einen eigenen Vertreter. Die Wirtschaftsreformen seit Beginn der 90er Jahre haben das Land für Privatinvestitionen aller Art geöffnet; die Bautätigkeit ist unübersehbar.
Das säkular-sozialistische System der Baath-Partei unter den Präsidenten der Assad-Familie, deren Konterfeis an den Wänden einem auf Schritt und Tritt begegnen, läßt sich mit westlichen Begriffen schwer fassen, der Orient ist hier mit einem Hauch von DDR und Kuba überzogen. Dabei sind aber die orientalischen Familienstrukturen vorherrschend geblieben, bei Christen wie bei Muslimen, die hier seit Jahrhunderten mit- oder nebeneinanderleben.
»Ein Volk lehrt Toleranz« lautete kürzlich der treffende Titel eines Zeit-Artikels von Charlotte Wiedemann, denn »Toleranz ist pragmatisch und Friedfertigkeit vernünftig«. Moscheen und Kirchen stehen dicht beieinander, allein elf verschiedene christliche Konfessionen, katholische und orthodoxe, leben als kleine Minderheiten neben der großen sunnitischen Mehrheit, den Schiiten und weiteren moslemischen »Sekten« wie Drusen oder Alawiten. Letzteren gehört auch der Assad-Clan an. Die Alawiten konzentrieren sich um die Hafenstadt Lattakia am Mittelmeer, wo man fast überhaupt keine verschleierten Frauen sieht, sondern eher Jeans und kurze Röcke, und wo große Hotels nach westlichem Muster entstehen.
Man kann sich kaum eine pluralere Gesellschaft vorstellen, zusammengesetzt aus mehreren Ethnien, die in unterschiedlichen Landstrichen leben. An der Mittelmeerküste wähnt man sich in Ligurien oder Umbrien: endlose Olivenplantagen und Obstkulturen. Im Nordwesten zur Türkei hin steile Gebirge, dann der meeresähnliche Assad-Stausee am Euphrat, dessen Bau mit sowjetrussischer Hilfe den Schlüssel für die Urbarmachung und Bewässerung weiter Teile des Landes bildete. Syrien ist immer noch überwiegend ein Agrarland, aber selbst die weite Wüstensteppe Richtung Irak und gen Süden, nach Jordanien hin, ist elektrifiziert, kleine Erdölpumpen fördern die Energie für den nationalen Bedarf zutage, das Erdgas wird großteils exportiert. Die dort in Lederzelten oder flachen Lehmbauten lebenden Beduinen sind Halbnomaden; sie ziehen mit ihren Schaf- und Ziegenherden nur noch zeitweise umher.
Hier werden auch die wertvollen, zum Export bestimmten Erze abgebaut, Kupfer und Phosphate, und auf Eisenbahnwaggons verladen, die man quer durch die Steppe rollen sieht; einst führte die Bahnlinie von Aleppo bis nach Bagdad.
Etwa 120 Kilometer vor der Grenze zum Irak haben clevere junge Beduinen ein »Bagdad Café« eröffnet, in Anlehnung an den gleichnamigen Film von Percy Adlon mit Marianne Sägebrecht (deutscher Titel: »Out of Rosenheim«); ein Original-Filmplakat hängt über den Wasserpfeifen. Sie wollen neben ihrem Zelt demnächst ein kleines Hotel eröffnen. Syrien setzt auch auf den Ausbau des Tourismus. In Damaskus fand gerade im April die 3. Internationale Tourismusmesse statt, laut Syria Times mit hoffnungsvollen Perspektiven.
Die Reiseziele sind unvergleichlich: Etwa 25 aufeinanderfolgende Zivilisationen haben hier seit fast 10.000 Jahren ihre Spuren hinterlassen, die derzeit an 3000 Stätten ausgegraben werden; viele europäische Archäologen sind im Lande, und ich hatte das Privileg, eine deutsche Grabung (Technische Universität Berlin) in Resafa näher kennenzulernen.
Der Schauer, der einen überkommt, wenn auf dem Grabungshügel von Ebla auf der einen Seite die Sonne unter- und direkt gegenüber der Vollmond aufgeht, ist kaum zu beschreiben. In dem immensen Tempel des Baal in Palmyra verspürt man einen Hauch von Unendlichkeit. Und nach dem Aufstieg zur Zitadelle von Aleppo begreift man, weshalb sie zu den Weltwundern zählte.
Auf dem mit zwölf Kilometer Länge größten Bazar des Nahen Ostens in Aleppo fällt auf, wie selbstbewußt, freundlich und interessiert die Menschen den Besuchern aus Europa begegnen. Man kommt leicht ins Gespräch, viele können Deutsch, Englisch oder Französisch und fragen nach unserer Meinung über ihr Land. Und ob wir es tatsächlich für einen »Schurkenstaat« halten.
Allein in Damaskus lebt etwa die Hälfte der rund zwei Millionen Kriegsflüchtlinge aus dem Irak. 2006 kam eine halbe Million Menschen aus dem Libanon hinzu. Auch etwa 600.000 Palästinenser sind im Lauf der Jahre mehr oder weniger integriert worden. All das bisher erstaunlicherweise ohne wesentliche Probleme – wenn man von der Teuerungsrate absieht, die alle beklagen. Wohnraum in den Riesenstädten wird auf dem freien Markt langsam unbezahlbar. Und die Arbeitslosigkeit nimmt nicht ab, wenn immer mehr Menschen zuströmen.
Europa wäre gut beraten, Syrien bei der Integration der Flüchtlinge stärker zu unterstützen. Italien, Deutschland und Frankreich sind Syriens wichtigste Handelspartner. Sie können viel dazu beitragen, daß das Land eine Bastion des Friedens im Nahen Osten bleibt.


Erschienen in Ossietzky 10/2007
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Stop Millions of Western Immigrants!

by 

Tens of millions of European and North American immigrants, legal and illegal, have been flooding both the cities and countryside in Asia, Latin America, and even Africa.
Western migrants are charging like bulls and the ground is shaking under their feet; they are fleeing Europe and North America in hordes. Deep down they cannot stand their own lifestyle, their own societies, but you would hardly hear them pronounce it. They are too proud and too arrogant! But, after recognizing innumerable areas of the world as suitable for their personal needs – as safe, attractive and cheap – they simply pack and go!
We are told that some few hundred thousand African and Asian exiles are now causing a great “refugee crises” all over Europe! Governments and media are spreading panic, borders are being re-erected and armed forces are interrupting the free movement of people. But the number of foreigners illegally entering Europe is incomparably smaller than the number of Western migrants that are inundating, often illegally, virtually all corners of the world.
No “secret paradise” can be hidden any longer and no country can maintain its reasonable price structure. Potential European, North American and Australian immigrants are determined to enrich themselves by any means, at the expense of local populations. They are constantly searching for bargains: monitoring prices everywhere, ready to move at the spur of the moment, as long as the place offers some great bargains, has lax immigration laws, and a weak legal framework.
Everything pure and untapped gets corrupted. With lightning speed, Western immigrants are snatching reasonably priced real estate and land. Then, they impose their lifestyle on all those “newly conquered territories”. As a result, entire cultures are collapsing or changing beyond recognition.
Overall, Western immigrants are arrogant and stubborn; they feel no pity for the countries they are inundating. What surrounds them is only some colorful background to their precious lives. They are unable and unwilling to “adopt” local customs, because they are used to the fact that theirs is the “leading culture” – the culture that controls the world.
They come, they demand, and they take whatever they can – often by force. If unchecked, they take everything. After, when there is almost nothing left to loot, they simply move on. After them, “no grass can grow”; everything is burned, ruined and corrupted. Like Bali, Phuket, Southern Sri Lanka, great parts of the Caribbean, Mexico and East African coast, just to name a few places.
***
Who represents the greater “menace”: some 300,000 “illegal” refugees escaping from the countries destabilized or outright destroyed by the West, or those millions of Westerners who are annually fleeing their depressing lifestyles and selfishly over-imposing themselves on so many economically weaker and therefore more vulnerable parts of the world?
I believe the answer is obvious.
People from devastated countries are often left with no choice: many are coming to their tormentors, forced by circumstances to accept totally unreasonable conditions, humiliation and marginalization. They have to work extremely hard. They have to accept jobs Westerners think themselves “too good for”, and they are expected, even ordered, to “adapt” culturally. They go through horrific screenings and interviews, and almost all of them have to degrade themselves just in order to survive and feed their children. Only a minority is allowed to stay. Those who do stay greatly contribute to local economies.
Of course, this is a part of the dirty trick: the West needs foreigners; it cannot survive without immigrants, without their cheap labor. But it would never admit it openly. Before “accepting them”, it has to first humiliate and break even those whom it desperately needs. It has to further demean those whose nations were already robbed of everything, and even thrown into war by the West’s imperialist foreign policy and by corporate terrorism.
***
The West’s migrants are encountering totally different treatment in most of the countries they are inundating.
To begin with, Western immigrants do not even need visas to enter most countries. Decades ago, the Empire opened by force almost all “developing states”. Westerners are treated preferentially, and generally promoted as a “source of income” by local regimes.
It is mainly the Western multi-nationals that are dividing the loot from Asian, African and the Middle Eastern countries, but some part of booty always ends up in the pockets of those ordinary European and North American citizens, mainly in the form of retirement plans or other social benefits. Then, annually, tens of millions of Westerners, armed with funds that have been stolen from the “developing world” are hitting the road, trying to make their money go further in those places where their funds actually originated!
It is no secret that Western migrants are taking advantage of poverty, low prices, and corrupts legal systems. Their arrival raises prices for housing and land. It leaves millions of local people literally homeless, and it raises the prices of food and basic services for the local population.
In a way, people in many poor countries get robbed twice: by Western corporations, and then again, by Western migrants.
But damaged countries are not sending coast guard ships to intercept Western migrants. And there are hardly any deportations. Only those who dare to criticize the system get expelled.
***
I saw entire islands being eaten alive by Western immigrants. Almost no coastal areas are left for local people on the Indonesian islands of Lombok and Bali. The Scandinavian mafias, the Central European mafias, Australian mafias… The theft had reached unimaginable proportions. Even when it is illegal to purchase land, the Europeans and the North Americans are teaming up with local gangs, or forging schemes that include marriages to local women. Western migrants are tremendously canny! There is always some way how to get around the laws and screw poor people in the most miserable countries on earth.
The Italian “takeover” of the Kenyan coast… the child prostitution there.
Thailand’s islands are all gone. No culture remains, almost no houses belonging to the local people… almost no coastal stretch is left untouched. There is just some banal, horrid tourist infrastructure, and millions of Western migrants baking on the sun, all year round, with their pot bellies exposed, wearing flip-flops, downing beer, hand in hand with their culturally uprooted Thai companions. What did these people bring to Thailand? Freedom? Prosperity? High culture? Seriously! Or honestly, isn’t it just a moral corruption and total cultural ruin?
There are literally millions – maybe even tens of millions – of Western (mainly European) migrants living all over Southeast Asia. Exact numbers are unknown; there are no reliable studies and statistics. Many Western immigrants in Southeast Asia are actually “illegal”. Some are “semi-legal”, with their constant “visa runs”, false marriages and shady investments.
Cambodia is one of the places that has been attracting the most depraved migrants from the West. Their sex sprees and “2 dollars per ‘shag’ bargains” have been described in detail in several colorful books.
I encountered many “expats” and “migrants” when I was first investigating and then helping to close down one of the most notorious child-prostitution centers on earth, so-called “Kilometer 11”, located just outside the capital city of Phnom Penh. There, thousands of kidnapped girls, many of them minors, were forced to serve predominantly European clientele. Some of them were kidnapped and gang-raped on the way by traffickers; dragged here from all over Cambodia and neighboring Vietnam. The girls lived in captivity, guarded by vicious gangsters. And all over the place, flashing their proverbial beer bellies, were cheerful middle-aged European migrants, who just moved here, as I was told, “shagging a minor is much cheaper than downing a pint of shitty beer”.
A local Reuters correspondent and I managed to interview several 14-years old girls, some of them clearly dying from AIDS. Later on, when we began photographing the scene from the car, the entire crowd of men began charging, beer bottles in their hands, shorts falling off from their backsides, ready to kill. A great gain for the country of Cambodia, those European migrants!
I fought with all my might those venomous German immigrants at Colonia Dignidad in Southern Chile. There, many European Christian religious fanatics set up their entire state inside the Chilean state, closely collaborating with the US-backed Pinochet’ dictatorship. At one point, Bormann was there, as well as other prominent Nazis. After settling in their “new fatherland”, the German immigrants went busily to “work”, raping children, performing medical experiments on local orphans, and mercilessly torturing opponents of the fascist dictatorship. Of course, they did not immigrate only to Chile; there were millions of European fascist émigrés pouring into all corners of South America. The most prominent of them were shipped there with care by US and British intelligence services.
While Western propaganda keeps talking about illegal immigrants crossing into the US from Mexico, there is very little talk about those tens of millions of people who are continuously immigrating to Latin America from all over Europe, settling in Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and elsewhere. Before the latest wave of Latin American revolutions finally guaranteed equality and respect for the indigenous people of the continent, most European immigrants managed to implant deep racial and social segregation. In some places like Peru and Bolivia, the situation closely resembled that of South African apartheid. Until recently, European immigrants had been pushing the native population to extreme margins, stealing their land and making their cultures irrelevant. It was done all over Latin America and is still done in many other parts of the world.
So, “what are we going to do with those millions of Western immigrants?”
Can we really afford having them in our countries? Can we accommodate them? Can we pay for their needs, for their aggressiveness and their wild and violent cultural and behavioral patterns? Can we allow them to take everything from those who have very little left?
***
Look left and right: the entire planet is full of Western immigrants. They are controlling diamond mines in South Africa as well as “conservancy areas” in Kenya. They are holding huge land expanses in Asia, and virtually all profitable commercial land and industry in Latin America.
And they are coming and coming! They are unstoppable. Most of them are sick of their gray lives in Europe and North America. They are full of superiority complexes, but in reality, they would do anything to escape their loneliness, depression and emptiness at home.
In order to be able to stay “legally” in Southeast Asia, millions of Western male immigrants are marrying maids, go-go dancers, or even sex workers. But then they treat them with spite (as many of them don’t really know how else to behave towards people from other cultures). There are tens of thousands of former US GI’s, living in the villages of Northern Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. After bombing Southeast Asia into the stone age, they “could not cope” with the treatment they received after coming back home. And so they immigrated; they returned to the land that they had already so thoroughly destroyed, poisoned and raped.
I met many of them, as I was writing about this part of the world for many years. Some former GI immigrants were now totally broke, trying to borrow money from me, and coming up with bizarre stories and schemes. Almost all of them felt spite for the local people, but were unable to return to their homeland, because they lost all contacts and skills that could allow them to live there. Some overstayed their visas, owing huge amounts of money in fines to the local authorities.
***
I heard countless desperate stories. But, unlike those profound and heartbreaking stories told by the migrants from the countries destroyed by the West, the stories of the Western immigrants were mainly selfish, centered on the desire to improve their lives, or yearning to escape unpleasant conditions in their countries of origin. Most of the time, their presence brought nothing positive to the countries where they managed to relocate.
In her iconic book “Karma Cola”, an Indian writer Gita Mehta described, already a quarter of century ago, those millions of Westerners who have been flooding Sub-Continent in search of “enlightenment”, alternative lifestyles and other mass-produced, Westernized cultural and religious trends. Many ended up as illegal migrants, rotting in ashrams and in bizarre communes, some even selling their passports in order to survive.
***
The world has been patient – I’d say too patient – with the Western immigrants!
This patience should end, because of the brutality, even savagery, that Europe has been recently demonstrating towards those desperate men, women and children who have been trying to escape from their countries resembling “sinking ships”; “ships” that were torpedoed by Western imperialism.
The world owes nothing to the West, to the contrary! Therefore, visa and immigration policies should be reciprocal, which is exactly the approach of several Latin American countries.
Practically speaking, there are many more legal and illegal Western immigrants living in Indonesia or Thailand, than the other way around. The same goes for countries like Chile.
After horrible centuries during which Western colonialism and imperialism managed to destroy billions of human lives in all corners of the world, Europe still dares to treat its desperate victims as worse than animals. I recently witnessed its spite towards refugees arriving in Greece, France, Germany and the Czech Republic.
And after what I saw, I feel indignant and appalled.
Enough is enough!
With its wars, destabilization campaigns, economic terror, and its plunder of the planet, the West continues to demonstrate how low and brutal its culture really is. The “refugee crises” is just the latest chapter of the never-ending neo-colonialist horror show.
While European ships keep intercepting pitiful boats crammed with wrecked people who are fighting for their lives, while European armies are re-erecting border controls, several Latin American countries which are now governed by progressive governments, including Argentina and Chile, have been demonstrating tremendous moral superiority, solidarity and internationalism, by inviting and taking care of thousands of Syrian and Palestinian refugees, and on top of that, treating them with great dignity and kindness!
***
In one of the hotels in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in a bar late at night, I overheard a conversation between a visiting Swiss businessman and his Chilean counterpart:
“You know, those immigrants that we call ‘paperless’”, lamented Swiss man. “It’s too many of them… too many! We should just throw them directly to the sea; we should drown them! We don’t need such scum in Europe.”
A few days earlier, my friend, an Ecuadorian government official based in Quito, told me a story:
“Lately, many Europeans keep coming to Ecuador and to other Latin American countries, searching for jobs, trying to migrate. Their economies are collapsing, but there is no humility when they come here, only arrogance. Another day, a Spaniard came to me, applying for a job. I asked him for his CV. He looked at me with total outrage: ‘But I am a Spaniard!’ he shouted. ‘So what?’ I replied. ‘These days are over, comrade; days when just being a white European man would be enough to land you a job anywhere in Latin America!’”
***
The non-Western world simply cannot afford to tolerate an annual influx of the millions of Western immigrants! First, it gets attacked by the West, and then robbed, and at the end, is expected to tolerate enormous hordes of ruthless, locust-like, self-centered migrants who are trying to swallow what little is left behind by the Western corporations and governments.
Reciprocal visa regimes should be introduced. Legal frameworks should be strengthened to prevent corruption and speculation with land and real estate. Potential Western immigrants should be forced to prove that their presence would benefit the country where they want to settle, that their skills are really needed, just as all African and Asian immigrants are obliged to prove when they want to settle in Europe, in North America or in Australia.
And once again: let us not forget that there are many more Western immigrants trying to settle abroad, than there are people from poor countries applying for residency in the West.
Immigration crises? Yes of course! But not really “crises” for the West!
Those who do not realize it should check the numbers!
Certainly, many of us understand how depressed many Westerners really are; how their lives in Europe and in North America are disagreeable, gray and confusing. We really understand how much they want to immigrate to a warmer (in terms of weather and in terms of human relationships) part of the world. And if they would humbly admit what they feel, instead of demonstrating arrogance and superiority… if we could have it all in open… if the same rules would apply for everyone… if they would be the same for those who want to immigrate to Europe, to the US, to Asia, Africa or Latin America… then I am sure that at least some people would be willing to show their sympathy and consider accepting at least some of the most desperate Western migrants.
But there can be no sympathy if there is no justice. While Westerners are freely immigrating wherever they desire, Europe is now deploying its military in order to intimidate, humiliate and to stop those mugged and tortured victims of Empire!
Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His latest books are: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire” and “Fighting Against Western Imperialism”.Discussion with Noam Chomsky: On Western Terrorism. Point of No Return is his critically acclaimed political novel. Oceania – a book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative book about Indonesia: “Indonesia – The Archipelago of Fear”. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Press TV. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and the Middle East. He can be reached through his website or his Twitter.
More articles by:ANDRE VLTCHEK  first published: http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/09/stop-millions-of-western-immigrants/
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Ethik oder Etat - eine Debatte mit Ken Jebsen und Gästen

Ein Prozent der Menschheit besitzt mehr als der Rest auf diesem Planeten. Diese Fakten haben mit dem vorherrschenden Wirtschaftssystem zu tun, das vor allem denen nützt, die reich sind. Es ist buchstäblich ihr Reich, und alles, was in diesem Reich geschieht, hat sich nach zuvor von den Reichen auf den Weg gebrachten Gesetzen, Ansichten und Plänen zu richten.

Mit Demokratie hat das wenig bis gar nichts zu tun, nur darf man das den Massen gegenüber nicht offen aussprechen, um eine weltweite Rebellion zu verhindern. Tarnen und Täuschen ist daher eines der Hauptanliegen der obszön reichen Eliten, deren elitärer Status sich ausschließlich auf den Nullen vor dem Komma stützt.

Was der Otto-Normal-Bürger schlicht als ungerechte Verteilung aller weltweit erbrachten Güter bezeichnen würde, wird von den Eliten als Gesetzmäßigkeiten des Marktes verkauft. Immer ist es ein abstrakter Markt, der für alle Fehlentwicklungen verantwortlich ist. An diesen Markt hat man zu glauben wie an eine Religion. Schon wer hinterfragt, macht sich verdächtig und wird als Ketzer abgestempelt.

Für den Markt hat nur Wert, was man zu Cash machen kann, was Profite verspricht, und da ist beispielsweise Ethik kein Produkt, mit dem man handeln könnte. Ethik lässt sich auf dem Markt weder kaufen noch verkaufen, und so hat sich der moderne Mensch im Kapitalismus gefälligst zu entscheiden! Ethik oder Etat?

Nur muss er das wirklich? Lässt sich nicht Ethik und Etat unter einen Hut bringen? Und sind unsere Werte nur Börsenwerte?

Diese Fragen stellen wir unseren vier Gästen der zweiten Ausgabe von Positionen: 

-Prof. Dr. Athanassios Giannis, Leiter des Instituts für organische Chemie der Universität Leipzig,
-Peter König, der über 20 Jahre für die Weltbank Wasserentwicklungsprojekte geleitet hat,
-Ernst Wolff, Autor des Buches "Weltmacht IWF - Chronik eines Raubzuges",
-Albrecht Müller, Ökonom, ehemaliger Wahlkampfleiter von Willy Brandt und Kopf des alternativen Nachrichtenportals NachDenkSeiten.

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