23 September 2015

Usually Hard-to-Take Geraldo Comes Up
With a Halfway Decent Idea For Once


Last night on Fox (sorry Trump) Geraldo Rivera was speaking on Hannity, and my usual reaction when I see that face come on the screen goes something like 'why do they have to have this guy on every damn show' and/or  'what does he know, anyway'...

They were talking about the Syrian refugees crisis -in which Rivera's expertise would seem to be dubious at best- when out of his mustachioed mush comes a true gem- he proposed that we collaborate with the Russians to create a safe-zone for war refugees right in Syria, then just defend that perimeter and fly all the aid in to them there.

I do love the part about none of them not coming here, and the proposal provides further benefits not likely envisioned by Mr Rivera:
  • It would instantly eliminate all non-Syrian claimants with
    BS paperwork trying to get into the West.
  • All the military-age men in the refugee flow -75 to 80% by most counts, and surely containing the promised ISIS elements-
    would simply be camped out in Syria, under the watchful eye of coalition troops.
  • It would cost dramatically less financially (and socially) than the current border wars, forced multiculturalism, terrorism risk, and towering new entitlement costs- WAY less.
  • Disingenuous open-borders leftists like Martin Schulz down at the EU -who love to assure us that most of the immigrants will be returning to Syria when everything calms down- might not like how this would pull the rug out from under their stealth immigration schemes, as the actual thinking in Brussels is that they'll all become nice, productive taxpayers and prop-up the EU welfare state. He KNOWS they're not leaving, ever- yet doesn't mind
    lying to you about it.
However, it's doubtful any such plan would work, 
due to true interests of the parties involved:
  • The Russians aren't there to help anybody but themselves -they never are- and could give a rat's ass about any refugees-
    you don't see them asking any to come to Moscow, do you?
  • Putin's not interested in collaborating with the Americans in any capacity whatsoever- he's supporting the regime Obama has long vowed to topple, that's on the OTHER side. The Kremlin's delighted to have as many Muslim refugees pour into Western cities as possible, they're not going to bail us out of this, and their bombing will likely produce even more.
  • The Russians aim to solidify their military installations, prop-up the Syrian central government, and beat-back her enemies- not to mention making the US look feckless, weak, and ineffective.
  • It's actually a 3-way war, Assad vs ISIS vs. 'moderate' rebels, yet the US has poured millions into the weakest side, accomplishing little. Now Moscow is there in the name of opportunism, any humanitarian 'aid' will likely be for show. The facts on the ground have already been established it seems, Putin knows Obama won't do anything to contain him.
  • They are now spreading Russian influence throughout the Middle East in the vast power vacuum created by US strategic implosion- just look how Egypt has been forced to turn to Moscow. Traditional US allies in the region feel all but abandoned, so the Kremlin is rolling-in and taking over. I'm sure they won't use their newfound influence in the ME to drive up the price of oil or anything.
  • The immigrants themselves -while potentially open to the idea of free room and board in a safe zone- aren't really looking for any refugee camps, they pass dozens of opportunities for that on the way to Germany every day. They want to move to the West...
    just like pretty much everybody else it seems.
  • The migrants also likely wouldn't trust (wisely) anything the Russians had a finger in, and that included Mr Rivera's proposal-- how could they sleep in some refugee camp run by Assad's primary enabler? None of them are coming from government-controlled territory, they're from towns and villages attacked/bombed by Assad and/or ISIS.
So much for Mustache Power.