Col. Muamar Ghadaffi continues to battle the rebels who have taken over Benghazi and most of the rest of eastern Libya. He offered to start talks with them, with the precondition that he and his family members would be guaranteed safe passage out of the country and that their assets would be preserved. The rebels refused his offer, and so the fighting goes on. The United States has reportedly asked the Saudis to arm the rebels with some of the latest high-tech weaponry that has been sold to them. Russia, however, is strongly against any military aid to the insurgency.Just across the Mediterranean, Italy is experiencing yet another surge of refugees from North Africa, most of them Tunisians. More than a thousand migrants landed on the island of Lampedusa last night.
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7 comments:
I wonder how long until Italy loses Lampedusa.
Given that Italy is currently one of Europe's more sane countries, I would say that there is a chance that Italy will hold onto Lampedusa longer than Britain can London or Sweden Stockholm.
I'd like to believe that, but if Italy won't disobey EU law and start shooting the invaders, or ship them back to whence they came, they will lose Lampedusa without a shot being fired.
Lampedusa's total population was about 4,500. 1,000 Muslim invaders just showed up. We have seen what happens in Europe with just 5% Muslim population. What do you think nearly 20% will do? Another wave and Muslims will be the majority on Lampedusa.
randian --
Last time I heard, Muslims were already almost 50% of the population of Lampedusa. Before the current crop arrived, several thousand refugees had come to the island from North Africa since the trouble started in January.
But think about the larger implications: Lampedusa is (or will be soon) majority Muslim, but its new arrivals are totally dependent on subsistence supplies sent in by the Italian government. A change in the political wind in Rome that caused the withdrawal of this support would have the refugees grappling for fish in the surf to avoid starvation.
Lampedusa is much closer to Tunisia than Italy. If the Italian government were to cut its supply lines and evacuate the native Italians from the island, then the Tunisians on the island would soon jump in the nearest rickety tub and hightail it back to Africa.
Or they could continue on to Sicily, which is also a major destination for refugees from North Africa. However, Sicily has a much larger native population, as well as its own quaint customs about how to handle meddling strangers.
We live in interesting times.
Your forebearance, gentleman - but as I roll this matter through what I am pleased to call my mind, I am constantly drawn back to one question: why can't the countries in question (Denmark notwithstanding) just refuse entry to Muslims - period. Surely there is some pretense that could be used to justify this action without drawing the ire of the international community (which, I suspect, would applaud such an action). Forgive my apparent ignorance, but I am very new to this blog. Love it though!
Welcome.
You know Latin.
That's really, really cool.
Gratias tibi ago !
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