Eastern Europe's short memory.

[elleng]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/16/opinion/europes-spoilers-and-the-refugee-crisis.html?

[delrem]

1. People really ought to focus on the CAUSE of all these refugees.

The USA is not innocent. Europe is not innocent. NATO is not innocent. NATO's allies are not innocent.

We have not done the world a good service!

We have defaulted on our responsibility, and we wallow in defensiveness and self-pity.
Mixed with fingers pointing at everyone but us. At everywhere but our own responsibility.

[calldrin72]

2. link share

Not share details about link

[elleng]

3. Sorry, NYT won't let me copy/paste with this computer.

Welcome, and maybe use sentences to state issues of concern here.

[Aerows]

10. Probably a language barrier

Appears to be ESL.

[elleng]

11. HA!

Hewlett Packard understands it!!!

[Aerows]

12. OMG

Don't ever bring up those damn tapes again.

Annoying enough to make you want to chuck them all in the sea, backups be damned!

[JustAnotherGen]

4. Ugly

Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, has been among the most vocal in blocking any joint action, but he is not alone. He has argued that Germany is largely responsible for the mass migration because of its prosperity, generous asylum policies and — until this weekend — open borders, and he has made the specious argument that as a Christian country, Hungary should not be made to take in a lot of Muslims. Leaders of Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and the Baltic States have all advanced similar arguments.

Exasperated by the lack of cooperation from other nations, Germany, which has accepted by far the largest number of refugees so far, temporarily imposed controls on its borders with Austria. That is regrettable, but it was apparently meant as a warning that unless there is an acknowledgment of the common problem, the entire structure of open borders at the heart of the European project could be in danger. In response, Austria, Slovakia and the Netherlands introduced their own border controls on Monday, and Hungary made unauthorized entry a crime.

These developments should be especially worrisome to the Eastern Europeans. Their inability to travel freely was an agonizing aspect of their decades under Communist dictatorship, and the generous welcome they received when they rejoined the ranks of Western liberal democracies was a great triumph for all of Europe. It would be a tragedy if those same eastern countries now contributed to the unraveling of European unity, just when it is so desperately needed.

How quickly the Eastern Europeans forget how resentful some folks in the other European countries are towards them - when they migrate across the lines.

[elleng]

5. Yes it is, Gen, truly ugly,

and I truly hate to say I might be related to some of those 'Europeans,' tho mine prolly not in those parts.

[JustAnotherGen]

6. I definitely am!

But they aren't being ugly about it all. My older Sister in Law works for social services in Italy. It's sad what she's been seeing the past year.

[elleng]

7. TRULY awful what international corporatocracy has done to the world,

and we may never recover!

[Igel]

8. Yes. Because they migrate not to avoid persecution and war,

but to undercut workers in other countries and to take advantage of income redistribution.

So of course when they see refugees from the horrible civil war between ISIS and Assad that's raging in Lebanon and Turkey, in Greece and Serbia ...

And that's the problem. Refugees are refugees for safety. Not for better educational, economic, family opportunities. Those blasted for seeking improper status as economic migrants recognize economic migrants. Those whose cultures were threatened with being swamped before before recognize the danger of having indigenous cultures overwhelmed.

We recognize that problem when it's an ethnicity we like. Other ethnicities have no ability to protect their own cultures. Self-determination is a privilege to be awarded by some in the West to those that they approve of.

(Wow. Saturday-levels of cynicism, on a Thursday!)

[JustAnotherGen]

9. You nailed it