Merkel’s open invite to ragbag of fanatics

THE bookies are backing ­German Chancellor Angela Merkel for this year’s Nobel Peace prize for welcoming the Islamic invasion of Europe.

She initially estimated that Germany could host about 800,000 of the so-called refugees but it would appear that with no controls, that number is likely to be closer to 1.5 million. The majority of those who have surged northward seeking homes in nations with the most generous welfare ­programs are not genuine ­refugees. They have not come from refugee camps, they have ­destroyed their identity documents, and they aren’t even Syrian, though that’s where the current Islam-induced ­crisis is raging. Germany is dealing with its ghastly past, showing some ­remorse for the Holocaust inflicted by its Nazi rulers, wishing to be seen to be extending a hand to people in need. But the warm wet multi-kulti feeling is starting to drain away as services collapse under the pressure and there is a slow realisation that more than 3000 people have died this year trying to reach the Euro welcome mat. The numbers of Green-Left Germans who were handing out toys and water to the few women and children who reached their nation are beginning to thin as less inspiring hordes of strong young men pour off the buses and trains from the south. Even Merkel is beginning to think enough is enough and has told EU foreign ministers and their counterparts from ­Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Balkan countries worst affected by the exodus from Syria that Europe’s asylum rules are “obsolete”. That will not be news to ­realists but it is something of a slap in the face to the EU’s gormless multi-kulti bureaucrats who have stood by for decades as Islamists established enclaves in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, France, the Netherlands and Britain in which crimes against women flourished and extremist teachers preached hatred of the West which sheltered them. Even so, Merkel has still not drawn any lines — possibly realising that US President Obama’s all too frequent claims to have drawn red lines aimed at constraining Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad only fed more lines to comedians. Feeling the backlash within Germany, still settling down after the reunification of East and West Germany 25 years ago, Merkel admitted in a ­historic understatement that the challenges will “be difficult” as German authorities said they had registered about 577,000 asylum-seekers in the first nine months of the year, just a third of whom claim to be Syrian. In a joint statement with French President Francois Hollande to the totally ineffectual but grievously meddling European Parliament in Luxembourg, Merkel called for a “new procedure” to redistribute “asylum-seekers” through the 28-nation EU. This won’t deter the ­“coming-ready-or-not” mob surging into the sunny uplands of the welfare states; they know which nations’ welfare systems offer the most benefits and they have shown extreme ­determination to reach those that have the best deals. Europe’s migration disaster has again highlighted the ­age-old problem of letting well-intentioned but unmitigated dopes determine policy. Just as the luvvies ululated their delight when the Arab Spring dawned — before the celebrating mobs in Libya and Egypt showed their true Islamist colours — and now show some regret at ushering in extremist forces like IS, al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, Merkel has had some second thoughts. History lessons The original Dublin process, which forces Italy and Greece to process most ­migrants, “started from good intentions … but the challenges raised at our borders are from now on untenable”. “It is exactly now that we need more Europe. We need courage and cohesion, which Europe has always shown when it was necessary,” she said. The last time “courage and cohesion” worked in Europe was when Britain bravely kept the Nazis corralled on the Continent until the US was propelled into WWII by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. Merkel’s “more Europe” policies have only served to lure freeloaders in the past. Unless Europe can free itself of them, it is doomed. France’s Hollande was more realistic, admitting that the EU failed to respond swiftly to the upheaval of the Arab Spring. “I acknowledge that Europe was slow in understanding that tragedy in the Middle East or Africa could not but have consequences for Europe itself,” he said. Injecting a note of sanity, he warned that regional conflagration in the Middle East could affect Europe if the world failed to stop the slaughter in Syria. “What happens in Syria concerns Europe, what happens there will determine the balance of the whole region for a long time,” he said. “If we leave these religious clashes between Sunnis and Shi’ites, they will grow. Don’t think we will be sheltered, this will be a total war.” Europe is showing signs of slowly understanding the ­lesson that both former prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott understood full well. Borders must be secure if citizens are to be protected and lives are not to be lost to people smugglers. Thanks to Europe’s hospitable open borders, the member nations of the EU now face years of deadly Islamist ­extremism from some of the very people to whom they ­offered refuge and sanctuary. Merkel should note that those who awarded Obama his Nobel Prize have already ­expressed their regret.