Where Have All the Migrants Gone?

As reported in numerous news feed articles, Italy has given up hope of getting any help from the European Union in dealing with the flood of migrants that have been landing on its southern islands and mainland littorals for the past six years.

The Italian government has decided to take matters into its own hands, and is pursuing several simultaneous strategies to stanch the flow across the Mediterranean. One such policy is to train and equip the Libyan coast guard to interdict and return the migrants before they leave Libyan territorial waters. Another is to demand that NGO “rescue” ships sign a new code of conduct about their methods of handing their migrant passengers, and deny port privileges to any NGO that fails to comply.

And let’s face it: the North African end of the strategy involves a lot of good old-fashioned bribery, even if it is tarted up and re-branded as “aid”, “training funds”, etc. Shipping migrants across the Med, especially with the NGOs doing a lot of the actual transport, is a lucrative business. But if the Italians outbid the Soros-funded migrants, a new business model will emerge among the gangsters and warlords of Libya, and the flow will stop.

That’s what seems to be happening, according to this article from Süddeutsche Zeitung. Many thanks to Egri Nök for the translation:

Mediterranean Route

Why markedly fewer refugees are suddenly arriving from across the Mediterranean

In Italy, the numbers of migrants crossing over from the Mediterranean has massively declined.

The government in Rome attributes this to their successful training of the Libyan cost guard.

But the immense decline may also be connected with a dubious militia.

By Oliver Meiler, Rome
August 28, 2017

It appears that in Sabratha, a port in the Northwest of Libya only 70 kilometres from the capital Tripoli, there is a militia with several hundred armed members who see to it that no ships with refugees depart from there to Italy anymore. The gang is allegedly named “Brigade 48”, but this is not entirely certain. Their boss is allegedly a former mafia member, maybe even a former trafficker, but his identity, too, is blurred. The group patrols the streets and the beaches of Sabratha, a town of 100,000 inhabitants, as if they were the police.

The coast was the great hope for migrants from Western Africa and Bangladesh, their port for the last leg of their journey across the central Mediterranean to Europe, so it is critical who this gang is, what drives them, who funds them.

It even appears that the mysterious militia, as reported by the Reuters news agency a few days ago in an exclusive story, is one of the main factors for the marked decrease in the passages to Italy — even though it is not the only one.

Italians have been wondering for weeks why suddenly so fewer refugees from Libya are coming to them than in previous years. The route across the Mediterranean is almost empty, just in summer, when normally it is particularly heavily travelled in good weather with a calm sea.

In August, 2,932 migrants arrived on the southern Italian shores, while there were 21,294 in August 2016. The decease is particularly astonishing, as it began so suddenly. Until May it was thought that 2017 would become a record year with more than 200,000 arrivals. No one believes that now.

The Libyan Coast Guard Intervenes, Too

There are different attempts at explanations. For example, the Libyan coast guard finally acquired the necessary means to stop the overcrowded traffickers’ boats in Libyan waters, and return them to the shore, to the camps. The Italians trained them for that. They delivered speedboats and equipment, and money changed hands, too. More than 11,000 people were hindered by the Libyan coast guard on their journey [sic!] since Rome made a deal with Tripoli in February. Until then, the coast guard had a dubious reputation: some of the guards allegedly made a profit from the traffickers’ business.

Another reason for the decrease, which the Italian government sees as their merit, is Rome’s new way of dealing with the private life-savers in the Mediterranean. Interior Minister Marco Minniti forced the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who had fetched tens of thousands of migrants on board in the previous years, to sign a controversial code of conduct, intended to restrict them.

It includes, for example, a provision that the NGOs can not turn the migrants over to the crews of the Italian marine and coast guard, but that they have to bring them to Italy themselves, which costs time and money.

So currently there are only two ships of such rescue organizations cruising off Libya: the Phoenix, operated by the NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station of two Italo-American businesspeople, and the Golfo Azzurro by Proactiva Open Arms, the organization of the Catalan activist Oscar Camps. But the refugee movements had already begun decreasing before Minniti issued his codex.

The Controls Have a Deterrent Effect

Another thesis being debated is whether Italy’s efforts in southern Libya, at the borders of Niger and Chad, may be bearing fruits already. There, deals were made with tribes for them to control the border passes more effectively. Europe expects the sub-Saharan countries to stop the large movements through their countries in exchange for millions in aid. The newspaper Corriere della Sera writes that this series of new controls is already a deterrent — up to the countries where most migrants originate from.

But it seems that this supposition comes too early. Besides, there are hundreds of thousands of refugees who are already in Libya, waiting for a good moment for their flight. So the assumption seems increasingly plausible that the armed gang of Sabratha plays a considerable role in the decrease in passages. Eyewitnesses who nevertheless managed the trip report after their arrival in Italy that it had become extremely complicated to get passage on a boat in Sabratha.

It seems that the Brigade 48 recruit their members from among former police and military. One may wonder if this group, shrouded in mystery, might be on the payroll of the government in Tripoli, who in turn receives money from Europe, to control the coasts. It would be an important term. Until now, the whole strip between Tripoli and the Tunisian border was seen as an anarchist ground of rivalling local potentates, jihadis, smugglers of all sorts: drugs, oil, weapons, and especially people. Camps rose in the hinterland of Sabratha, where the refugees are held like pawns. Sometimes they are let go, sometimes they are kept — depending on what pays more.

20 thoughts on “Where Have All the Migrants Gone?

  1. Where there is a will , there is a way.

    Just ges to show the whole thing is a massive con job.

  2. A lot of forces at play here and most of them reliant on that money tap to keep running.

    But what happens when the money stops flowing?

    Will the Italians then just give up and allow a return to the dangers of mass arrivals into their country?

    I don’t think the Italian government as it is, has thought out the repercussions of this extortionate transaction between themselves and those who now control Libya. How much money is the Italian government prepared to pay in bribes or a form of jizya, to just one part of Islam in order to keep the migrants away?

    Going on a long Islamic history of extortion, how long until the Libyans decide that the money the Italians are providing is not enough and they demand more?

    What is the Italian limit on more?

    This is a temporary solution only and I hope the Italians have a plan B waiting to be put into action.

    Some very insightful thinking in this article Baron!

    • Bribes can be a very effective way of conducting business. In a sense, bribes are a form of subcontracting.

      I guess your fear is, what happens when Soros and his ilk of international financier and deal-maker outbid the Italians? My thought is, that’s a bridge to cross when they come to it. If the Italians have a few years respite from the crime and chaos of violent, low-IQ African and Muslim immigrants, and see the shipments pick up again, they might be willing to take direct measure they now shy away from: arrest the NGO leaders, intercept and tow the transport boats back to the shores of Libya with armed Italian naval escort, declare ‘EU officials persona non gratis in Italy…actually, many, many options once they’re willing to assert their national interest.

      • The problem as I see it, is that it may be some time before the Italians can actually agree on asserting their national sovereignty and by that time, the real damage will have already been done.

  3. How about refusing entry to all NGO ships, and posting the Italian navy as a deterrent? Anyone attempting to land should be arrested and tried for participating in human trafficking, and any resistance met with force and additional charges of terrorism on the survivors…did that cross anyone’s mind?

    • The best strategic position in any defensive war, be it a cold or a hot war, is for the defender to choke off the the sources of supply to the antagonist, in this case, the exit point from where Europe’s future enemy leaves from.

      Once the enemy reaches Italian territorial waters and then attempts to lands as ‘migrants’, and there are millions of them willing to test any measures put against them at this stage in this still evolving invasion of Europe, and there will still be many who will achieve that aim, then Italy must observe international law and that means reverting back to what they are now attempting to stop or at least have some better control over.

      The EU has virtually wiped its hands of Italy’s dangerous problem that in the end, and if not dealt with firmly, will end up being Europe’s problem as well.

      This problem will probably slip into what you suggest at some point down the road, but the urgency of the problem is only just beginning to clear some very foggy heads in Italy as to the ramifications of all those ‘migrants’ and the problems they are now causing, and in future will cause. Problems that are now exacerbated by a very disinterested EU in providing any assistance to Italy at all.

      • “International law” is now a tool to enforce the destruction of civilized countries.

        Somali pirates now avoid Russian vessels. Is it because Russia scrupulously observed international law? Lol. The Somalis understand what the Russians will do to them if they attack Russian ships. And, does anyone try to enforce Russian observance of “international law”? No, of course not. No one is under the illusion that the Russians will take them seriously, and it’s probably personally dangerous to push the matter too far.

        • Putin has stated that the West is committing suicide – he knows what the real problems are and how they must be handled.

          One of the weaknesses of Western civilization has always been via the individual. The Collective, as in Islam or the Left, has been very successful in dominating the individual who has been slow in awakening to that ‘success’.

          But awakening, many of us now are!

  4. Wow all those nuclear physics boffins, engineers, Doctors, etc not allowed into Europe! These refugees are supposed to include ‘sophisticated software analysts’ too. I never realised these clever fellows could read Cobol rather than English. What is Italy and Europe to do? And don’t for get the wonderful culturally enriching cuisine revealed in a migrant arrested by UK Police from Nigeria-caught actually about to serve up tasty mouth watering human liver and entrails soup (Mail 02/09/18). What are we to do?

    Cannibal accused of serving guests soup made from ‘a murdered …
    http://www.express.co.uk › News › World

  5. Until the NGOs bribe them more than the Italians are. Then the whole sorry mess starts again. End of the Roman Empire anyone?

  6. Where have all the Muslims gone?

    With ZERO apologies to Liberal weenie, Pete Seeger
    (Sung to the tune of, “Where have all the Flowers Gone”

    Where have all the Muslims gone?
    Jews need gassing
    Where have all the “martyrs” gone?
    Not long ago
    Where have all jihadis gone?
    Paradise for every one

    When will all Islam burn?
    When will Muslims ever learn?

    Where have all the virgins gone?
    Sands need glassing
    Where have all Muslimas gone?
    Not much to show
    Where have all the burkas gone?
    Turned to trash bags every one

    When will all Islam burn?
    When will Muslims ever learn?

    Where have all the shaheeds gone?
    Chips need cashing
    Where have all the bomb vests gone?
    They’ve got to blow
    Where have all insurgents gone?
    Cannon fodder every one

    When will all Islam burn?
    When will Muslims ever learn?

    Where have all the Sunnis gone?
    They need thrashing
    Where have all the Shiites gone?
    They’ve got to go
    Where have all the Arabs gone?
    Gone to graveyards every one

    When will all Islam burn?
    When will Muslims ever learn?

    Where have all the terrorists gone?
    Still outgassing
    Where have all the fatwas gone?
    Who [epithet] knows
    Where have all the Muslims gone?
    Covered with fallout every one

    When will they ever learn?
    When will they ever learn?

  7. Bribing the Libyan para-military gang to cut off the departures from the Libyan coast is a good first step. But as another commenter pointed out, it cannot be a long-term solution, or else Italy will be paying the jizya tax forever, in ever increasing amounts, and to an ever increasing number of Islamic extortionists all over the Mediterranean.

    Italy will need to get deadly serious. For starters, they should confiscate or even sink any NGO vessels involved in this human trafficking of unassimable Muslim third worlders into Italy. This is an actual invasion. As such, Italy’s navy must patrol aggressively the sea lanes far out into the Med. Any boats, rafts, or NGO vessels found carrying Islamic so-called refugees should be sunk without exception, and the occupants, both crew and cargo, summarily deposited back on the Southern coast from whence they embarked.

    If this policy was carried out systematically and with no exceptions, Italy would see the number of seaborne ‘refugees’ arriving anywhere in Italy drop to essentially zero over a period of just months.

    Then Italy needs to aggressively begin rounding up and deporting to Libya the ones who arrived over the last several years. If it became necessary for Italy to pay Libya substantial bribe money temporarily to accept the deportees and repatriate them back to wherever they originated from, then that would be money extremely well spent.

  8. The original Sicilian Mafia arose fighting Islam and fighting dirty. How I love using those two phrases in one sentence: “fighting Islam” and “fighting dirty”. It gives me hope.

  9. “As reported in numerous news feed articles, Italy has given up hope of getting any help from the European Union in dealing with the flood of migrants”

    That is incorrect. The only help Italy has been demanding (a more accurate term would be blackmailing) from the EU has been to take the migrants they were bringing from Africa. Renzi, the former PM of Italy, has said that he will not let any migrant drown and he doesn’t want to be part of a Europe that would allow such a thing. Italy and Greece, with the support of Germany and Sweden, have been pushing for the mandatory migrant quotas for several years now.

    • Good post and excellent information. Please see my post on the desirability of strong national identity and autonomy.

  10. The Italian situation is a textbook example of the benefits of a national identity and completely autonomous national government, as opposed to a globalist coalition with enforcement powers over nations.

    The original plan was to ship in refugees and spread them out among all the European countries, so there would be millions and millions of Africans and Muslims in every country before the populations became uncomfortable enough to actually create some political backlash. But, if the ruling party is the EU rather than any individual European government, the EU bureaucracy is virtually independent of any popular opinion in any one country or in all countries. The taxation, regulation, and enforcement mechanisms are already in place, and not subject to any electoral controls.

    The softening of national identity did not progress quickly enough, though, and the countries slated to receive the Africans and Muslims did not accept them. This left them to bunch up in Italy, which retained enough of its national identity to rebel against being the repository of low-IQ, violent, unassimilatible, Africans and Muslims. Thus, Italy from its national interest and identity, began on its own initiative to take effective steps against the immigrant flow. And Italian government officials might even get pressured to the point where they would defy “international law”.

    We actually owe a vote of gratitude to the NGOs and EU bureaucrats who pushed the timetable too quickly and generated a resistance they didn’t anticipate. Perhaps they anticipated the election of Hillary to the point where they didn’t have alternative plans, and acted like the zombies they are.

    Slightly off the track, I’m enjoyed “The Walking Dead” right now, and find it very, very revealing of human nature. Nationalists wishing to fight globalist zombies could do far worse than watch “The Walking Dead” religiously.

  11. We actually owe a vote of gratitude to the NGOs and EU bureaucrats who pushed the timetable too quickly and generated a resistance they didn’t anticipate. Perhaps they anticipated the election of Hillary to the point where they didn’t have alternative plans, and acted like the zombies they are.

    Aside from sheer violence, if Islam exhibits one characteristic above all others, it is overreach. Please recall that there are many Muslims who were angered by bin Laden’s 9-11 Atrocity. Not due to the senseless loss of so much human life, but because the 2001 attacks tipped Islam’s hand prematurely.

    Therefore, it is unsurprising to see the EU take a page from Islam’s playbook with respect to flooding The Continent with violent, semi-retarded, parasites. Let us all hope that the EU has acted too precipitously and that indigenous Europeans still have some opportunity and means to reverse this calamity.

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