Posted by “Germany and Canada are the West’s last safe harbours” – The Globe and Mail, 19 November 2016.
“Canada’s example to the world – Liberty moves north” – The Economist, 29 October 2016.
I laugh whenever liberals deride the belief that there is a left-leaning bias in most of the mainstream news media in the West. This is clearly true, if only because reporters and editors tend to be well educated and live in large metropolitan cities which is exactly where liberal values come from. I don’t have a problem with this bias; I only take issue when they spread their propaganda while feasting at the public trough (a la the Canadian Brainwashing Corporation) or when start bleating about how open-minded and impartial they are. They’re not. At least right-wing media like Fox and Breitbart are honest in acknowledging their bias as are the truly left-wing publications like Slate and Huffington Post. But the mainstream media – nothing but lies and hypocrisy.
It is with some Schadenfreude that I have been witnessing political events of the past year. Starting with the surprise Brexit vote in June, America topped that with an even more startling Donald Trump election victory in November. Italy joined the club with an overwhelming no vote to constitutional reform in December resulting in the resignation of center-left Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. While not a referendum on the European Union or even membership in the common currency (Eurozone), the loss has strengthened populist parties like Five Star and Northern League. This is not a new phenomenon but it has started to infect the core of Western liberal democracies rather than the periphery. Marine Le Pen looks set to stage yet another upset victory for right-wing populists in May during France’s presidential election – a country that along with Germany can be viewed as the heart of the of European Union. What is amazing is how fast this trend has emerged and how shocked political analysts and commentators are despite all the warning signs to the contrary. As The Economist noted a year ago:
POLAND is giving Europe a headache. Since the socially conservative and mildly Eurosceptic Law and Justice party (PiS in Polish) won the parliamentary elections on October 25th [2015], the country has gone from being the poster child of European integration to enfant terrible. The new government has defied the European Union’s warnings, pushing through laws that critics see as weakening constitutional checks and balances and media freedom. Centrists and liberals warn of “Orbanisation”, fearing that Poland is following the illiberal path of Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister.
Following Trump’s surprising victory, liberals around the world seem to be going through the five stages of grief. Many are still in stage one: denial, like film maker Michael Moore who moans, “He’s not president until noon on January 20 of 2017”. To be fair, Moore and most are moving into stage two: anger (but with him, its hard to tell as he seems to be perpetually angry). “We’re bringing widespread civil resistance to the streets of Washington, D.C., through protests, direct actions, and even parties and we want you there with us.” Clever liberal politicians, imbued with a super-Darwinian survival instinct, are rapidly entering phase three: bargaining. I previously wrote about how Trudeau Junior in Canada is now being vilified as being a traitor to the planet by the far left for approving two pipelines. According to American Vice-President Joe Biden, Trudeau’s Canada along with Angela Merkel’s Germany are left as the two remaining torch bearers for liberal western democracy.
This is what Merkel sent to Trump following his victory. “Germany and America are connected by values of democracy, freedom and respect for the law and the dignity of man, independent of origin, skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or political views. I offer the next President of the United States close cooperation on the basis of these values.”
This is what Merkel said this week referring to the summer of 2015 when 890,000 refugees claimed asylum in Germany, “can, shall and must not be repeated”. She also promised that many of the people Germany admitted will be sent back, and that those who stay will not be permitted to develop a “parallel society.” She then added that, “the full veil is not appropriate for us, and should be banned wherever legally possible.” “Our law takes precedence before tribal rules, codes of honor and sharia.”
It’s clear that the German Willkommenskultur (welcome culture) for refugees was never as deeply ingrained as Merkel thought when she threw open the door to a million refugees. More likely, average Germans, conditioned since birth to feel guilty about their Nazi past, went along with all the politically correct liberal agenda in a vain attempt to prove to the world that they aren’t fascists any more. Despite the best of intentions, there is a limit to how much people can take and a society can bear; when you do something stupid like throw open the doors to millions of refugees while the rest of Europe looks on in shock, it is clear that the line wasn’t just crossed but trampled in a stampede.
Like the proverbial closing of the barn door after the horses have bolted, Merkel tried too late to reverse course by enlisting Turkey to keep the refugees there instead of letting them take leaky boats to Greece. It cost $6.3bn a year in aid, and acceptance of autocratic and human rights violations by Turkish President Erdogan (who survived a coup attempt this summer). It will also likely prove to be a temporary respite as long as Germany continues with its open door policy. Deng Xiaoping once said, “if you open the windows, some flies will come in.” I wonder what he would say would happen if you threw open the front doors.
I believe that history will eventually view the Syrian refugee crisis (yes, I know there is also a good dose of refugees from other places like Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan as well) as the single biggest catalyst that ignited the right-wing, anti-immigration movements across Europe to surge in popularity. While Merkel is still leading in the polls, (as much as polls are believable following the predictive fiasco’s during Brexit and the US presidential elections), I believe she also sees this trend which is why her latest pronouncements about refugees could have been taken straight from a speech by Marine Le Pen. Her pandering to populism may be enough for her get re-elected next fall. It will not save Europe though as the entire liberal socialist EU structure is unlikely to survive the strains it is currently under. The EU has never really recovered from the 2007 financial crisis. The PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain) are all still a heartbeat away from economic collapse. Throw in millions of refugees and no good plan on how to deal with them and it is obvious why anti-immigration populist parties are taking power everywhere. Add on a Brexit and it is clear that the EU as we have come to know it is unlikely to survive for much longer.