3500 migrants a year drowning in the Med is unacceptable. It's action time!

I just want to set adrift so i can float around and scare people.

 

I don't know about a Viking funeral, but after that dream I need a Viking breakfast.

Bad enough to dream I was working in retail again, but add on snarky and competitive co-workers, a group of homeless Amazon women (who don't want mere men looking at them) wanting to take up residence in the stockroom (we left those for the next shift to finally deal with), a lost toddler, and a store manager panicking because some higher up is visiting and the store is a mess... and that's just what I can remember.

And, no, I wasn't smoking anything.

 

Anything other than weed you mean....

 

Jesus, I had no idea the numbers were so high.

 

On a macabre note, is drowning and/or hypothermia an easier death than being blown to bits by a bomb from a plane or starving to death ?

Maybe the worst problem is being forgotten here.

 

Regarding "easy death" I would place bombing first-drowning second-starvation third...........

I dont know what you mean by "being forgotten" but....without consulting the internet,how many other refugee problems do you know beside those from Syria ? I hardly would say that they are forgotten, it's all over the news worldwide. If Syria refugees, who need it, are helped the way it should be is another question.
What I do know is that Christian refugees in Africa for example receive a LOT less attention in the world media......

 

I've remained relatively quiet for some months because Greece, the EU, and NATO took action, reaching an agreement with Turkey. Also because I asked knowledgeable people who echoed what some have said here - that the smugglers are bad actors who should not be aided with improved boats (or in any other way).

While the EU/Turkey agreement has stemmed the flow to Greece, the theater of activity has switched back to Libya. The policy of confiscating or destroying the most seaworthy boats in that area seems to have had exactly the impact I feared - more deaths. If the goal is to reduce the total number of drownings in the Med, I don't think we're succeeding. Any constructive suggestions? I really am encouraging ideas, if they're humane.

 

Well, I believe they need to apply to the embassies of the countries they are interested in. They cant just keep entering illegally. If it such situation then ALL the countries need to take refugees in numbers according to their size. You can't say that one or two countries are going to take millions of people

 

Count me out in all this anguish stuff; I'm not for making someone else's problem my problem unless I can be sure my contribution is effective. Hand wringing we-must-do-something types usually make matters worse.

 

Not calling for anquish. Calling for thoughtful action, including adaptation of a specific goal, use of statistics to track it, and application of quality assurance principles to achieve meaningful progress. Fortunately, there ARE parties, official and NGO/volunteer, out there, working the problem, who deserve a lot of credit. Are they making the problem worse or better? What adjustments to the strategies being employed would improve outcomes? These are valid questions; but they should be asked with respect for the caring people taking action. Now what can be done to help them move beyond rescue to accident prevention?

In my view, while they were initially slow to react, I think the Italian government, Greek and Spanish too, deserve credit for all they have done to save lives. Still, the crisis continues. We need to do better.

 

What embassies?

 

Two I can think of straight away.

Run a marine shuttle service on a first come first served basis landing people in Europe.

This has obvious drawbacks.....

Invade the source countries, shoot all the dysfunctional power-mongers, religious zealots and anyone else who can't live peacefully with their neighbours then (re)build infrastructure and a civil society, thereby removing the root cause of the mass movements.

This also has obvious drawbacks.....

I'd be interested in suggestions that didn't involve expecting my country to take people we simply do not want or paying Danegeld to countries we know aren't going to deal honestly. I expect I'm not alone.

PDW

 

Hear, hear!

 

excellent post.

 

These regions have lived long enough in peace, with their ways of living and governance (very different from ours) until Westerners had decided to intervene in their structures. This is my way of seeing a possible cause of what is happening today.