It’s not exactly the Battle of Thermopylae. But Greece is again under siege, this time by Mideast migrants given free rein by the Turkish government. The main prize isn’t Greece, though, but wealthy, welfare-state nations such as Germany. And contrary to immigrationist spin, sources say the migrants aren’t desperate Syrian war refugees but are mainly (96 percent) economic opportunists seeking Western handouts.
While people are preoccupied with Wuhan virus sickness, largely ignored is that Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who has called Europe a “sick man” — has been trying to make it a bit sicker in his own way. Not only has he been following through on a threat to allow Mideast migrants to flood toward Europe, but his troops have actually fired tear gas at Greek police defending their own land. Meanwhile, Greece isn’t backing down, but is doubling down and fortifying its border all the more.
“This now includes not just an ongoing militarized response on the Greek side to keep thousands from crossing illegally, but reportedly now erecting huge concrete blocks at key land crossings,” Zero Hedge tells us. “The completely shuttered border crossings with Turkey are beginning to resemble war zones akin to WWI trenches and fortifications” (video below).
“‘Greece on Friday placed 5-foot concrete blocks at its Kastanies border crossing with Turkey to stop the entry of asylum seekers,’” Zero Hedge further relates, citing Turkey’s Anadolu Agency. (video below)
“For weeks since Erdogan said he had in an act of retribution aimed at uncooperative EU states ‘opened the gates’ on hundreds of thousands of [supposedly] Syrian refugees from Idlib seeking entry into Europe, the border situation has seen running battles between throngs of migrants and Greek border guards,” the site continues.
(Hat tip for videos: Zero Hedge.)
Much as North Korea does with nuclear saber rattling, Erdogan has long used migrant-wave threats as a cudgel to extract concessions from the European Union; for his part, though, the Turkish leader claims victim status.
As NBC Los Angeles reported February 29, “Under a 6 billion euro deal in 2016, Turkey agreed to stem the tide of refugees to Europe in return for financial aid after more than a million people entered Europe in 2015. It has since accused the EU of failing to honor the agreement. Erdogan has frequently threatened to ‘open the gates’ and allow refugees and migrants to head to Europe unless more international support was provided.”
Of course, generally unmentioned is why these threats carry any weight at all: a Western moral weakness that prevents the most militarily advanced part of the world from performing the most basic of government functions — securing borders.
Reflecting this in the United States is acting ICE chief Matt Albence’s recent claim that the sheer number of illegals on our shores makes deporting them nearly impossible — that is, under our current, immigrationist-born, nation-rending system.
We ought to ask, however, if Western politicians can’t deport or keep out 20 million people (the number in Europe is lower), how can they possibly orchestrate the healthcare of 331 million people?
How can they successfully rearrange that people’s economy, Green New Deal style?
And how is it that it’s untenable to spend $114 million deporting illegals (in reality, their presence costs us more than that), but we can somehow consider spending up to $93 trillion on the Green New Deal and trillions every year on various unconstitutional federal government endeavors?
In fact, a government that cannot perform its basic functions — securing borders, ensuring domestic tranquility, expelling illegals, etc. — should never be entrusted with billions to squander on secondary matters. It’s a bit like trusting a doctor who can’t treat an infected cut to do brain surgery.
Moreover, the Mideast migrant situation is less crisis than con. While credulous Westerners are sold on it with stories about how at issue are desperate Syrian war refugees, the Voice of Europe reports that only four percent of the migrants currently trying to enter Europe are Syrian.
This is nothing new, either. Dr. Mudar Zahran, a Jordanian Opposition Coalition leader currently living as an asylee in the United Kingdom, reported in 2015 already that most of the migrants were not Syrian. In fact, while a practicing Muslim himself, Zahran warned that not only were terrorists entering via the migrant waves, but that the migration itself was a sort of con.
“I have to be honest,” he said, speaking in an interview, “you read Arab magazines and Arab newspapers; they are talking about, ‘Good job! Now we’re going to conquest [sic] Europe.’ So it’s not even a secret.”
Zahran stated that the Muslim migrants should be kept out of Europe, labeling their entry “the soft Islamic conquest of the West” (video below. Yes, I know I frequently present it, but it’s worthwhile.)
The good news is that some in Europe are not just being “woke” but are waking up, as evidenced by Greece’s border defense. It’s high time, too, because the Wuhan virus won’t kill a whole civilization — but demographic jihad certainly can.
Image: screenshot from YouTube video
Selwyn Duke (@SelwynDuke) has written for The New American for more than a decade. He has also written for The Hill, Observer, The American Conservative, WorldNetDaily, American Thinker, and many other print and online publications. In addition, he has contributed to college textbooks published by Gale-Cengage Learning, has appeared on television, and is a frequent guest on radio.