The following op-ed from Die Welt discusses the seemingly suicidal delusions that inform the open-borders policies of Joachim Gauck and Angela Merkel.
Many thanks to Nash Montana for the translation:
Merkel is doing a huge disservice to Europe
What a mistake: Germans believed in a completely smooth integration of migrants. But they’re in for a surprise — and on top of that, the European Union will get into big trouble.
by Václav Klaus
The current open discussions, especially in Germany, over the mass (collective, not individual) immigration, that builds its premise on the word ‘refugee’ instead of the meaning of ‘migrant’, or better stated, of the economically motivated migrant, is very dubious. It is deceptive, it is misleading, and with its excessively exaggerated political correctness, it is down right suicidal.
Social sciences have told us (in this case even in complete harmony with healthy common sense), that in order for the smooth and productive functioning and stability of any society, the interior coherence of said society is absolutely vital. Economic science applies the concepts of “human and social capital”, without which a healthy, cohesive and functioning body politic is impossible.
Today’s debate about immigration completely ignores these elementary facts. But the ideologues, their minds fogged up by the ideology of multiculturalism, do not see any problem with this. They believe that it is possible to “fill up” societies in individual European states with migrants without a hitch.
Migrants as the glue for Europe
Therefore it is hardly a surprise that these politicians do not see any urgency in stopping the current wave of migration. They’re occupied with managing it — be it with money, with open arms, with shelter and, especially, with the promise of a new, better life.
Why is that? I would like to cite my colleague Jiri Weigl. He believes that the intention of this “Willkommenspolitik”, the ‘culture of welcome’, is to eventually destroy the nexus of existing societies in Europe. The resulting wreckage is the only way for the leading politicians to build their “new Europe” — without us of course, without those who are content with the current Europe. And from these migrants shall come “the first members of this imagined new European nation,” says Weigl.
Migrants have zero connection to existing European states, and therefore they will adapt and identify much more easily to a new multicultural Europe. The migrants essentially function as the glue of a new European nation.
A fatal mistake made by Germans
Another reason for the behavior of many European and especially German politicians could be their naïve notion that this massive immigration in the short run may have some uncomfortable issues and unintended consequences, but that in the long run, it all will end on a positive note. This is a fatal mistake.
These politicians, lead by Herr Gauck and Frau Merkel, presume that out of these migrants will immediately emerge motivated, intelligent, educated and employable skilled workers, who then will replace aging German employee. It is a laughable assumption. It stands in gross opposition to each and every experience that Germany has had in the past with migrants and guest workers.
It is well known that each human being acquires his very own pattern of behavior in his youth. The most important imprinting occurs within his immediate family structure. It is therefore possible that the proponents of this massive immigration wholeheartedly believe in the power of reeducation, manipulation and indoctrination, and that they embrace the dream of building a new human being in the tradition of Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”, a human that would be formed entirely according to their mental image.
The German invitation
This is of course an almost childish fantasy. Wolfgang Kasper, a German expatriate who has lived in Australia for half a century, adds to this: “There are exceptions, but the majority of today’s migrants are going to go through a slow, process of cultural assimilation lasting multiple generations.” Kasper also mentions that the second generation of immigrants often rejects their integration into the European society; more often than not they entirely reject Western values as a whole. And when such tendencies gain the upper hand, then the process of “cultural assimilation” threatens to work entirely in reverse.
Last but not least, it is important to think about why this migration wave takes place at exactly this moment. What happened that was so important that precisely now 40% of the migrants who came to Bavaria last weekend, came from Kosovo? The war ended in Kosovo 15 years ago. And why did another 40% immigrate from Afghanistan, where all armed conflicts have been going on in one way or another for the past few decades? It is not as if the living conditions have suddenly dramatically changed in any way in these migrants’ respective homelands.
But they did get — explicitly and implicitly — a message. A message that they now can immigrate to Europe. Reinforced by their — certainly justified — frustration over the conditions at home, these people now break with their lives in their homelands and move to Europe, and mostly Germany. And the abandonment of their homeland is bought with horrendous sums paid to human traffickers.
European siren call
The migrants follow the call of reckless European politicians in complete ignorance of the risk and the danger that lie in wait for them and their families — to which the hundreds of drowned people in the Mediterranean can attest.
They all followed the promise that it would be entirely possible to live in Europe. Politicians like Angela Merkel and Joachim Gauck encouraged and reinforced this notion with their actions. Perhaps these politicians thought that their open invitation would be a humanitarian gesture. But it is not. On the contrary. They are a huge disservice to Europe. I feel deep worry over the future of European civilization. It is about nothing less.
[The photo with Angela Merkel at the bottom: It shows her taking a selfie with Afghan woman Shukria Barakzai, having no clue that in Afghanistan, this photo was viewed as an open invitation for Afghans to come to Germany.]
Die Welt is mainstream – isn’t it? That it prints an article questioning the current immigration insanity is surely another step in the right direction. Hopefully we’ll get there before the SHTF – or perhaps that will be necessary to help propel us along the road.
A “Huge disservice”? That is an understatement. This is genocide of plain and simple- a potential Holocaust 2. These politicians are traitors and potential mass murderers and should be placed under arrest and tried.
Correction
This is genocide of European humanity plain and simple.
I do not want nor desire to live in a European “Kalifate” nor be Moslem. The whole “faith” is a grand fake cuckoo in the Abrahamic nest. I like the originals thankyou than this travesty.
If you are “Offende” be my guest. I am deeply offended.
Perhaps the most-recommended comment currently on the Die Welt article is also noteworthy. I’ll add my attempt at a translation here. The comment is by user “Karl Achtert”:
“Mr Klaus, the large mass of Germans is of the same opinion as you, and sees in “Willkommenskultur” the “un-word of the year”*. The consequences of the Merkel/Gauck policies for Europe are fatal, we will experience them already in a few days or weeks. And the result will, in almost all German states, be as in Austria: the FPÖ (Austrian Freedom Party – “far-right”) has drastic vote gains, as the people can no longer defend themselves by other means. And Europe will tear itself apart, thanks to the German policies.”
And – in spite of opinions such as this (even if it is on a relatively right-wing, by German standards, paper like Die Welt) – the policies of the German government are as they are… does Angela Merkel have a political death-wish, or has she merely succumbed to the wishes of the loud mouths of Antifa, and their ilk?
*note – “unwort des Jahres”, or “un-word of the year”, is an official contest for poor words to have entered the German language. And indeed, according to Wikipedia, “Willkommenskultur” is indeed at the top of the 2015 list.
European elites may suffer from “Childish Fantasy”. But they also suffer from a bad case of leftist willful ignorance.
The long term outlook for a society with a large percentage of Muslims is not good. Even a small percentage of Muslims invites problems. Simply look at Southern Thailand to see the result. None of the usual Euro elites excuses apply. What have the peaceful Thais done to “deserve” Islamic jihad.
The simple fact remains, Islamic theology is the core problem.
This problem has been hidden in plain sight by an inability to see the bigger picture for 1,400 years. The internet has changed that. Anyone willing to look can see the results of Islam.
Islam is a social pathology. The non-Muslim world needs to plan an effective strategy to deal with this pathology.
Importing Muslims in mass is suicidal.
You are so correct about the Left’s willful ignorance. In fact it is willful arrogance. That is typical of the modern elites who have divorced the Judeo-Christian God but think they can ‘take over’ Christian morality as their own invention. This is what makes them so insufferably sanctimonious!
They are too narcissistic and self-righteous to look back at history. Every attempt to create a Secular Utopia has lead to abuse of human rights and dictatorship, from the French Revolution to Marxist Communism to Hitler’s National Socialism to the Post-modern, PC, ‘choose your own gender’, ‘choose your own victim group’ society! The EU, if Merkel gets her way and creates an army, will be the next instrument of German aggression.
As for Islam, until its ideology is obliterated from the face of the earth like cannibalism, there will never be peace. It would not be difficult to do. Get rid of every mullah and imam by banning them from preaching Sharia Law which is incompatible with human rights law. Lock up the lot and put them on trial.
How right you are, in fact most countries which have let muslims in through the door have become muslim. 56 countries so far, and counting….
Now they have Europe squarely in their sights, and still the naïve sheep of Europe actually form welcome committees for the enemy!!
You couldn’t make this stuff up; truth is indeed worse than anything anyone could dream up, because no author could possibly dream up anything as bad, traitorous, naïve or just plain stupid as the E.U./Bilderberg/Coudenhove-Kalergi lunatics.
Rather importing Muslims is mass violence, bloodshed, murder, horror and injustice without end. The Muslim gang is neither peaceful or is it a religion. Any lingering doubt will be removed over the coming months.
Silver lining: I’ve just read about 10 articles in Die Welt (very MSM) in which the author criticizes this open-doors policy strongly or at least tentatively. And under any article about ‘refugees’, pro or contra, the most ‘liked’ comments are always very anti open-doors.
That’s the same as on most online British newspaper articles, even on the Independent and the Guardian, yet I don’t see any revolt manifesting outside of our living rooms (sorry, not wanting to put a dampener on it). Then again, I live beside a Muslim area in a very multicultural city so I don’t get to gauge the average Englishman’s view on this and I’m the only British person I know who posts regarding these issues on social networks. It seems like everyone else is either repressed, a Lefty, couldn’t give a damn or is so focused on attending to their own narcissistic ends that the impending doom doesn’t warrant attention.
I believe you’ve validated what many posters have been saying; the current generation is so self-absorbed with themselves that they’d walk into traffic while snapping selfies. I’ve even read the Dutch have create a texting walkway for these types. What a shame – I appreciate your insight Kettle and hope to hear more from you. Best of luck from Southern California.
Thanks Jeff.
Yes, all this should be on everyone’s lips but there’s barely a whimper. In our defence, the arrival of all these ‘refugees’ has yet to be seen in the UK, so perhaps any challenge to the status quo is on hold. Britain also isn’t bound by the migrant relocation order given by Merkel. Only silver lining is that the British military, or a General within it, has put it out there that a coup is a possibility if the Far Left Corbyn gets elected, which he is unlikely to do in 2020, but one wonders what other criteria would warrant such a coup.
With this unabated invasion, I’m afraid 2020 may have the UK on a war footing. Thank goodness Britain stayed out of full EU membership or there’d be wave after wave of invaders over the Thames. I hope SNP and Labour can be kept apart or the notion of a coup wouldn’t be so crazy after all.
Hard to say, Kettle. Some of your colleagues may be more concerned than they seem – if you live and work in a leftie-type environment few people are going to talk openly about this stuff. Also, there is the ‘tipping point’ idea: human communities do have ‘tipping points’ – a point where suddenly a mass of people can become interested in something that appeared not to have interested them before. Tricky thing, human psychology: making all predictions about the future so hard. I’ve lived through a revolution, and can attest that everything can change very dramatically,in a very short time.
Yes, this is quite true. And it’s in the nature of chaotic systems to behave this way. A general mathematical model of them can be created, and their overall behavior can be described, but accurate prediction is simply impossible.
Huge changes will come upon us suddenly, without warning. “Therefore stay alert, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
A perfect example of why I enjoy your blog dear Baron, the wisdom of crowds. Sir Francis Galton found the mean average of a large group of individuals guessing an animal’s weight were very accurate. Via the wonderful crowd in this commentary section I’m able to take stock of the current events and reach my own conclusion of where this is all heading.
I missed the item on local news but apparently some woman in the North-East of England says that she is willing to take a “refugee” (family) into her home and that 4000 other people have signed up to do so. Someone apparently official said on the same news item that the woman, and anyone else, would be risking their lives by doing this.
I note that Newcastle City Council is offering to provide accommodation , and schools, for 50 families. The local newspaper website lists 10 to 20 organisations offering help.
The bleeding hearts are out in force and, showing their unfailing intelligence, fail to note that 80% of the “refugees” are not Syrian at all; that the vast majority are single men of working (and military) age; that the vast majority are muslim; that these refugees have happily broken laws, destroyed their papers, rioted, attacked police, damaged property, made demands, thrown back food as “not halal” and chanted allahu akbar
Interestingly some 30 years ago the population of Newcastle officially had 2.5% ethnic minorities. An inhouse study revealed that the true figure was 4%. A few months ago I read that officially the population now included at least 20% ethnic minorities. This massive increase cannot be down to the fact that the City has 2 universities although that will have some effect. I fear for the future.
The ‘elites reasoning’ laid bare in this article, pity the author did not just one step further to mention where the Merkels and Gaucks get their orders from.
The last paragraph concerning Merkel’s ‘selfie’ with an Afghan invader I find a little naive on the translators part, because Merkel knows exactly what she is doing!
Why is it that the conspiracy nutters cannot accept that a decision made by Merkel is her own decision rather than the unseen hand of an all-powerful and sinister being? I suppose that is a way of coping for the UFO and Big Foot followers.
You cannot see an agenda in how this has been markedly playing out ever since the end of the Second World War?
You don’t believe the adage that anything that happens in politics is not through happenstance?
Who controls the U.N., the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Bank for International Settlements, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderberg Group and the alphabet soup of intelligence agencies in ALL countries? You don’t believe they are all tied into a common purpose?
Are you so naïve to believe that todays politicians actually get to act alone and to their own agenda all of the time?
On your sarcasm regarding UFO/Bigfoot – actually we in Australia call them Yowies. Remember that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Too, the deliberate ridiculing of subjects by governments and the media that should have been scientifically investigated decades ago is not a conspiratorial theory, but is based on actual documented CIA evidence as produced under the Freedom of Information Act. So if the government and its willing accomplices in the media have been lying to us for decades about subjects that should have been explored, what else have they been lying to us about?
Vaclav Klaus… as right as ever…if only the world had listened to him and ordinary people! Europe is being ruined in front of our eyes. There will be nowhere to escape islam – not even Cenral or Eastern Europe. Will the Germans manage to destroy Europe for the third time? For ever?
We are witnessing the suicide of Europe. They evidently do not teach history in Europe these days (or here, either). They have forgotten 1683 (the gates of Vienna, no pun intended, but. . .) there is no Jan Sobieski, King of Poland, to ride to their rescue this time.
They will devolve into a pale copy of the mid-east, with all the rape, violence, robbery and crime that goes with that, but without the iron hand of the rulers in the mid-east to keep them somewhat in check.
Hungary is resisting and I hope she succeeds. Viktor Orban is the only politician I can admire or respect in Europe right now. Merkel is an idiot and so is Hollande; if he has forgotten Charlie Hebdo and other horrors in France, he will be re-acquainted soon.
In a way, I weep for Europe but they have brought this on themselves. I little sympathise with people who do not have the testicular fortitude to defend their own countries. So let’s just say that a people who are not willing to defend their country, deserve to lose it. Had they any, ANY, intestinal fortitude we would have seen them all descending on the middle east and settling their hash, as in the past.
But today, we must respect them (the Muslims) even thought they haven’t changed a bit since those colonial days or ever, as far as I can tell. And of course, we have a President who refuses to act at all, other than invite a bunch of them into our country.
Peasants, get your torches and pitchforks ready! You will need them (unless you live in Minneapolis, which has already been conquered).
Sorry if I got carried away — cut as needed to meet your standards.
Maria (the angry Hungarian-American at this moment, but most of the time I am American).
suicide or sobering kick in the [fundament]; which one will it be?
Bravo Maria – couldn’t agree more. I say Geert, Le Pen and PEGIDA organize EU wide strikes and grind the economies of Europe to a halt before the hordes settle in, there’s no other options left?
Well said 🙂
They have changed Mariadee. Just look at the populations of mainly muslim countries. They have grown by a factor of 6 or more in the last 70 years. Unlimited food aid tends to remove the need to procreate within one’s means. Gaza started with 250000 “refugees” in 1947/8. Billions of aid and 60 odd years later they are still “refugees” but now number about one and three quarter million requiring exponential annual increases in aid. Same with huge tracts of Africa.
Exactly. Bravo! Parent(s) are seldom if ever held accountable & responsible for their offspring. I am over 50 years old and have lived through “Save the starving children of Etheopia, Somalia, Mogadishu, Haiti, and other hell holes. Decades ago the West was told not to judge their nomadic culture and large families. Without social security benefits & retirement, 10 kids mean one or two may survive long enough to care for their parents in old age. Eastern Indians, Indonesians, Afghanis, Pakistanis, etc also mass produce.
Enough is enough! Using innocent children to garner sympathy is the oldest trick in the book. Liberals fall for it constantly. Meanwhile, indigeneous Westerners watch their civilization dissolve in front of them; no bullets fired yet. Makes my blood boil thinking about all the sacrifices our ancesters made to preserve freedom & liberty. All the bloody wars that happened while Christianity reformed itself into Protestant & Catholic tolerance. Yet Islam refuses to evolve or reform past the 7th century. Madness! Mayhem! There will be “Rivers of Blood” as predicted by Enoch Powell in the 21st Century.
This is one of the big events in history–the destruction of European civilization. Every normally aware citizen of every country on Earth should be sad and weepy and anxious because of this. It is equivalent to an utterly devastating war wiping out man’s civilizational roots. It has the same significance as the discovery of a large earth-bound asteroid. How dare these elite moronic pipsqueaks!
It is interesting to note how many migrants hail from Kosovo. That land was liberated by NATO from the supposedly unspeakable tyranny of Serbia (most Kosovo Serbs were despoiled of their earthly possessions and thrown out of the land in the course of the liberation) and handed over to the supposedly democratic rule of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
The West duly provided Kosovo not only with extra huge amounts of aid but also with all the democratic institutions, officially recognised its independence and welcomed it in the flock of democratic nations.
With such careful tutelage Kosovo ought to have turned into a little mountain paradise and a par excellence destination for suffering refugees.
However, for some mysterious reason, Kosovo is not exactly besieged by refugees seeking a better life in this gem of a country. Even more mysteriously, its own population liberated from hateful Serbian yoke is today so much given to Wanderlust.
Curious, isn’t it?
“Disservice” really is the understatement of the year.
The german word is “Bärendienst” which means translated “bear service”. In german folklore, bears will tear you apart.
Therefore, calling what Merkel is doing to Germany a Bärendienst, is like when someone is handing you a grenade and tells you it’s just a clock. Uh… wait…
The EU’s much-vaunted ‘core values’ are a scam. Dishonestly promoted as ‘for economic benefit’, their real purpose is nation-breaking (“EU Nation-Breaking”, LibertyGB) to undermine and destroy the national identities and cultures, and to create a brave new Afro-Eurabia with the EU’s unelected elites in control (“The Eurabia Stitch-Up”, LibertyGB).
See “Europe Down the Pan”
http://libertygb.org.uk/v1/index.php/news-libertygb/6877-europe-down-the-pan
Merkel makes the German state complicit in people-trafficking.
Angela Merkel is the political equivalent of deranged Germanwings pilot Andreas Lubitz. She is fanatically and suicidally determined to crash European Airlines into a mountain taking all the passengers with her to their inescapable doom.
When the comfort possessions are confiscated from the over indulged children of Europe maybe only then the tantrum events will occur.
An article of a similar nature in French: but about Sweden.
http://lesobservateurs.ch/2015/09/22/suede-echec-de-lintegration-des-immigres-ce-nest-pas-faute-de-moyens-ou-de-bons-sentiments/
Ok, I’ve also an English version:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/swedens-ugly-immigration-problem/article26338254/
The non-Europe don’t integrate well said Mr Sanandaji.
« Les non-Européens s’intègrent mal »,
“42% of long-term unemployed are immigrants”
quarante-deux pour cent des chômeurs de longue durée sont des immigrants
Vaclav Klaus writes:
“These politicians … presume that out of these migrants will immediately emerge motivated, intelligent, educated and employable skilled workers, who then will replace aging German employee. It is a laughable assumption. It stands in gross opposition to each and every experience that Germany has had in the past with migrants and guest workers.”
This is what I don’t get: why haven’t the Western European countries been conducting studies of the economic/fiscal impact of their “guest-worker programs” since the 1960’s to ascertain whether they are in fact a net liability or net bonus. I read of one German study which estimated that by the late 70’s the Turkish ‘gastarbeiter’, who were meant to go home but never did, had reached a tipping point: they had become a net drain on Germany.