Kos island residents have been increasingly vocal in their protests against the EU proposed HOT SPOT, scheduled to be located at two of the islands underused military camps. The HOT SPOT is one of five that the EU has demanded, and the Greek government has agreed to construct. The other four are on the islands of Lebos, Leros and Chios(where they are already in place) and Samos, where the implementation is being delayed, as on Kos.
The islands have been selected solely on the basis, that they are the islands that refugees have chosen, as their preferred destination, due to their proximity to Turkey and the convenience of the human traffickers, primarily Turkish, who control a billion dollar human smuggling business. No other factors were considered in determining where the HOT SPOTS would be located. Residents have had no say...till now.
The basic idea is to convert the military bases into refugee processing and welcoming centers, where refugees will be sorted between Syrian and Afghan UN war refugees and the tide of economic refugees, flooding in from Africa and the Middle East (particularly Pakistan), who have no legal claim to enter Europe.
On the surface, particularly after the chaotic scenes of last summer (see my previous blogs), the idea would appear to have merit. During the summer, more than 50,000 refugees a month were arriving on an island with a local population of 25,000. With no place to stay, make-shift camps and tenting areas overflowed onto the roads, parks and historic sites, the main town was over run and overflowing.
The idea of centralizing the refugees and organizing them in a manner which might expedite their exodus, based on a HOT SPOT model that has been operating in Italy for some years was quickly rushed through and forced upon the community without their having any voice in the decision. What the designers of the idea in Brussels are missing, say the locals, is the way the well-organized human traffic operation operates. The locals contend that if there are legitimate welcoming centers on Kos, the word will quickly spread through social media and the substantial underground network, that refugees have a clear route here and Kos is a secure stepping stone on their path to Europe.
This conundrum raises some hypotheticals that could play out in different directions. Local residents point out that just because of the intensity of recent protests on Kos, in spite of the seasonally warm weather, the amount of daily refugee arrivals has already dropped, a tangible sign that they might be right in their strategy...But could it possibly play out that if there was a HOT SPOT here, while the number of refugees might not decrease, the number of non-Syrian refugees, who are much more difficult to deal with as they generally intentionally lose their papers and would need to be repatriated if they are not coming from a UN approved country, would decrease?
While these are significant points to consider looking through the narrow perspective of, to be a HOT SPOT, or not to be a HOT SPOT, looking at the situation on even deeper levels, escalates the heat of the situation significantly, on many levels.
Kos residents claim they stand to take the greatest hit of all the chosen islands, as they are one of the country's top tourist destinations and have an economy that is the most vulnerable to taking on a HOT SPOT, thus they are protesting less against the HOT SPOT idea in general, than the idea of having one on their island. So, the question must be asked, by only looking out for their own backyard, are they missing a vital opportunity to stand together as a nation and demand the situation is addressed in far more crucial way...for example, at the root level?
Should the German-led EU, pressure and re-organize the Aegean borders of Turkey, rather than supporting a defiant Turkey who increasingly looks like they are going to embark on their own Syrian invasion, after profiteering for so long from supporting Syrian rebels and openly engaging in arms and oil black markets with Syrians both side of the ISIS arena...maneuvers that are continuing the refugee exodus rather than easing it?
Alistair Crooke, writing for the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/syria-putin-assad_b_9169998.html), paints a very clear detailed picture of how easily the Syrian conflict could come to a virtual conclusion, and very well may if the Russians finish their already successful strategy of cutting off Turkish supply lines, isolating ISIS and stabilizing Assad's regime. NATO and the EU seem to miss the point that democracy is not the only legitimate government and that some countries are more stable and function more efficiently with strong auto-cratic leaders. This is not a sin and it is a point the US critically missed in Iraq, when in their greed for oil and to initiate an intractable war to fuel their weapon industry, rushed to destabilize Hussein.
It was a massive mistake, not hidden in a world that is increasingly aware of, and becoming fed-up with, a few making huge profits on the many. Russia seems to be taking the lead in making sure that mistake is not repeated in Syria, and while that may be a bitter pill for Germany and the US to swallow, it is less so for Greek islanders who are experiencing the fallout in their homes and far more to the point, the refugees being bombed out of their homes.
Somehow Germany and NATO have placed all their bets on Turkey being the solution to this problem, when in fact they are the core problem. The idea that the EU is pouring BILLIONS into Turkey and talking up even greater military support, while Greece is continually suppressed and castrated by the same EU technocrats does not jive with the local islanders being told they should be the solution to the refugee crisis.
And on top of it all, it is a point not missed, that the very military camps that were constructed to protect Greece from Turkey, a country who has invaded them in both ancient and modern times, are now meant to be converted into camps for refugees exported from Turkey, and Turkey alone has control over who is sent to those camps.
Personally, political solutions, like allowing Russia and Assad to end this conflict and letting Syria rule their country their way without any outside intervention aside, I see a much more practical and just way of dealing with the stream of refugees.
Currently, the Turkish traffickers charge between 1,000 and 2,000 euros, per person for the boat ride from Turkey to the Greek islands. That is no small sum and much greater than the 50 euro fare tourists pay for the same journey on a much, much safer boat(1 in a hundred drown on every journey). If the EU and Merkel really want to work with Turkey, than that money, from the refugees themselves, rather than lining the pockets of a corrupt few should be used to fund a processing ship that takes the refugees directly from Turkey to the mainland, and by-passes the Islands which are an unnecessary and extra step in the journey. Along the way the refugees could be processed, sorted and fed, all at their expense and they in turn would be getting a lot more for their money and arrive a lot closer to their destination.
Imagine how much organization and care could be provided by streamlining the process and taking the billions of dollars out of the hands of pirates and corrupt government officials and using it as a self-generated resource to solve the refugee influx problem. The fact that this extremely clear, pragmatic and do-able solution is staring the EU in the face and has not been implemented or even suggested, is frankly frightening, not so much in that it points to a severe lack of intelligence and efficient problem solving, but in that a solution so obvious could not simply be overlooked, which implies there must be a hidden agenda.
And that goes much deeper than a local community demanding to have a democratic voice in their own fate. The bottom line is there is no reason for refugees coming to these islands in the first place, if they can't be protected and safe in their homes, which should be the first priority, than their journeys could be efficiently streamlined and financed with money that is now lining the pockets of a criminal industry. The idea of building hot spots on Greek islands seriously misses the mark.
No comments:
Post a Comment