Wednesday, 28 October 2015

Post 72—Refugees: Compassion plus or versus Security



Dr. Jim Denison on his blog "The Denision Forum on Truth and Culture" wrote the following under the above heading:

“We are importing Islamic extremism, Arab anti-Semitism, national and ethnic conflicts of other peoples as well as a different societal and legal understand.” So warns the German newspaper, Welt am Sonntag (World on Sunday).
This is not a fictitious alarm headlined by a National Enquirer-like scandal sheet. Welt am Sonntag has consistently been named European Newspaper of the Year.  Its report comes from a security document obtained by the paper and read by top-level German security personnel.  The report warns that “the integration of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants into Germany is no longer possible in light of the number and already existing parallel societies.”  In Germany, “parallel societies”  typically refers to insulated Muslim communities.

Could ISIS terrorists be among those immigrating to Germany and the West?

According to one ISIS operative in Syria, the Islamic State has already smuggled 4,000 covert gunmen into Western nations.  Such an initiative is part of the group’s global strategy: “It’s our dream that there should be a Caliphate not only in Syria but in all the world, and we will have it soon, God willing.”

Nicholas Rasmussen, Director of the  (US) National Counterterrorism Center,  warns that potential terrorists could indeed hide among Syrian refugees seeking asylum in the United States. Homeland Security officials are alert to this danger, promising "the most rigorous screening” of any potential refugees from Syria.

However, authorities question whether the U.S. intelligence community, with few assets on the ground in Syria, can provide authorities with information needed to determine whether a refugee could pose a threat. “You have to have information to vet,” according to the head of the FBI’s counterterrorism division.”

Does this mean that we should fear Muslims coming into the West?  Yes and no.

Obviously, we need a different approach to immigrant screening than in the past. There was a time when our chief concerns related to employability, language skills, and cultural integration. Now we must be aware of jihadists seeking entry to nations they intend to attack. A new day calls for a new strategy. 

The above is not the entire article, but it is enough for our purpose. Throughout the Western world, there is this debate or, rather, stormy shouting going on between adherents of basically two different opinions—those who out of compassion want to allow all these thousands upon thousands of pitiful refugees into their country and those who urge caution and careful screening as per Denison’s article. It was an issue in the recent Canadian election. Incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper was berated by some of his opponents who advocated lowering the threshold, while Harper insisted on proper screening, which, of course, would mean a slower process. 

I identified myself as a born-again Christian in the previous post. As such, I share the compassion of Harper’s opponents. I would love nothing better than for Canada to open the borders for many more of these unfortunate refugees, mothers with children and all.  And I would love it if we could speed up the process so as to get them settled and move on with their lives of contributing to Canadian society. However, my guess is that Harper shares this same compassion and would like nothing better. I suspect that his external composure hides a heart of compassion and mercy no less than the rest of us.

However, Christian compassion is not careless or unrealistic. When you carry the burden of national leadership, you have the duty of protecting the security of the nation. Anyone who disregards this issue in the name of compassion is derailed. Trudeau the First may be considered a philosopher-king, but he displayed little savvy when it comes to human nature. While strongly opposed to racism, he imported thousands of Asian racists and thus brought the degree of racism in the country to a higher level than ever before.  Like Caucasians, many Asians are racist against both Canadians and against each other. How contradictory can you get? 

The issues before us today are the two poles of compassion and security. We need to consider both issues in dealing with refugees.  Welt am Sunntag  has it right.  Their caution holds equally for Canada. No responsible Prime Minister can or may ignore either one of these two poles. Simply allowing them in without proper screening irresponsible. By flooding our nation indiscriminately we will simply smother the compassion for which Canada is known by importing people who share neither our compassion nor our respect for law, people who abuse our compassion and undermine our security.
 
In my ignorance and innocence, I advocate that Canada help support nations like Turkey that currently handle thousands of refugees within their borders with generous financial and other support so as to carry the burden with that country and others like them. As we do so, we try to speed up the process of approving refugees to enter our country without compromising our security. And we must definitely not forget about those refugees who have already been waiting for some years in our lineup. They need to be given the priority they deserve. If things need to be sped up, they need to be sped up for them as well. They should retain their position in the lineup and not be bypassed for the current crop.


May Trudeau the Second keep his eyes, heart and mind on both sides of the equation. That’s our prayer for him, for our nation and for the refugees. Whether philosopher or not, may he have a firm and realistic understanding of human nature, better than his father. May he/we devise a secure way of inviting thousands of them to our country. God bless him. God bless Canada as a nation of secure and strong compassion.

No comments:

Post a Comment