Buchanan understands Trump very well, because Trumpism is a kind of Pat Buchananism reborn – an anti-free trade, protectionist, anti-open borders paleoconservatism.
Yes, there are plenty of toxic aspects to Trumpism and Buchananism, and Trump seems to want a more militaristic foreign policy than Buchanan did (without going to the neocon extreme), but at the heart of Trumpism is: the failure of neoliberalism in America. Part of that failed neoliberalism was open borders and mass immigration, not just free trade, deregulation and the abandonment of fiscal policy. Trumpism is a kind of anti-neoliberal conservatism, and Trump is a “Bernie” for right-wing people. Left-wing people should take careful note of this.
Thursday, March 3, 2016
EU faces the Truth about Economic Migrants
Or at least Donald Tusk the president of the European council has, as described here, here and here.
Astute people should have realised late last year that perhaps about 50% or so of the migrants are not genuine refugees, but economic migrants. Now the EU realises that mass deportations need to be carried out, as was realised by a number of European governments last month.
Apparently 2,000–3,000 migrants are arriving in Greece every day. It is now clear that Austria and the Balkan states have moved to stricter and stricter border controls. So even if the number of people entering Greece does not accelerate (but it probably will as summer approaches) that means about another 1 million or more people coming into Greece in 2016.
After years of austerity, one wonders what will happen to Greece if the Balkan countries continue to tighten their borders and a tidal wave of a million people flood Greece.
If scenes like this in the video below of what happened early this week at the Greek town of Idomeni bordering Macedonia become normal and massive migrant camps like that in Calais appear all over Greece, one really wonders what the political mood in Greece will start to look like this year.
Alternatively, if the flood of people is allowed into the Balkans and into Germany and other Western European countries or if, as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey wants, large numbers are taken directly from Turkey to Western Europe, the political consequences there will most likely be a massive swing towards the populist right.
Astute people should have realised late last year that perhaps about 50% or so of the migrants are not genuine refugees, but economic migrants. Now the EU realises that mass deportations need to be carried out, as was realised by a number of European governments last month.
Apparently 2,000–3,000 migrants are arriving in Greece every day. It is now clear that Austria and the Balkan states have moved to stricter and stricter border controls. So even if the number of people entering Greece does not accelerate (but it probably will as summer approaches) that means about another 1 million or more people coming into Greece in 2016.
After years of austerity, one wonders what will happen to Greece if the Balkan countries continue to tighten their borders and a tidal wave of a million people flood Greece.
If scenes like this in the video below of what happened early this week at the Greek town of Idomeni bordering Macedonia become normal and massive migrant camps like that in Calais appear all over Greece, one really wonders what the political mood in Greece will start to look like this year.
Alternatively, if the flood of people is allowed into the Balkans and into Germany and other Western European countries or if, as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey wants, large numbers are taken directly from Turkey to Western Europe, the political consequences there will most likely be a massive swing towards the populist right.
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