Wednesday 9 September 2015

Taking refuge from the refugees

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I read recently that on August the 19th in the American city of Baltimore police found a 28-year-old man wounded from a gunshot. He was taken to hospital, where he died later that night. The report said this was the city’s 212th homicide victim for the year.

Baltimore has a population of 600,000. Multiply that figure by 7 and you approximate New Zealand’s population. If we Western nations all sing off the same song sheet then to keep up with the good people of Baltimore New Zealand should have an 8 month murder rate of around 1484. Apparently New Zealand had just 41 murders for the whole of last year.

If you’ll pardon the expression, Baltimore is leaving us for dead.

While we quite rightly fear the horrendous potential outcome of a nuclear war, conventional weapons are doing a darn good job in the interim.

Take the Syrian civil war. Saudi Arabia is said to be equipping the rebels with weapons; Bashar al-Assad’s firepower is supplied by Russia. The Saudis buy most of their weapons from Britain and the US, but recently placed large orders with China. Global arms and military services by the 100 largest defence contractors continue apace with worldwide sales tipped to top $US500 billion this year.

Of the 100 companies on the list, 44 are based in the US. Seven of the top ten are American, one is British, one is Italian and one is a multinational European Union conglomerate.

Syrian citizens, to avoid being slaughtered by these western-world-made weapons are leaving the country in droves and heading for Europe. Perhaps they’ll find employment in the arms factories.

In a recent broadcast however the BBC questioned the legitimacy of those who are fleeing the war-torn country. Refugees are usually the aged and infirm, and almost always women and children, whereas the majority of those leaving Syria are mostly male and of fighting age.


The next question the BBC asked was why the refugees, almost exclusively Muslim, travel to Europe when there are extremely wealthy Muslim countries much closer - like Egypt and Saudi Arabia and even Turkey or the Gulf states like Dubai, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi.

Although those fleeing the Syrian crisis have for several years been crossing into Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey in huge numbers, entering Arab States - especially in the Gulf - is far less straightforward. Officially Syrians can apply for a tourist visa or a work permit in order to enter a Gulf state, but the process is costly, and there is a widespread perception that many Gulf states have unwritten restrictions in place that make it hard for Syrians to be granted a visa in practice, said the broadcaster.

Gordon McLachlan once wrote a book about New Zealanders calling us The Passionless People, so perhaps our prime minister’s initial reluctance to absorb more refugees was genetically-based. The well-spoken and well-dressed asylum seekers talk articulately of their plight on our nightly TV newscasts and look as though they will make worthy citizens, however we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that charity begins at home.

But at least the Syrians will be a lot safer here than in Baltimore.

“One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one.” - Dame Agatha Christie

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