Hey everyone!
I hope that everyone is surviving the semester so far! Since I know we’re all super busy with everything else in our lives, I’ll try to keep this as short as possible. Next week, we will be discussing the ongoing crisis of Syrian refugees fleeing the disastrous civil war in Syria and the global response to said humanitarian crisis. If you have been keeping up with the most recent news, Germany has been praised by several human rights groups and international NGOs for its part in accepting refugees; however, as an article from The Guardian (I’ve included it below) states, there is a growing problem of how Germany will deal with the long-term consequences of its generosity. Also, the refugee crisis has been exceptionally difficult in the Balkan states, as these countries are seeing an overflow of refugees crossing their borders. Various Balkan governments (Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia, etc.) have been tightening security at their borders while governments to the north (Italy, Austria, and Hungary) have been closing their borders, leaving refugees trapped in countries such as Croatia, Slovenia, etc. Hitting closer to home, President Obama has just recently approved a measure for the US government to grant asylum to 10,000 Syrian refugees for 2016, which has been controversial on both the left and right side of the political spectrum. Some on the left believe that the US government is not providing enough support for Syrian refugees, while some on the right have suggested that allowing amnesty for Syrian refugees will leave the US open to infiltration from ISIS and other threats. As it was reported earlier this week, Ben Carson was noted to have said that “”If I was Isis, if I were the global jihadists, and I knew the United States was about to take in 10,000 or 65,000 or 100,000 people from my region, I would infiltrate them with my people.” (IB Times). Lastly, many in the US government (and abroad as well) have censured the Gulf States (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, etc.) for not granting amnesty to Syrian refugees. Hopefully, this will provide a good start to get you thinking critically about the several issues/problems that contribute to the larger crisis at hand. Below are some articles that detail various aspects/perspectives surrounding the crisis and by all means, please do outside research. Dinner will be provided by the Mediterranean Deli and there will be plenty of vegetarian options! If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know!
Walter
Yes, I know there a lot of links below, but I’m sure you’ll find all of them intriguing and thought-provoking.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/06/germany-refugee-crisis-syrian
http://www.vox.com/2015/9/15/9331371/syrian-refugees-europe-chart
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/19/world/europe/refugee-migrant-crisis-europe.html?_r=0
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/14/world/syrian-refugee-uk-facebook/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/syrian-refugee-poll_55f83d62e4b0c2077efc16c9
http://www.factcheck.org/2015/09/stretching-facts-on-syrian-refugees/