Monday, March 28, 2011

Understanding Europe's immigration nightmare

There is more to what is going on in Libya than what you think.

It isn't all about oil - it isn't all about peace-love-n-understanding. No, something a bit more basic.

Look at the demographics ....
this is only the beginning.
Last December, Qaddafi warned EU leaders that their region may “become black because millions want to come to Europe.”

As part of a reparation deal with Italy worth $5 billion, Qaddafi agreed in 2008 to tighten border controls. That led to the number of Libyan migrants to Italy falling to fewer than 3,000 in 2010 from a record 37,000 two years earlier. In Malta, the influx dropped from a 2008 high of 84 boats bringing 2,775 people to 2 boats carrying 47 in 2010.

Since mid-February, almost 225,000 people have fled Libya, with about 115,000 going to Tunisia and 102,000 to Egypt, the Geneva-based United Nations High Commission for Refugees said on March 10. About 2,000 went to Niger and 5,500 to Algeria.

The distance between Valletta and Tripoli, 220 miles, is the same as that of Paris and London. That makes Malta, which joined the euro region in 2008, an entry point for those escaping the unrest in Libya.
.....
While arrivals to Lampedusa are shipped to the Italian mainland, immigrants arriving in Malta are held in detention centers for as long as 18 months. More than half of Malta’s 2.5 million-euro military budget goes to food and shelter for the refugees.
Like I said when this started - we are stepping in a very dark room - where this all leads to, no one knows.

What I will bet a paycheck on is that it won't be a happy place.

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