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28 Aug, 2015

European migrant crisis blowback for U.S.-created turmoil in Middle East

BEIJING, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) — While Europe is struggling to cope with massive influx of refugees from Africa and the Middle East, the United States should refrain from taking a not-in-my-backyard attitude and reflect on its Middle East policy, which directly or indirectly displaced thousands of people.

Europe has been inflicted by the illegal migrants problem for years, and the recent wave has triggered a refugee crisis from Apennine Peninsula to the Balkans, from Spain to Britain.

So far in 2015, over 293,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe by sea, with more than 2,000 people dead in their attempts to cross the Mediterranean.

Greece, with 157,228 arrivals this year, is by far the top destination for refugees, followed by Italy with 107,633 arrivals.

Refugees originating from Libya, Syria and Iraq have been fleeing war in their countries where the U.S.-led military intervention caused sustained turbulent security situation and humanitarian crisis. However, their dreams for peaceful life cannot be realized easily.

First, Europe’s economy remains weak. Greece is undergoing the worst economic crisis in its history while Italy also sees soaring government debt.

Second, the European countries still have no aligned asylum policies. Countries that bear the brunt like Greece and Italy were struggling to deal with mass arrivals while countries behind the front line stepped up border patrol and to keep refugees away.

Third, with an increasing number of refugees and migrants arriving in Europe, many social and political problems began to appear as demonstrated by a series of anti-migrant protests in Germany and Italy. The refugee issue has increasingly become a sensitive topic for politicians.

German Interior Ministry statistics showed that about 60 percent of asylum seekers in 2015 are from war-torn countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, where behind the shaky and unstable situation, the shadow of Uncle Sam can be seen.

To some extent, Europe is swallowing the bitter pill of its own make as it closely followed the United States in almost all its military actions in Africa, South Asia or the Middle East.