Just now there is a small army of men and women, from North Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Middle East camped at Calais. Risking their lives every day desperately trying to get into Great Britain. Injuries, some serious, are very common indeed and deaths are a regular occurrence. Our politicians and media obsess themselves with the symptoms of this problem but do nothing about the causes. Because the main reason behind this horrendous scene is the actions of the British Government. Specifically the interference into the affairs of other countries by Tony Blair and David Cameron.
Firstly Blair, he invaded Iraq illegally to support his freemason buddy George Bush. Waving a dossier in Parliament that was pure lies. A million innocent people died.
Then David Cameron interfering in Libya, destroying the Gaddafi regime but leaving nothing to replace it. Creating a failed country where banditry is the norm and terrorists are trained to kill British tourists on Tunisian beaches.
And all the time MI6 and the CIA are interfering. Creating and fostering the “Arab Spring”. Harming regimes that Israel doesn’t like. Helping regimes that Israel does like.
The situation that people are trying to escape from in Syria is utterly horrendous. And we created it. Assad is an unbelievable monster, worse than Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein and Netanyahu put together. He deliberately tries to kill as many civilians as possible and to utterly trash any city not under his control. Captured non loyalists are tortured to death. About a quarter of a million people, mostly civilians, have been killed.
As a result more than 9 million Syrians, from a population of 23 million, have fled their homes since the outbreak of civil war in March 2011, taking refuge in neighbouring countries or within Syria itself. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 3 million have fled to Syria’s immediate neighbours Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. 6.5 million are internally displaced within Syria. Meanwhile, approximately 150,000 Syrians have declared asylum in the European Union. This is the biggest human tragedy of our age.
It is very important here to understand that Islamic State is not the problem, they have merely blossomed to fill the power vacuum in Syria and Iraq. They aren’t creating the disaster at Calais or the shootings in Tunisia. David Cameron’s plan to increase the bombing of Islamic State is obscene in its stupidity, he will just make the situation worse. They are not the cause of any major problems to our country. And they cannot be defeated by the RAF.
We made a major mistake at the end of the Iraq war by not letting Iraq split into three countries. A Kurdish north, Sunni middle and Shia south. Because those were and still are the natural facts on the ground.
Likewise with Syria there is a case for splitting it into four countries. Kurdish north, Alawite (Shia) coast, Islamic State east and moderate Sunni the rest. This, or something very like it, is the way things actually are in the country.
The only solution to the Calais problem is the return of peace to the places the refugees are coming from. The only way to achieve this is by talking. We cannot defeat Islamic State militarily and we are not suddenly going to change the religion of tens of millions of people. Islamic State are nasty, barbaric people, but so are the Saudi Arabians and they are our best friends.
Just recently things have become even worse by the entry of Turkey into the conflict and their expectation of NATO support in this. They are bombing three out of the four main factions in Syria! They are trying to smash their old enemy the Kurds, they are hitting Assad regime targets and they are also having a go at the Islamic State. As if Syria needed any more killing.
One solution would be to let the refugees in, but if we do this with the current Calais lot then it will just attract far more. Also we cannot possibly accommodate the many millions who would want to come. And finally we already have a huge problem with Islam in Britain, we don’t want to make it any worse.
In Britain what we need is a change in attitude, by the press and government. Not to intervene militarily in other people’s countries, because this only makes things worse. To make our politicians answerable for the consequences of their actions. And, when our national interest is involved, as in Calais and Tunisia, to talk to the people involved instead of bombing them
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All very well and we do know the history, but how do you resolve the immediate problem in Calais? Calais being on FRENCH soil…? I would close Calais down suspend Channel Tunnel operations from the UK end. Then watch the French go into overdrive to clear up the mess in Calais . Then on reopening ban all HGV lorries from using the Channel tunnel freeing it up for sealed container traffic. Much of this should be on the railways anyway with lorries HGV delivering container loads to dedicated container terminals not fighting for space with holidaymakers etc.
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Julian,
Interesting proposal.
It would cause huge harm to the British economy. Go look at the statistics.
Some are getting through Calais, but not many in the overall scheme of things. Many tens of thousands of illegals arrive at our airports legally then “forget” to go home.
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What about bombing the jungle in Calais and claiming that the missle was meant for Isis but went astray? Also scrap trident and just pretend that we have them that will save some money
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That would be mass murder. No thanks. If you like interesting and offensive ideas that don’t involve wholesale deliberate slaughter, they are available, but not the one you suggest.