CLOSED: [2015-05-30 Sat 13:01] SCHEDULED: <2015-05-30 Sat> :PROPERTIES: :CREATED: [2015-05-30 Sat 12:26] :ID: 2015-05-30-rescuing-mediterranean-refugees :END: :LOGBOOK: - State "DONE" from "NEXT" [2015-05-30 Sat 13:01] :END: Every day these days, you'll find an article in the news which describes how many mediterranean refugees were rescued by boats of the European Union. I tend to think that this might be propaganda. -------------- One the one hand side, it's great that the [[http://www.voanews.com/content/european-union-leaders-consider-steps-to-halt-flow-of-migrants/2731264.html][rescue program were enforced]] after the recent catastrophic incidents where hundreds of refugees drowned in the sea. On the other side, I doubt that the European Union has the right to put herself into the role of the generous party rescuing those poor people. First of all, the EU is doing everything to prevent those refugees to come to the EU in a legal way. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO0IRsfrPQ4][Preventing them to buy a simple plane ticket]] which would be much cheaper than paying horrible people smuggler fees is only one [[http://w2eu.net/frontex/frontex-in-the-mediterranean/][cruel fact]] of [[http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/eu-emergency-summit_-no-quick-fix--for-mediterranean-boat-tragedies/41396716?ns_mchannel=ps&ns_campaign=DSA&ns_source=adw&ns_linkname=_cat:swissinfo.ch&gclid=CNCU_oGo6cUCFWHicgodQj4AbQ][many]]. I find it offensive, to plan military operations that cost millions and millions of Euros to [[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/18/eu-mediterranean-naval-mission-migrant-crisis-people-smugglers-libya][destroy potential smuggler boats]]. With the same amount of money, the EU could allow a certain level of refugees to fly to different destinations within the EU. So far, the southern countries of the EU have to cope with the majority of the refugees. Sure, there are people smugglers out there who treat refugees in a very bad way. However, I am also sure that there are smugglers out there who try to save refugees as well! Remember those glory stories about the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Rescue_of_Jews_in_the_Holocaust][heroes of the second world war]], that rescued many Jewish people by smuggling them across borders. Is this that different from now, where there is war in Syria and lots of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factional_violence_in_Libya_%282011%E2%80%9314%29][horrible violence in north Africa]]? There are no easy solutions to the migration problem. I don't have simple answers for this either. And yet, I don't think that the EU is facing this human disaster in an honest, open, and fair way.