#Syrian Refugee Crisis

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Tim Ganser at The UnPopulist:

Since the end of World War II, Germans had by and large steadfastly resisted voting for far-right populists. That norm was shattered in the last decade by the success of the political party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which seemed to gain more traction as it radicalized into a full-blown, hard right populist party. A year into its existence, spurred by widespread discontent with German fiscal policy, the AfD won seven seats in European Parliament. In 2017, after undergoing a hard-right turn, it won 94 seats in the German federal elections, good for third place overall. For the past year, the AfD has consistently ranked second in Politico’s poll aggregator tracking the public’s voting intentions.

In this Sunday’s European Parliament elections, roughly 1 in 6 German voters is expected to cast a ballot for the AfD, whose members have trivialized the Holocaust, encouraged their followers to chant Nazi slogans, and participated in a secret conference where they fantasized about forced deportations of naturalized citizens they derisively call “Passport Germans.” Worse still, the AfD is predicted to be the strongest party, with up to a third of the vote share, in the three elections for state parliament in Saxony and Thuringia on Sept. 1 and in Brandenburg on Sept. 22. And in generic polls for a hypothetical federal election, the AfD fares even better than it did in any previous election. How did Germany get to this point?

The AfD’s Origin Story

The AfD was founded in early 2013 by a group of conservatives, led by the economics professor, Bernd Lucke, greatly disillusioned with then-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s fiscal policy. In their view, the European debt crisis had revealed deep instability within the eurozone project as smaller nations found themselves unable to cope with the economic demands of membership, and they believed Merkel’s focus on saving the euro was coming at the expense of German economic interests. This was, however, the opposite of a populist complaint—in fact, the AfD was initially referred to as a “Professorenpartei” (a professor’s party) because of the party’s early support from various economics professors who were more interested in fiscal policy than catering to popular will. In its earliest days, the AfD could best be characterized as a cranky but respectable party of fiscal hardliners. Its anti-establishment posture stemmed entirely from its belief in the necessity of austerity. Even its name could be construed less as nationalistic and more an answer to the dictum coined by Merkel—“alternativlose Politik” (policy for which there is no alternative)—to defend her bailouts during the eurozone crisis.

Although the AfD had launched an abstract economic critique of Merkel’s policies that could be hard to parse for non-experts, its contrarian stance resonated with a significant portion of Germans. Right out of the gate, the AfD obtained the highest vote share of any new party since 1953, nearly clearing the 5% threshold for inclusion in the Bundestag, Germany’s Parliament, in its first electoral go round. Its success was also measurable in terms of membership, passing the 10,000 mark almost immediately after its formation. The rapid increase in membership, however, helped lay the groundwork for its turn toward right-wing populism. Perhaps due to pure negligence—or a combination of calculation and ambition—the party’s founders did little to stop right-wing populists from swelling its rolls. And as the German economy emerged through the European debt crisis in good financial shape, fiscal conservatism naturally faded from the public’s consciousness. However, a new European crisis having to do with migrants came to dominate the popular imagination. The AfD hardliners seized on the growing anti-migrant opinion, positioning the AfD as its champion, thereby cementing the party’s turn towards culture war issues like immigration and national identity.

Starting in late 2014, organized right-wing protesters took to the streets to loudly rail against Germany’s decision to admit Muslim migrants, many fleeing the Syrian civil war. The AfD right wing’s desire to become the political home of nativism led to a rift within the party that culminated in founder Bernd Lucke’s being ousted as leader in 2015, and his replacement with hardliner Frauke Petry. Lucke left the party entirely, citing its right-wing shift, following in the footsteps of what other party leaders had already done and more would do in the coming year. Up until this point, the AfD unwittingly helped the cause of right-wing populism. If the reactionary far-right had tried to start a party from scratch, it would have likely failed. The AfD, after all, was created within a respectable mold, trading on the credentials of its earliest founders and leaders. But with saner voices now pushed out, right-wing populists had the party with public respectability and an established name all to themselves. And they deliberately turned it into a Trojan horse for reactionary leaders who wanted to “fight the system from within.

[...]

A New Normal in Germany

As right-wing populist positions have become part of the political discourse, Germany is now in the exact same position as some of its European neighbors with established hardline populist parties. In Italy, Giorgia Meloni ascended to the premiership in October 2022 as the head of her neo-fascist Fratelli d’Italia party, which is poised to perform well in the upcoming European Parliament elections. In France, the Marine Le Pen-led far-right Rassemblement National (RN) is set to bag a third of votes in those elections, roughly double what President Macron’s governing coalition is expected to obtain.

What makes the situation in Germany especially worrisome is that, unlike in France and Italy, far-right parties had failed to garner any meaningful vote share in nationwide elections until just seven years ago; indeed, until the 2017 federal election, there had never been a right-wing populist party that had received more than six percent of the national vote in Germany. The nation’s special vigilance toward far right ethnonationalism in light of its history of Nazi atrocities was expected to spare Germany the resurgence of far-right populism. But it actually led to complacency among mainstream parties. By 2017, the AfD—already in its right-wing populist phase—received nearly 13% of the vote in the federal election to become the third-strongest parliamentary entity. And by then it had also made inroads in all state parliaments as well as the European Parliament. The norm against it was officially gone.

To be sure, the AfD is not on track to take over German politics. It currently has the fifth most seats among all German parties in the Bundestag, fourth most seats among German parties in the European Parliament, and is a distant eighth in party membership. Nor is it currently a threat to dominate European politics—late last month, the AfD was ousted from the Marine Le Pen-led Identity and Democracy (ID) party coalition, the most right-wing group in the European Parliament. Le Pen, herself a far-right radical, explained the AfD’s expulsion by describing the party as “clearly controlled by radical groups.” But none of the above offer good grounds for thinking the AfD will be relegated to the fringes of German or European politics.

After the election, the AfD could rejoin ID, or it could form a new, even more radical right-wing presence within the European Parliament. Some fear that the AfD could potentially join forces with Bulgaria’s ultranationalist Vazrazhdane. Its leader, Kostadin Kostadinov, said that AfD’s expulsion from ID could create an opening to form “a real conservative and sovereigntist group in the European Parliament.” Also, ID’s removal of the AfD wasn’t due to its stated policy platform being out of step with Europe’s right-wing populist project. Rather, it was because the AfD’s leading candidate, Maximillian Krah, was implicated in a corruption and spying scandal involving China and Russia, and because he said he would not automatically construe a member of the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) to be a criminal. Absent these entirely preventable missteps, the AfD would be in good standing with right-wing populist partners in Europe.

Seeing far-right Nazi-esque Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) rise in prominence in Germany is a sad sight.

[slackbwan]

Sorry people, there are no tags regarding kashmir so, I used others.

[troythecatfish]

[nando161mando]

🔍 BBC Releases Documentary on Water Crisis Casuated in Rojava by Turkey

BBC World Service found that Turkey's repeated air strikes on northern Syria have cut off access to electricity and water for more than a million people, creating a humanitarian crisis that may have violated international law.

BBCEye's investigations have gathered details of more than a hundred attacks between 2019 and 2024 on oil fields, gas plants and power stations in the Kurdish region, an area already suffering from years of conflict and climate-induced drought.

In 2019, after heavy fighting, the Turkish army took control of an area of Rojava along the border, including a major water station, disrupting supplies to drought-stricken communities.

The BBC has gathered evidence showing how a series of attacks by Turkey in October 2023 and January 2024 struck key electrical installations, further disrupting the water supply to the water station and depriving much of the region of access to drinking water.

International lawyers reviewing the BBC's findings said Turkey may have violated international standards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UZPLVDvPMo

[kidron]

Syria is free 💚💚💚

If you have the slightest sense of humanity share!!!

The Syrian Liberation won!!

Bashar Al-Assad is gone, he buried them alive, the prisons are filled with innocent people and fighters who refused to destroy Syria over 53 years of torture, rape, murder and genocide.

However, Syria is still in big danger.

Back in 2011, there was a viral video of the tyrant army burying a Syrian man alive, they were telling him to call Bashar Al Assad a "God" but he refused until the sand covered his face alive, he kept screaming "No God but Allah" until his voice disappeared. It still makes my cry.

We call him "The Livant's Bilal", I will tell his story with the video in a seperat post (Tumblr allows one video per post)

When the free army broke into the prisons yesterday at 6 am, they found toddlers there. Toddlers that were born by the innocent young women that got assaulted, children were born there and never saw the light until yesterday 💔

This is Ahmed Al-Tatari, A Syrian young pilot that refused to strike Hama. So Hafez al-Assad concidered him a traitor to him and arrested him in 1981. Al-Tatari refused to betray his people, his toddler child and his family. Yesterday he was free, he lived to see Syria free!!

Despite thousands and thousands of innocent people getting freed, Al-Assad cruelty has no end, and so does Israel.

There are thousands of prisoners under the ground, they are called Red prisons. they see them in the camera but the doors to under the ground are secretive and they are searching for them before the under ground prisoners die from thrust and hunger. There are possible children there from women getting assaulted.

Israel is taking advantage of the conditions and is air striking Syria. Please spread the world to help get them help as fast as possible.

If anyone needs me to translate anything from Arabic to English or ask about anything then I am more than happy to help.

Allah-Akbar 💚

[head-post]

British officials meet new Syrian leader al-Sharaa in Damascus

UK officials held a meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the new Syrian leader and former head of the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), according to Arab media.

Al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani, met with delegates from the British Foreign Office. He emphasised the need to rebuild shattered state institutions, which must be based on law and security. The new state leader called for the lifting of international sanctions to allow Syrian refugees around the world to return home.

Earlier, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirmed that the UK government had established “diplomatic contact” with the HTS. The militant group has been considered a prohibited terrorist organisation in the UK since 2017.

We will judge them on their actions. We want to see a representative government, an inclusive government in Syria.

The UK also committed £50m (€60.5m) in humanitarian aid to Syria and Syrian refugees. The package included £30 million for food, shelter and emergency medical care. Lebanon and Jordan would receive £10 million each through the World Food Programme and UNHCR.

US President Joe Biden’s administration is also reassessing the status of HTS, with Biden stating that the US would evaluate “not just their words, but their actions.”

Read more HERE

[mikhaila-bobersky]

Sweden 2015 flashbacks

When you unconditionally love migrants to the point where you fill your country with them to later set their refugee camps into fire.

[memberofkurtistown]

^^^

A Quick Reminder

Palestine is going through a genocide/ethnic cleansing/colonization

Sudan is going through Genocide/Famine/War

In Congo the Children are being sold / the woman are getting sexually assaulted along with minors and impregnated/ Man are being slaved

Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic Muslims are facing: possible genocide, forced abortion, forced sterilization, forced birth control, forced labor, torture in the north-western region of Xinjiang by china.

the Syrian Civil War is primarily rooted in a feud between Russia and the United States and their allies in the region over natural gas pipelines passing through Syria on their way to European markets, Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale military intervention in Syria to prevent the fall of their ally Bashar al-Assad and stop Syria from joining the Western sphere of influence = Syrian are dying everyday because of other people greed.

In Yemen 18.2 million people are facing famine/poverty/health diseases(cholera).

[jarviskingston]

🏀⛹🏿‍♂️⛹🏿

[parasiticstars]

Anyways, an unfriendly reminder that a boat filled with Pakistani, Syrian, Palestinian, and Afghan refugees capsized off of the coast of Greece and the Greek coast guard not only initially didn’t do a thing, but once they finally did, ended up making it worse due to not towing the boat properly. The lower decks had the most casualties, and “coincidentally”, were where the refugees were crammed.

over 700 passengers on that boat. Less than 100 survived. Many more missing, and the death toll unsaid yet.

But it’s the unimaginable hubris and stupidity of the rich and this one company, headed by this guy who whole ass said “safety is just pure waste”, who’s shitty fucking submersible is so unsafe and unauthorized that it can’t even be called a submarine, exploding like it was honestly destined to that gets hourly media coverage, millions of taxpayer dollars wasted for a search, and gets unneeded pity for the idiots who signed up for it.

Okay.

What we need to do is focus on what matters, even after it’s off the headlines. Even when the government brushes it aside. Donate to reputable search-and-rescue organizations such as SOS humanity or SOS méditerranée or alarm phone (amongst others, and any other organizations dedicated to this crisis), and spread awareness/add onto this post if you can’t.

hey friendly reminder that “the loss of any human life is an inherent tragedy” and “the ≤1% paying a quarter of a mil. a head and signing a contract that explicitly mentions ‘death’ to disturb a mass grave while shoved in a literal bluetooth cheap-ass metal cylinder made by a company that eschews safety got exactly what they signed up for” AND “we shouldn’t have wasted taxpayer money to find a crumpled up Pringle’s can during several refugee crises” are all opinions that can and should co-exist.

Of course, we shouldn’t be so gleeful in their horrific deaths, especially there was a literal teenager that didn’t even want to go in there. Internet anonymity be damned, it’s the death of basic empathy. And of course, we should rightfully be outraged that watching a bunch of ultra-rich blow their money to do something objectively incredibly stupid (to a MASS GRAVE with human fucking bone dust and preserved shoes, I cannot stress enough) is what’s hitting headlines and what people care about.

However, if you have any sort of basic human decency and a morality view more complex than that of a six year old, I’m sure you can easily reconcile all three valid opinions.

[nando161mando]

Tensions come to a head with a proposal to limit the entrance of children of war refugees who are already in the Netherlands and to make families wait at least two years before they can be united.

[head-post]

Lavrov’s interview with Carlson: On resolving Ukrainian conflict, relations with US and Syria

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov answered questions on Friday from American journalist Tucker Carlson, who travelled to Moscow for this interview.

Russian-American relations

Speaking on the Russian-American relations issue, Lavrov said that Moscow would like to have normal relations with Washington, but the US is waging a hybrid war against Russia in Ukraine. He noted that the Ukrainians could not do what they are doing with modern long-range weapons without Washington’s direct involvement.

At the same time, strikes are being carried out on Russian territories with US ATACMS missiles and other weapons, Lavrov pointed out.

Answering the question about what Moscow wanted to say with the test of the Oreshnik missile system, which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 21, Lavrov said that Russia is ready to respond by all means to the West’s attempts to inflict a strategic defeat on it.

The diplomat stressed that the US and its allies supplying long-range weapons to Kyiv should understand that Russia will be ready to use any means. He noted that this step was taken in response to the escalation by Western countries in Ukraine and expressed hope that this signal would be taken seriously.

Lavrov also pointed out that while representatives of the West are fighting to preserve their hegemony around the world, Russia is fighting for its legitimate security interests.

Ukrainian conflict issue

Speaking about the possibility of settling the Ukrainian conflict, the diplomat said that Russia has no intention to destroy the Ukrainian people, as Ukrainians are “brothers and sisters” for Russians.

Lavrov recalled that it was not Russia that started the Ukrainian conflict, but as soon as the coup d’état took place in Ukraine, the US did not even hide its participation in it.

The minister pointed out that the solution to the Ukrainian crisis did not depend only on Moscow and Washington, as some politicians believe. Stressing that this does not correspond to reality, Lavrov said:

“Europeans are whispering to each other, saying that it is not for Volodymyr Zelensky to dictate the terms of negotiations, this is the domain of the US and Russia.”

He recalled that Russia adheres to the principles enshrined in the UN Charter, which speaks about the sovereign equality of states.

Continuing the discussion, the minister said Moscow was ready to negotiate on the basis of the agreements reached in Istanbul in spring 2022, naming Ukraine’s non-aligned status as one of the key principles.

On US President-elect Donald Trump

The minister characterised US President-elect Donald Trump as “a strong man who does not like to postpone things for later.”

In addition, Lavrov noted Trump’s friendliness in conversation. But, according to him, this does not mean that he is pro-Russian, recalling the number of anti-Russian sanctions imposed during his first presidency.

The diplomat also added that Russia has withstood the sanctions imposed by the West, becoming stronger, and continues to develop co-operation with friendly countries.

On the situation in Syria

Commenting on the situation with the activation of militants in Syria, Lavrov noted that the Americans “feed” Kurdish separatists in the east of the country with the funds received from the sale of oil and grain.

The diplomat said that in the near future Russia intends to discuss with Turkey and Iran how to block the channels of arms and financing of Islamist groups in Syria.

He added that another meeting in the Astana format is planned before the end of this year or in the new year to resolve the situation. Such meetings, as the minister pointed out, are held on a regular basis.

Earlier, on February 9, Carlson interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Read more HERE

[sayruq]

In January of 2024, Dr. Bara Zuhaili entered Gaza on a two-week medical mission with a U.S.-based organization, Rahma Worldwide. Dr. Zuhaili dedicated most of his time to Shuhada' Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza. While this was not his first experience in a wartime or crisis setting — he had undertaken medical missions in Syria and was in southern Turkey during the earthquake — it proved to be his most horrific. As a vascular surgeon, he was tasked with assisting Gazan doctors in one of the ugliest tasks of this war: amputations. A generation of amputees has emerged, with over 10 children losing one or more limbs per day, on average, since the beginning of the war. Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah called it “the biggest cohort of pediatric amputees in history.” Even this statistic, reported by UNICEF in December of 2023, is now outdated. The true number of men, women, and child amputees remains unknown, with estimates ranging upwards of 10,000 people. It is a number that will continue to rise as new and unknown weapons destroy tissue and bone, crumbling medical infrastructures and scarce supplies force constant life-and-death decisions, while infections and chronic illnesses — largely ignored — silently kill or handicap thousands.

Is this the first time you've worked in a war zone or in a humanitarian crisis? Did any of them prepare you for this? It was not the first time. Unfortunately, I had experience in Syria, working in the underground hospitals in the besieged areas of Aleppo and Idlib. There, the healthcare facilities were also under constant attack by the Syrian regime. But Gaza was unlike anything I had seen before. To start, the supply chain was completely broken. Supplies were extremely limited in Deir Al Balah, where I was based for most of my stay. The hospital functioned at only 5-10% capacity compared to any similar hospital in the Middle East—I'm not even talking about an American hospital. Then, there were the number of patients. Just to give you an idea: Shuhada' Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al Balah is only equipped for 150 patients. Under extreme circumstances, they could maybe stretch to accommodate up to 200 patients. When I arrived, there were 950 patients, in addition to over 20,000 refugees sleeping in the corridors of the hospital and its complex. Every time we experienced a bombardment, we had anywhere from 20 to 60 patients rushing in simultaneously, in addition to the patients already being treated. It was completely overwhelming and overcrowded. The third issue had to do with the type of injuries. I've seen a lot of trauma before — traumatic injuries are not new to me — but the level of trauma I saw was something I've never witnessed in my entire life. When I was in the operating room, I would get a call from the ER saying someone was shot in the leg and they needed me as soon as possible. In my mind, someone shot in the leg with a bullet would have an entry size of about five to six millimeters and an exit wound size of about two centimeters long. That is what I was familiar with. What I saw in Gaza — which I had never seen before — was literally as if an explosion, an RPG, had exploded into the leg. The entry wound would be about five to 10 centimeters wide and the exit wound would be almost 30 centimeters wide. One bullet would destroy a diameter of 10-15 centimeters… all of the muscle, bone, arteries, and nerves were all gone, destroyed.I'm not a military expert, I don't know much about weapons. But I don't know what kind of bullet can cause that much destruction. With a bullet wound in the U.S., I could get away with doing a bypass to salvage the leg. In Gaza, there was nothing anyone could do to salvage the leg. The amount of tissue damage forced me to do amputations almost every single time. 

Can you describe what a single day would look like? As a rule, anytime a bombardment happened, we would wait between four to eight hours before we received any injured people. In Deir Al-Balah, we would see the missile hitting two to three kilometers away and we knew that there were many casualties, but it would take these people — who were only three kilometers away from us — four to eight hours to reach our location. The IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) prevented any ambulances from entering the scene, and anyone attempting to help or approach would be shot. I had many cases where the ambulance driver would come to me holding two or three kids. They were dead, and he would swear to me they were alive four hours ago. We lost a lot of lives just waiting to reach us in the hospital. Our days typically began around seven in the morning, and even though the night was filled with attacks and bombardments, no casualties would reach us before the morning. By then, we would go to the ER and try to start the triage process: determining who needs to go to the OR first and who could afford to wait. We would then perform surgeries throughout the day, often not finishing until one or two in the morning. Sometimes, if I had time, I would do my rounds to check on the patients, and by late afternoon, we would have more bombardments and injuries coming in until midnight. Usually, by midnight, things slowed down… not because there was no bombardment, but because they couldn't reach us anymore.