Displaced and Refugees

By Tim Hatton | (The Conversation) | – – Not since World War II has Europe faced a refugee crisis comparable with the situation unfolding at its borders at the moment. The European response has been, to put it mildly, ambivalent. On one hand there has been a mass outpouring of sympathy in the media […]

Authoritarianism

Those forced to Europe are mostly Regime Change Refugees

contributors

By Thalif Deen | ( Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – The military conflicts and political instability driving hundreds of thousands of refugees into Europe were triggered largely by U.S. and Western military interventions for regime change – specifically in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria (a regime change in-the-making). The United […]

Displaced and Refugees

Why Don’t Rich Arab Gulf States Welcome Syrian Refugees?

contributors

By Charles Recknagel | (RFE/ RL ) | – – It's hard not to notice how almost all Syrian refugees flee westward rather than seek a safe haven in the rich Arab Persian Gulf states. Now, social-media users worldwide are increasingly raising the question of why. On Twitter, the Arabic-language hashtag #Hosting_Syria's_refugees_is_a_Gulf_duty has become a […]

Displaced and Refugees

As Syrian Refugee Boy Identified, Crisis of Conscience over Refugees

contributors

By Jon Queally, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | – – Three-year-old Aylan Kurdi drowned along with his mother, Rehan, and older brother, Galip, while the family attempted to cross the sea from Turkey to Greece on Wednesday. A paramilitary police officer carries the lifeless body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi after he drowned when the boat […]

Displaced and Refugees

Over 1 mn. Syrian Refugees in Lebanon fear Unrest will Expel them Again

contributors

RT | (Video News Report) – – “More than a million Syrian refugees feel unwelcome guests in Lebanon, where anti-government protests are only worsening. Many fear the Syrian scenario may repeat there and they will have to flee again.” RT: “Syrian refugees in Lebanon fear fleeing unrest again, may head to Europe”

Displaced and Refugees

Why I Shared a Horrific Photo of a Drowned Syrian Child

contributors

By Peter Bouckaert | Director, Emergencies | (Human Right Watch) | – – I thought long and hard before I retweeted the photo. It shows a lifeless toddler, lying face down on a popular Turkish beach, one of eleven Syrians who have almost certainly died as they tried to reach safety in Europe by boarding […]

Apartheid

Israeli Policies could make Gaza uninhabitable in 5 years: UN

contributors

UNCTAD Press Release | UNCTAD/PRESS/PR/2015/026 | (Geneva, Switzerland) | – – Gaza could become uninhabitable in less than five years in wake of 2014 conflict and ongoing de-development, according to new UNCTAD report. UNCTAD’s report [pdf] on assistance to the Palestinian people states that Gaza could become uninhabitable by 2020 if current economic trends […]

Displaced and Refugees

Ghoul’s Glossary: “Migrants” or “Refugees” or “Anchor Babies”?

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Migrants: Those who voluntarily go to another country to live and work, seeking a better life. Refugees: Those who are forced out of their homes, because of political persecution or natural disaster or a chronically bad economy. and have no choice but to try to make […]

Displaced and Refugees

Austrian Truck Tragedy echoes Palestinian Story, reminding us of 7 mn still stateless

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The gruesome discovery of an abandoned truck in eastern Austria with 71 dead refugees in it, 4 of them children, has horrified the world. But few will realize that the plot of this story was laid out in the 1960s by Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani, in […]