European Migrant Crisis

[Benito]

Its a terrible situation and we only stand and watch. My birth country (the Netherlands) takes 3.000+ immigrants per week. Terrible situation!

[Benito]

EuroStat Exposes Lies: 4 out of 5 Migrants are Not from Syria

Only one in every five migrants claiming asylum in Europe is from Syria.

The EU logged 213,000 arrivals in April, May and June but only 44,000 of them were fleeing the Syrian "civil" war.

http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/28110/53/

Soros campaigners and left-wing MPs have suggested the vast majority of migrants are from the war-torn state, accusing all Governments of doing way too little to help them.

'This exposes the lie peddled in some quarters that vast numbers of those reaching Europe are from Syria,' said David Davies, British MP. 'Most people who are escaping the war will go to camps in Lebanon or Jordan.

'Many of those who have opted to risk their lives to come to Europe have done so for economic reasons.'
The figures from Eurostat, the EU's official statistical agency, show that migration from April to June was running at double the level of the same period in 2014.

The number of Afghans (country managed by USA) lodging asylum claims is up four-fold, from 6,300 to 27,000. Another 17,700 claims were made by Albanians, whose country is at peace.

A further 13,900 applicants came from Iraq which, like Syria, is being torn apart by the Islamic State terror group.

Half a million migrants have arrived in Europe so far this year, with 156,000 coming in August alone. Rather than claiming asylum in the first safe EU country they reach, most head on toward wealthy northern states. The human cost of the crisis has been paid by the estimated 3,000 migrants who have drowned after putting their lives in the hands of people smugglers for the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean.

More than 250,000 migrants have reached Greece and Italy, where the authorities are close to breaking point.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel fuelled the chaos last month by declaring that any Syrian who reached the country could claim asylum. AS a result, there are people from a dozen countries pretending to be Syrians.

When the numbers became uncontrollable Berlin shut its borders, throwing Austria, Hungary and other EU countries into turmoil.

Croatia has received 14,000 migrants in the past two days and was last night moving some to the Hungarian border.

Hungary is laying razor wire on the border having done the same on its border with Serbia.

Croatia has closed seven of eight road crossings to Serbia and ordered its border guards to redirect migrants to Hungary and Slovenia. The Hungarian government described this as 'totally unacceptable'.

Violence broke out yesterday between Syrian and Afghan migrants fighting to board trains across Croatia.

And Slovenian riot police last night stood in the path of 200 migrants trying to enter from Croatia. Slovenian ministers say they will accept asylum seekers but send back anyone deemed to be an illegal immigrant.

Britain, which received 7,470 asylum applications between April and June, has come under fire for failing to join an EU scheme to spread 160,000 migrants between the 28 member states.

[Benito]

Bizarro logic: Macedonia wouldn't be able to send refugees back to Greece

Macedonia would be liable to admit failed asylum seekers from third countries, if the European Union members eventually begin repatriating some of the hundreds of thousands of refugees that entered Europe in 2014 and 2015. MIA correspondent in Brussels reports that there is a hypothetical possibility that Macedonia would be asked to take refugees that transited through its territory and claimed asylum in the European Union, while, at the same time, being unable to forward them back to Greece, which is usually where they come from before crossing into Macedonia.

http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/28111/45/

"Regarding asylum seekers coming from third countries, European Union countries have readmission agreements which allow readmission to the countries these people have transited through", European Commission spokeswoman Natasha Berto said on Monday, speaking about the possibility of repatriation of third country refugees to Serbia. This rule would apply to Macedonia as well, if EU countries ever decide to begin a cascade of readmissions of the refugees they decide can't stay in the Union.

Macedonia is on the Balkan migration route, mostly Syrian and other Middle Eastern refugees who travel through Turkey and Greece before transiting Macedonia and Serbia to reach a continuous Schengen Zone country, most often Hungary. According to MIA sources in the European Commission, if Hungary ever begins readmitting the refugees back to Serbia, and Serbia does the same with regard to Macedonia, Macedonia would not be able to return them back to Greece.

The reason for this is a 2008 case before the European court of human rights, in which an Afghan asylum seeker who was repatriated to Greece from Belgium, after a failed asylum procedure, was mistreated by the Greek authorities. After taking his case to the ECHR, the verdict could mean that Macedonia would be legally banned from readmitting refugees back to Greece, because Greece is considered as a country that treats refugees inhumanely. To be on the safe side, Macedonia should begin treating refugees inhumanely too? This appears to be the overall logic.

All this is purely hypothetical, and currently there are no announcements of mass returns of failed asylum seekers from the core EU countries back to the periphery countries which they crossed through. But, the EU is still unable to agree to a comprehensive solution to the issue, whether it is dedicating resources to meaningfully close its external border, or a program to accept and distribute refugees.

[Amphipolis]

The eternal MINA News. Where should I start?

First of all, these people are NOT refugees (that includes Syrians). They do not apply for asylum and (even if/when they do) they are not eligible for one. For instance, if they apply in Germany, Germany will rightly claim that they were not persecuted in Austria, Sweden will claim they were not persecuted in Denmark etc.

Second, even if these people are trapped (in Hungary or Serbia) they will not want to stay there and they will eventually leave somehow illegally or will commit a crime when they run out of money.

The only thing that's true is that the legal framework is unclear because everybody expects there will be changes. Yet, do not be sure of that as there are serious disagreements among European countries.

The latest news is that Turkey changes policy and stops masses of people who try to pass through the Thrace Greek-Turkish borderline.

Lastly, what the article says of Greece, the European Court of Human Rights and its' alleged consequences is of course not true.



===

[Benito]

What upset me the most is that more then 70% of them are men. What also upsets me is that i see hundreds of them riot on the Hungarian border against the Hungarian police, but they can't or don't want to fight for their own countries.

[Benito]

Belgrade sets deadline for EU "to react" to Croatia's move

Not to much related to Macedonia, but pretty intresting and concerning for the region if you ask me.

Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday morning Serbia will react to Croatia's shutting down of the border for Serbian trucks "unless the EU reacts by 14:00 (CET)."

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2015&mm=09&dd=22&nav_id=95510

"We are waiting for the EU to react by 14:00 hours, and then Serbia will react calmly, without violating regulations, but will show that Croatia cannot be taking it out on Serbia and humiliating it, and destroying Serbia's economy without consequences," the prime minister stressed.

He then described the neighboring country's decision as "a scandal of incredible proportions."

Also on Tuesday, Croatian Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic accused Serbia of "sending refugees to Croatia instead of to Hungary in an organized manner," and added his country was ready to completely shut down the Bajakovo-Batrovci border crossing with Serbia - "if necessary."

Croatian authorities continue to block entrance of freight vehicles from Serbia over this crossing. A 15-kilometer long line of trucks has formed on the Serbian side of the border as a consequence.

[George S.]

Why let the migrants through your country if you cant offer them assylum.Its a bad move and a stupid move by croatia.All these people saying they will accept the migrants are just plain stupid either they mean well or they are just stupid as they really cant look after the migrants.

[George S.]

Macedonia steps up security on border with Greece

Macedonia steps up security on border with Greece

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/macedonia-steps-up-security-on-border-with-greece-1.2525487#_gus&_gucid=&_gup=GSEmail&_gsc=GFNn7qg

GEVGELIJA, Macedonia -- Macedonia stepped up security on its border with Greece on Thursday, blocking thousands of migrants from entering and leaving them stranded on a dusty field.

The government said it is proclaiming a state of emergency on its borders and deploying army troops as it tries to stem a surge of migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa that has overwhelmed the economically-impoverished Balkan country.

Macedonian police spokesman Ivo Kotevski said that both police and the army will from now control the 50-kilometre (30 mile) stretch of the border in order to stop "the massive" influx of migrants coming from Greece.



"This measure is being introduced for the security of (Macedonian) citizens who live in the border areas and better treatment of the migrants," he said.



The measure could create a huge backlog of migrants on the Greek side of the border from which some 2,000 illegally have crossed into Macedonia daily. Hundreds of migrants from the Greek island of Kos planned to move into Macedonia in the next few days.



Until now, the border has been porous with only a few patrols on both sides. If the Macedonians seal the border, it would disrupt the so-called Balkan corridor for migrants that originates in Turkey and goes through Greece or Bulgaria to Macedonia and Serbia.



Macedonia has become a major transit route for the migrants heading from Greece to more prosperous European Union countries. Almost 39,000 migrants, most of them Syrians, have been registered passing through Macedonia over the past month, double the number from the month before.



Thousands of migrants were stranded Thursday in a no-man's land between Macedonia and Greece near the Macedonian town of Gevgelija, from which they planned to catch trains that would take them to the Serbian border on their way to EU-member Hungary. A police helicopter hovered nearby and officers in armoured vehicles watched the crowd.



For months, the train station in Gevgelija was the scene of skirmishes between baton-wielding policemen and the migrants who were trying to secure a place on overcrowded trains.

[George S.]

Why is the EU Steering Refugees through Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary?

Why is the EU Steering Refugees through Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary?



Friday, 21 August 2015

http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/27953/1/

Two years ago, the European Union and United States decided to terrorize the Middle East, stage a coup in Libya, Egypt, Syria because the leadership of those countries refused to turn over their natural resources to the US and EU's elite. As a result of the violent coups, civil wars broke out everywhere where the US and EU intervened. Hardest hit was Syria and Libya.

Today, over a million refugees are trying to enter the European Union seeking a better life. Most of them are from Syria, however there are refugees even from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Yemen and elsewhere.

Brussels childish approach towards the crisis it participated in creating has come under scrutiny. The EU through Soros controlled media in Germany and the UK begun a bizarre propaganda attacking Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary for their "terrible" treatment of refugees. While Macedonia feeds the refugees, in the UK and France they are beaten, lined up and put in shackles as if they are part of a Spielberg movie. But beatings are democratic as long as they are in Western Europe.

Refugees are in EU, but are trying to Enter the EU?

One doesn't have to be related to Einstein to realize the refugee "crisis" is carefully orchestrated. Refugees are trying to "get help" and go to the EU, however they are already in Greece, which is part of the EU. This means, there, they can get all the help they need. In fact, Brussels just gave Athens 45m euros, money to be used for assisting the refugees. Syrian refugees are in Bulgaria and Romania (also members of EU), yet they are being routed specifically through Macedonia and Serbia, both NON-EU countries!



Lets go over this again. Refugees are already on EU territory, yet they risk their lives to transit through NON EU countries so they can illegally enter the EU - again!



It is remarkable to notice that the three countries most impacted by the refugees are Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary - all three known for not obeying EU and US orders and refusing to impose sanctions on Russia.

Is this a sinister plot by Brussels and Washington to turn Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary into their vassal states as they have to the rest of Europe? Perhaps. Perhaps the refugees are completely clueless that Greece, Bulgaria and Romania are EU territory. Perhaps they don't know that going through Italy or Spain you can simply walk into Berlin as there aren't even borders in the EU! Or could be that refugees don't have a choice what route they are being transported.

MRT on the Greek border openly filmed Greek authorities dumping refugees on the Macedonian border is organized fashion. More importantly, it spoke to one Syrian refugee with exceptional English. He put it best "We are told we need to go through Macedonia and Serbia to go to Germany and England" Who told them that?

The problem is, they are not making it to Germany, rather are stuck in Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary. Over 45,000 are in Hungary, hence the wall being built by the Hungarian army.

Meanwhile, refugees caught in no man's land between Macedonia and Greece are continued to be mislead by Greek authorities that they can freely pass through Macedonia. As a result, a group of refugees tried to force their way through a police barrier, however were prevented and pushed back. //Gorazd Velkovski

[George S.]

Macedonia plans fence and troops on Greek border to stop migrants

Macedonia plans fence and troops on Greek border to stop migrants
By Reuters
10 Sep 2015

Country's foreign minister says Hungary-style phsyical barrier may be necessary as 7,000 Syrian refugees enter Montenegro in single day to reach rest of EU from Greece

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/macedonia/11855675/Macedonia-plans-fence-and-troops-on-Greek-border-to-stop-migrants.html

Macedonia is considering building a Hungarian-style border fence to stem a rising influx of migrants from the south, foreign minister Nikola Poposki was quoted as saying on Thursday.

In an interview with Hungarian business weekly Figyelo, he said Macedonia will probably also need "some kind of a physical defence" though this would not be a long-term solution.

"But if we take seriously what Europe is asking us to do, we will need that, too. Either soldiers or a fence or a combination of the two," said Poposki.

West European states like France and Germany have criticised Hungary's ongoing construction of a 108-mile long, 11.5-foot-high fence along its border with Serbia to channel migrants to crossings where they can be registered.

Over 160,000 migrants have entered Hungary from the south this year, transiting Greece, Macedonia and Serbia in that order from war-torn or impoverished countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Almost all seek to reach wealthier western and northern European Union states like Germany and Sweden.

A single-day record of 7,000 Syrian refugees crossed on Monday into Macedonia, a small and relatively poor former Yugoslav republic.

German minister of state for Europe Michael Roth told the same newspaper that Germany expected countries to register migrants who entered the EU over their borders, but that fences were not the right approach.

"We must build a Europe where we protect freedom and guarantee security, but where there is no place for either fences or walls," Roth said.

Also on Thursday, Romania's president says there is "no way" his country will accept the extra number of migrants the European Commission has proposed.

Romania had initially agreed to accept 1,785 migrants, but under new plans unveiled by Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday would be obliged to take a further 4,646.

President Klaus Iohannis said Romania will send its interior minister to a special meeting Monday in Brussels to discuss the issue.

"I had a discussion with him today and his mandate is to declare that there is no way Romania will agree to the obligatory quotas."

Mr Iohannis said the EU is seeking to distribute migrants in a bureaucratic way without consulting member states.

The European Parliament on Thursday backed Mr Juncker's plan to spread out 160,000 refugees in Hungary, Greece and Italy across the other member states.

The support of the legislature had been expected and has little impact compared with the power of the member states, which also need to back the plan.

EU ministers will hold an extraordinary meeting on the issue next Monday and several eastern EU nations have already voiced their opposition to a mandatory spreading of refugees to their countries.

[George S.]

Europe faces political war on two fronts as backlash builds

Europe faces political war on two fronts as backlash builds
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
09 Sep 2015

The European Union is fracturing along multiple lines of cleavage, torn by an emerging Kulturkampf over migrant flows before it has overcome the bitter conflict at the heart of monetary union.

“The bell tolls, the time has come,” said Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the European Commission, in his State of the Union speech.

"We have to look at the huge issues with which the European Union is now confronted. Our Union is not in a good situation,” he said.

Perhaps it would be churlish to point out that the cause of this near existential breakdown is a series of moves that have his fingerprints all over them:

The fateful decision to launch the euro at Maastricht in 1991 without first establishing an EU political union to make it viable, and to do this despite crystal-clear warnings from experts within the Commission and the Bundesbank that it would inevitably lead to a crisis - the "beneficial crisis" as the EMU enthusiasts mischievously supposed.

The escalating treaties of Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon, each concentrating power further in the hands of a deformed institutional system, sapping at the parliamentary lifeblood of the ancient nation-states that can alone be the fora of authentic democracy in Europe.

Above all, to destroy trust by overruling the categorical "No" of French and Dutch voters to the European Constitution in 2005, and bringing back the same treaty by executive Putsch, with a disgusted but complicit British prime minister signing the document in a side-room in Lisbon safely screened from the cameras.

One might have thought that the proper conclusion to draw is that the EU can only save itself at this stage by abandoning the Monnet method of treaty-creep and reflexive attempts to force integration beyond proper limits, and retreat instead to the surer ground of bedrock nation states wherever possible.

But no, Mr Juncker wishes to invoke treaty powers to force countries to accept 160,000 refugees by a quota, whether or not they agree with his solutions, or indeed whether or not they think it is highly dangerous given the state of total war that now exists between Western liberal civilisation and Jihadi fundamentalism.

Personally, I think Europe's nations should open their doors to those fleeing war and persecution, with proper screening, in accordance with international treaties on refugees, and in keeping with moral tradition.

Those countries that etched the lines of Sykes-Picot on the map of the Middle East in 1916 as the Ottoman Empire was crumbling, or those that uncorked chaos by toppling nasty but stable regimes in Iraq and Libya, have a special duty of care. But the point is where the final authority lies.

By invoking EU law to impose quotas under pain of sanctions, Brussels has unwisely brought home the reality that states have given up sovereignty over their borders, police and judicial systems, just as they gave up economic sovereignty by joining the euro.

This comes as a rude shock, creating a new East-West rift within European affairs to match the North-South battles over EMU. With certain nuances, the peoples of Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and the Baltic states do not accept the legitimacy of the demands being made upon them.

There is a paradox to Europe's crisis. Italy's ex-premier Mario Monti says all three of the immediate dramas eating at Europe involve issues in which people - in a sense - want to cleave more closely to the Union.

For refugees coming in biblical proportions, EU soil is the promised land. The crisis with Russia erupted because Ukraine wanted to join the club. The perennial saga in Greece is dragging on because the Greek people want to stay in the euro.

This is true, but it is also meaningless if the project is disintegrating at the core. Marine Le Pen's Front National in France has lost no time seizing on events, insisting that nearly all the refugees are in fact migrants, and claiming for good measure that Germany is letting them in only to work as "economic slaves".

She continues to lead the polls in France, rock solid at 29pc in the latest Figaro survey despite expelling her own father from the party in an astonishing spectacle of political parricide.

There is a high chance that her lead will increase as the initial burst of generosity and warm feelings in parts of French society start to fade, and the long slog begins.

The eurozone is still in a structural economic depression. Do not be fooled the short-term cyclical recovery under way. It comes very late in a global expansion that is already long in the tooth, and is too anaemic to stop political revolt festering across much of southern Europe.

The European Central Bank expects growth of 1.4pc this year and 1.7pc next year. This is thin gruel, given that all the stars are briefly aligned in favour of what should be a roaring boom.

Fiscal policy is neutral after years of pro-cyclical tightening. The ECB is conducting €60bn a month of quantitative easing. The euro has fallen 24pc against the dollar over the past year. Oil prices have dropped by half. Yet even this blitz of stimulus cannot seem to close the output gap.

The rift between EMU's North and South was on vivid display last weekend at the Ambrosetti forum on Lake Como - a gathering of the EU elites - where a top French official accused the Germans to their faces of conducting "religious war", wrecking monetary union in a Calvinist urge for the moral cleansing of debt.

Even if the Teutonic "morality tale" of what went wrong in EMU were true - and Paris rejects the premise - it is too late to close the 20pc to 30pc gap in labour competiveness between the two halves of monetary union purely by forcing retrenchment on the South.

It is precisely such an asymmetric policy that pushed the eurozone into a 1930s contractionary vortex. It has been self-defeating, in any case. The deflationary effects have pushed up debt ratios even faster.

Germany's push for "competitiveness" is a cover for what has in reality been a wage squeeze, stealing a march on other countries within EMU by beggar-thy-neighbour tactics.

The French official said such policies are a zero-sum game in a monetary union. They should not be confused with genuine "productivity" gains, the real measure of economic progress.

Berlin's idee fix with moral hazard - its insistence that there should be no let up in austerity until reforms are delivered, lest there be back-sliding - flies in the face of the academic literature. Reforms need extra stimulus to cushion the shock.

German officials in the room smiled cherubically, unwilling to concede an inch of ideological ground. Not only are they certain of their moral cause, they also deem EMU policies to be vindicated. Just look at Spain. Shows what a country can do.

The French might retort that Spain has revived its car industry - now working "tres turnos" around the clock, and exporting 85pc of output - by luring production away from France to Spanish plants with a 27pc cut in wages. This way lies a race to the bottom.

As for Greece, nothing is resolved. There may or may not be a workable government in Athens after the elections next week. The creditors have yet to clarify what they mean by debt relief, if anything, and the International Monetary Fund refuses to participate in the latest €86bn loan package until they do.

The level of austerity agreed cannot plausibly be achieved. The primary surplus is once again a box to be ticked, a lawyer's concoction. The terms for Greece are even tougher than those rejected by Greek voters in a landslide referendum in July. "It is impossible to enforce," said Yanis Varoufakis, the former finance minister.

"The IMF does not think it can work, nor does the US Treasury, and I know Wolfgang Schauble doesn't think so either because he told me. There is no functioning banking system in Greece. Non-performing loans are 45pc, and any recapitalisation will be wasted. In six months we're going to have to go through exactly the same crisis again," he said.

The risk is that the global economy tips into another downturn over the next 18 months, before the eurozone is really back on its feet, with debt ratios much higher than in 2008, unemployment still stuck at almost 11pc and investment still 4.5 percentage points of GDP below pre-crisis levels (IMF data)

As the World Bank warned this week, all it will take is a mistake by the US Federal Reserve as it begins to tighten, setting off a chain-reaction through emerging markets.

The European Project has very little economic and political capital left to defend it if anything goes wrong now. As Mr Juncker says, the bell tolls.

[George S.]

‘F— the rest!’ On Greek island of Kos, a migrant caste system has emerged, with Syria

‘F— the rest!’ On Greek island of Kos, a migrant caste system has emerged, with Syrians at the top
Shannon Gormley, Postmedia News
September 12, 2015

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/respect-to-refugees-f-the-rest-on-greek-island-of-kos-a-migrant-caste-system-has-emerged-with-syrians-at-the-top

KOS, GREECE — Every now and then, Nikos Grivas walks his German shepherd along the sea and down to the police station in Kos to give the refugees a good scare.

“Not to bite,” says the tall, tanned, brawny Greek. He would never set the dogs on people waiting for their papers to leave Greece, he promises. “Just to scare.”

And even then, he’s only ever paraded his dog around migrants, or shoved them, or hit them, or “beat the s — out of” them when absolutely necessary. If they’re blocking traffic, for instance. Or they’re hurting business. Or police are asking around for them, maybe. Only in these, the most egregious of circumstances, Grivas says, will he use force or the threat of it.

He is one of 25 to 30 men who regularly stalk around the island’s main police station. There, they break up fights or pick them, depending on who you ask. If you ask Grivas, the group is made up of “normal locals.” If human rights observers are asked, they are neo-Nazis. Whatever Grivas is, whatever the group is, some of them — angry, vigilant, and organized — say they’re not only protecting locals, they’re also protecting Syrians.

Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 14, 158,456 people from Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Bangladesh and sub-Saharan Africa arrived on Greek shores by sea. They experience the Aegean the same way. They’ll experience Kos slightly differently.

As global attention finally focuses on the scale and horror of the Syrian refugee crisis, arrivals are frequently divided along national lines by the authorities, Greeks and even by the arrivals themselves. What has emerged is sometimes perceived as a de facto caste system, with “official” Syrian refugees getting limited preferential treatment, compared to those who are on the move for as many reasons as there are migrants.

Persecution isn’t limited to a single nationality. Fleeing persecution can be one reason among may to leave, so many new arrivals feel their needs are being unfairly neglected. It’s causing problems.

Last week, things got ugly down by the police station, as they often do. Amnesty International said 15 to 25 people used bats to attack people who were waiting for their papers. A server at the restaurant next door says they shouted, “Respect to refugees! F— the rest!”

Syrians, said the server, are the only refugees on Kos.

That would make Said Afzal, 29, one of the rest. The skinny, but sprightly man from Pakistan speaks multiple languages and laughs with his head back, eyes shut and mouth wide. He and Waris Khan, his Pakistani friend, roommate and travel companion, argue about who’s more handsome. But they agree they want to get off this island, that it’s unfair they’ve waited for 10 days while some Syrians have come and gone sooner, and they’re not scared of the mob.

Some locals set firecrackers off near the police station while people wait for their papers. Just to scare. Afzal and Khan don’t mind much.

“Not afraid because these are normal things for us. If you hear the big, big bombs, it was nothing. It was just firecracker. You know children, firecracker and Christmas?” Afzal asks. “So we are enjoying our Christmas here!”

“We have seen a lot of things,” says Khan, 25.

But though the men are moving together, they’re moving for different reasons. Khan’s father died of heart problems, so the family needs money. He dreams of opening a hotel overseas and sending the profits back to Swat, where his family is and where he says the Taliban have destroyed the economy.

Afzal says he needs to bring his wife to a doctor, in Germany if he ever gets there himself, because she’s paralyzed from the waist down. It’s the one thing he can’t laugh about.

“I pray for her, because I loved her so much, and I love her also now,” he says.

Afzal loves his kids too. His own, but also the ones he taught. The English teacher was scared for them when the Taliban started dropping notes at his door.

“I was teaching to girls. So many times are warning us, ‘You are man, you should teach to men, do not teach to girls,’ ” he says. “But I still taught them!”

He is from the Khyber Agency, a federally registered tribal area where the school enrollment rate for girls was reportedly 16.3 per cent in 2014.

“In the front of your home are putting papers. Two times, they give me papers. They said, ‘Do not teach them. If you teaching them, you will be responsible for yourself.’ ”

Afzal isn’t teaching anyone anymore. After sharing a room in Istanbul for a year, he says, he and Khan now share a fetid twin mattress in the back of an abandoned hotel at the end of town.

The Captain Elias Hotel was built for about 100 guests; it now houses hundreds more from Pakistan, Bangladesh and sub-Saharan Africa. Men lie around what used to be the bar. Women stoke fires in what used to be the garden. Garbage fills what used to be the swimming pool. And Afzal and Kahn live in what used to be a kitchenette.

Of course, Syrians sleep poorly in their little blue tents on Kos, too: under a bridge, along the water, in parks. They’re attacked, too. They’re neglected, too. Some are sworn at on sidewalks. Others are shooed out of restaurant washrooms. And when those with money try to book a room, they’re occasionally told the inn is full.

But Syrians, recognized as refugees by the European Union as they are all affected by war, do have some priority treatment in Greece.

On Aug. 15, when Greece provided a chartered cruise liner to take Syrians from Kos to Athens, the Kos pier was tense. As the ship boarded Syrian refugees — and only Syrian refugees — Iraqis sat outside chanting, “Enough! Enough! Enough!”

Across the island that week, small groups of Afghans and Pakistanis protested the preferential processing of Syrian refugees, skirmishing with police and with one another in the dust and heat outside the police station.

On Aug. 18, the day the ship left carrying thousands of Syrians to the Greek mainland, a member of the Hellenic coast guard, who was not authorized to speak with the media, said the boat created more problems than it solved.

“The other guys are saying, ‘What about us? We are sleeping in the street, and blah blah blah,’ ” he said. He says many migrants and refugees tried to push their way onto the boat, too, when they weren’t allowed on.

The national divisions among migrants isn’t just a problem on Kos, though. It is becoming an issue throughout Europe and North America.

“Any sort of priority should only be based on need, not on nationality,” cautions Furio De Angelis, the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Canada.

Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, says safe countries have a responsibility to offer protection to Syrian refugees as well as other refugees, not at the expense of them.

[Vangelovski]

Macedonian police complaining that they want to join the refugees and head to Germany, refugees complaining that they're been kidnapped and held for ransom by the Albanian mob.

http://www.thenation.com/article/fed-up-refugees-are-actually-breaking-through-border-controls-in-the-balkans/

[Soldier of Macedon]

http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/28315/1/

Eurocrats to make plans how many refugees Macedonia can host

Friday, 30 October 2015

The same people who declared "Everyone is welcomed" which resulted in open chaos and people streaming into Europe from every direction will now get to decide how many uninvited migrants can remain in Macedonia. The European Commission expects the Republic of Macedonia to pledge a number of reception places for temporary accommodation of refugees from the Middle East, MIA reports from Brussels. A first video conference was held Thursday among the contact points, including State Secretary at Macedonian Ministry of Interior, Anastasija Ilieska, nominated after the Western Balkans Route Leaders' Meeting. EU Stupidity at its best.

Austria has committed 5,000 reception places, Serbia 3,000, while Croatia and Slovenia 2,000 each. This totals to 12,000 out of the 50,000 reception places along the Western Balkan route, pledged at Sunday's mini-summit. Asked why is Macedonia not included in the list, EC spokesperson Natasha Bertaud said at Friday's press briefing the insistence was on new accommodation capacities, not the existing ones. "For now we have pledges for 12,000 refugees from four countries and we expect the same from the rest. We need a pragmatic approach in the issue in order to ensure that what we are doing will provide a place to rest for the people. We expect Macedonia to follow those who have already made pledges", said Bertaud. Hopefully the Macedonian Government has some shred of intellect left and passes on this offer.

I wonder if the EU will pay for these accommodations or if Macedonia will be expected to bear the financial burden on its own.

[Risto the Great]

Macedonia better do what it is told!
(just for the sake of consistency)