Review of CNN Op-Ed

CNN put up a piece (an editorial) by Robert Verkaik....entitled "How Germany's Open-Door Policy Refugee Policy Helps to Fight Terrorism".

I sat and read through the piece twice.

It's not a news piece or one endorsed in anyway by CNN....it's simply an opinion piece over Germany, Merkel, the immigration strategy in place since 2013, and where Verkaiki thinks this is going.

The trail that Verkaiki discusses is this one where Germans will be able to influence and change the minds of those immigrating into Germany.  He does point at success stories within German intelligence and how the cops have stayed one-step ahead in most (not all) cases.  I do agree, it is a remarkable run of luck to have stopped as many terror acts as they have.

Verkaiki also discusses these recent Merkel changes (the burqa ban idea, and more stringent handling of violent gentlemen)....that these will lessen the trust of the Muslim community in Merkel.

The point of the editorial?  Trump needs to stay out of Germany's immigration problem talk.

Over the past four years, I've sat and watched the migration 'opera' unfold, and numerous stumbles by the Berlin leadership crowd.  I've watched journalists and intellectuals try to defend remarkable stupidity, and then chastise regular citizens for anxiety and spiraling distrust.  Every news item that comes up....has to be reviewed for accuracy and fact, because there's so much slant and fabrication built into pro-immigration and anti-immigration stories.

There are three basic issues or problems with the CNN's op-ed by Verkaik.

1.  To suggest that ALL of the immigrants since 2013 in this great migration to Germany are Muslim is not factual.  The immigration problem is not a Muslim-only episode....nor are the problems seen by the German public Muslim-only generated. One can simply look at the Koln New Year's Eve episode of 31 December 2015, and note immature and crude behavior demonstrated by a bunch of thugs.  The German perception....at least by the working class...is that it's not safe anymore in various urban areas, and that no-go areas have been created (something that journalists and politicians work day and night in Germany to advertise as not so).

2.  This strategy here, designed by Merkel and associates, might eventually have some success.  But we aren't talking about in this next decade.  It could take twenty years before you really start to see success with the next generation of teens growing up in this atmosphere.  How much patience will people have to wait for this ten to twenty year period to pass, and this great experiment proven successful?  There's already fallout here in 2017, and if Merkel and the CDU/SPD 'team' does win in the fall.....they have only four years to prove their shift helped to work.  If it's a failure and more anxiety comes out of this period.....you can absolutely expect a right-wing government to arise in 2021 to face the perceived threat.

3.  There's a strong argument for immigration to exist in Germany.  Industry and business folks will advocate it.  But on the other hand, you don't need 300,000 new burger-flippers to arrive....having little to no craftsmanship or university degree in hand, and expect the Germans to pay for three years of training, housing, and social welfare before they are capable of working.  Even after three years, you can't be sure the guy won't up and leave....going back to his homeland, and the 150,000 Euro wasted on this guy was blown.  There needs to be some door existing, control of the door, and some judgement exercised to limit waste and time.  A lot of these individuals came to Germany with no clear idea of anything, other than thinking it was going to be better in Germany and they'd all be living great lives.  Six months of refugee living, moving into some ghetto-area of Frankfurt, and realization that half of what you make on income is taxed or gone because of Germany's social system....leaves some wondering about this great vision they had.

Back in 2015, there were a lot of journalists and intellectuals in Germany, along politicians....defending the Merkel strategy on immigration and migration.  That public attention for the most part has disappeared.  If you watch the same news....the same journalists....today, it's a bit different.  They were like Verkaik in that period, and defending the whole thing.  Today....much less so.  Public sentiment today goes against easy acceptance of journalists.  More than sixty percent of Germans question the news media (even the state-run/public TV crowd), with that statistic coming out in the spring of 2016....suggesting sentiment had shifted.

Maybe there are still some journalists around....within the US....who will fall on the spear to defend the Chancellor and the strategy.

I recommend reading the CNN Op-Ed....only to get an idea of the other side of this story.  For me, it's like some epic Lawrence of Arabia-like story, where good intentions didn't really achieve a great ending.