The European Refugee Crisis and Syria Explained

Interesting that this should show up in my feed now...but be unavailable to watch. Is there a new link?

Arthur Robillard

Hi Everyone... just thought it would be interesting to have an update from people who posted to this thread, about whether opinions remain the same as back in September, or whether any views have changed with the evolution of the refugee crisis since then..?

tsuchan

Won't this promote racism in longer run ?

Ayush

If France can do so we all can also do it

Ayush

Wow. Just discovered your videos and will find time soon to binge. Very impressed with how yu do what yu do and LOVE what you did with this! I now feel far more informed and my desire to help support refugee assistance programs just jumped up several more notches (it's on our list of causes to learn more about so we can figure out how to help). Thank you for doing what you do!! ~ Dr Mel, Quality of Life eXperiments

Fantastic work you guys are doing!

The way Israel “introduced“ itself and handled foreign policies with their neighbors wasn’t especially great, but by far not the only reason for tensions. I’m personally thinking of the impact the west (and east) had while securing their geopolitical interests. Might it be through actions such as Operation AJAX, proxy wars or the prevalent support of questionable groups and authoritarian regimes.

Hi Lorenz... yes, I think it would be hard to make a solid defence against that charge. The West, under the auspices of the UN, planted Israel in a country that has been occupied by another country for the past 1900 years. It seems the UN felt that Jewish people deserved something to make up for various sufferings history had smote them. But that action has destabilised the whole of the Middle East ever since. I gather the West helped Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party to power, then later removed him - finally on the false premise of holding Weapons of Mass Destruction. ISIS ('Islamic State of Iraq and Syria') filled the power vacuum. Whichever way you cut it, the West had much to answer for. Whether the Middle East would ended-up just as unstable by their own efforts and without Western interference is uncertain, but I think they would have had a damned good try! Would it be fair to suggest that the bigger player here are the factions of Islam, all of whom have God on their side (!) and therefore cannot be wrong? Anyway, for the sake of argument, let's say the West is at least 50% responsible for the refugee crisis and we're obliged to dig deep into our pockets to alleviate the suffering of Syrian refugees. Does that also mean we have unlimited responsibility to resettle an arbitrary number of refugees within our own countries? Does it mean we have no right to refuse entry to anyone we perceive as a threat? Is it even the best solution? I mean, the population of Syria is 22 million people. If 4m come to Europe, what about the other 18m? And what of 34m Iraqis and 30m Afghans, and then other countries that might be taken over by ISIS, or Al Qaeda, or the Talleban... ? Aren't our deep but not inexhaustiblely deep pockets better used to fund some solution at the root cause? (More interference from the West.) At the end of the day, many people ARE going to die because of the perceived wishes of a non-existent God, the same mythical figure to whom many of most of the refugees continue to commit their lives. And if that was our country under attack, wouldn't we have to somehow take up arms and fix it? What is the choice... to let ISIS take over one country after another until the whole world is under their dominion?

tsuchan

One could argue that the constant involvement of western powers in the affairs of countries in the Middle East ever since the times of colonialism did more harm than good. There are several instances where actions lead to an entire chain of unwanted reactions, destabilizing the region over the course of the last century.

Hi Marcello... I think you make an interesting point, but I'm not very clear about your narrative position. I think you're saying the USA and other "Western" countries created the problem, but I'm a bit confused because you mention drone strikes (which sounds like Iraq and Afghanistan originally... I don't think there were drone strikes in Syria until quite recently, and certainly not at the start of the internal conflict in Syria... the West seemed to be doing its best to distance itself). But then you mention Exodus (which sounds like you're probably talking about Syria?) If you said there was a fake war against Iraq (on the pretext of non-existent 'Weapons of Mass Destruction') which destabilised the region and created the environment which combined with separate trouble in Syria gave rise to the "Islamic State" (ISIS) organisation which posed a sufficient threat to draw in US/Western drone strikes on Syria giving rise to the refugee situation, I could follow that. (I don't know if it's the way things happened, but I could follow it.) Has the West's interference in the Middle East actually caused the refugee crisis (and for that matter the rise of ISIS)? Would there still be a mass Exodus of refugees from Syria without any US/Western involvement (now, or sooner or later)? I don't know. And I'm not sure you know any more than I do. But it would be useful to understand that.

tsuchan

1% would be hypothetical, if we take all 4 million refugees from Syria (95% of which are in the middle eastern countries and Turkey right now). We won't take even close to that many in reality. It will propably be closer to 0.2% to 0.3% overall. Which is basically nothing.

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

It all seems so very simple doesn't it? The video skips on WHO set it all in motion. Someone who thinks has a godly right of imposing democracy on other people. A lot of people do not want this brand of drone driven democracy and would gladly be left at their own devices. Why oh why you do not mind your own business and stay in you counties and States? Before these fake wars there were no refugees from the Middl East. Now it looks as if it will never end. In fact we have been told that this will go on for another 20 years. What the hell are they planning to do and not telling? We have even been told we are not doing enough by the US papers!!! . What a nerve! You cause the mass Exodus, you take them in your country. Moreover, France and the UK have joined the melée through several bombing campaigns and now turn tough against refugees. Congratulations!!!

Thanks for making this video. It was timely, courageous and useful. And thanks especially for addressing the question of immigrants with Muslim religion, which is always avoided by mainstream politicians and media. Good job. Having opened the debate, I want to continue the discussion. I haven't even looked at the YouTube comments, and on the warning from you and other patrons, I won't. I think here I'm with friends. Your video made a case for putting the issue of Islam into perspective, and that was useful (most extreme case: a 25% rise of Islam to 5% within the EU, birth rates dropping, etc.) However, any rise (and also the current level) is a legitimate concern if we're talking about people who hate and want to destroy exactly the things the majority value most highly. And unfortunately it looks like a substantial proportion do. Here are some results from a ComRes poll (very reputable research organisation) of British Muslims commissioned by the BBC in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre (see <a href="http://comres.co.uk/polls/bbc-radio-4-today-muslim-poll/):" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://comres.co.uk/polls/bbc-radio-4-today-muslim-poll/):</a> - 27% have some sympathy for the motives behind the Charlie Hebdo attack - 24% disagree that violent acts against those who publish pictures of Mohammed can never be justified - 11% feel sympathetic to people who want to fight against Western interests - 45% disagree that Muslim clerics preaching that violence against the west can be justified are out of touch with mainstream public opinion. These are truly scary numbers. We often hear the mantra, "This is not Islam". But in any relevant sense, Islam is what people who define themselves as Islamic believe. Is a country morally obliged to admit any individuals (refugees or otherwise) who support actions which are unlawful in the potential settlement country? I'm talking about beheading, stoning, apostate killing, gay killing, forced female genital mutilation, forced marriage, etc. Do our "Western values" dictate that we must admit people who want to destroy "Western values" ? At this point, I want to make sure it's understood: I am not arguing that every adherent to Islam seeks to destroy many of the most deeply held values of the Western countries in which they live, but it is clear that a scary number do. I'm not arguing that the EU should not admit Mulsim refugees, but I am saying that process and right to differentiate on the basis of individuals' belief is a legitimate and important discussion. To close my contribution, I'm interested to hear comments on this video, a copy of which I picked-up from Richard Dawkins' Twitter feed last month. There are various copies on YouTube and because the opinions being endorsed by the audience are so grotesque I wondered if the video could be faked. But this appears to be the original and I can't see why this YouTube channel would be motivated to fake it: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV710c1dgpU" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV710c1dgpU</a> And here is the Wikipedia page about the organisation "Islam.net" <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_Net" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_Net</a> (Of course, I don't think the beliefs expressed belong to a majority of Muslims, but they seem to belong to the large number of Muslims in a conference in the small country of Norway.)

tsuchan

<a href="http://amara.org/v/HG3u/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://amara.org/v/HG3u/</a>

Things here in Greece are tough as well, but don't we all have to have some humanity. They did went a little overboard, but nobody must use such claims to ignore the contect as a whole.

I did not expect what seem to be lies and insults from this channel. Sure you can make mistakes, but using studies about Mexicans in US to show immigration does not increase criminality in Europe seems on purpose. This is because we have studies[1][2] for criminality among non-natives in Europe which show different results from US. Why were these ignored? Also, calling all Europeans "Xenophobic rich cowards" is too much. I'm from Romania and the majority of the population is below the poverty line. Average salary here is 350 eur/month. I guess this is a bit more personal because I live here and see family and neighbors struggling to make a living every day. I might be in the minority, but this video made me delete my pledge. [1] <a href="http://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/18960" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/18960</a> Excerpt: "Not at all periods (i.e. not before 1970) and not everywhere (not in the USA), but in most European countries of the present period, crime is more prevalent among minorities. The higher offending rates among migrants according to court and police statistics cannot be explained away by disproportionate risks of being reported to the police [...]" [2] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_crime" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_crime</a>#Europe

Hi , this is great, I can translate it into Polish is there any chance you could add them to this video?

Translated the subtitles to Greek and posted this on Facebook. Elections in Greece are tomorrow. I'd be proud if 10 people wouldn't vote GD because of this :D

I know this may be a very, very silly proposal, but... I am Italian, and I feel that my country *needs* videos like this. It feels like that ignorance is invading the country, not immigrants. But most Italians do not speak English, or are pretty lame at understanding it. So, would you consider a translation of the audio in Italian? And, most of all, can I help you economically to do such thing? (And maybe other Italians, since it's probably out of my budget :P). I know this requires a careful translation, a voice, and probably other efforts I can't even imagine... But, can you consider this In The Name of What Is Good? Also with the other interested countries, maybe.

Alex

This is a really well made and explained video. You obviously have received flak for political biases -- which is good, because it means that you hit them at their weak spots. Please keep up the good work!

Unfortunately, this time I feel this video is very biased. And I must say you haven't covered all points. I'm from one EU countries, and biggest concerns what we have is that: 1.) Their benefits are way higher than for the local people 2.) You say it will be only 1% increase, sure it won't matter if we distribute them through whole EU, but I believe it would be a problem if they make a large group (look into Sweden) 3.) Can you really vouch that they are all so educated and ready to integrate into the society. I'm all for helping, indeed we have problems with granting asylum in legal way. Maybe a video of decision challenges what politicians are facing would help clear things up.

I saw this and said "now I've GOT to see them!" ...I should've listened to you

Frank Hightower

Ouch..... those Youtube comments, why did I look at them.....

Greg

Ouch..... those Youtube comments, why did I look at them.....

Greg

The comments on the video are making me really sad.

Onihikage

Good videos, but how can I receive my reward?

Love what you guys are doing! Please keep up the great work

Great video, well presented, strong arguments for doing the right thing. Thank you!

If I were not already a patreon, this video would have made me become one.

Patrick W. Gilmore

Awesome video!

Great video. Thanks for doing this!

Maniko, conduit of hugely adorable, massively destructive beans

You're probably right about the comment section, and that makes me sad about the way people act. Thank you for making this video.

dm_nimbus