We apologize in advance for the depressing tone of what we have written here. Of course the migrant crisis that Europe is currently facing is anything but cheerful – for those who understandably are desperate to come in and for the Europeans who are contemplating the likely consequences of this.
But the lack of leadership to tackle this clear and present danger to Europe's future is truly concerning. Both the migrants and the Europeans might be worse off as a result.
While the armed conflicts in the Middle East get all of the press coverage, we have written about how the dearth of water there is affecting millions of people and might cause one of the greatest humanitarian disasters the world has ever seen – irrespective of who prevails in those conflicts. That reality will not go away.
And we are already getting a preview. This year Germany alone might get an influx of 800,000 migrants, about 1% of its population.
Ah, but fear not... European leaders are working on a plan, which reading from the headlines will likely involve paying hundreds of millions of Euros to African states to take all those people back. It’s a purely political/financial band aid that portrays a certain naivety about the problem and the region. Once those countries get the money we can only wonder how long it will take before all of the migrants and more are back on the shores of the Mediterranean. There are no easy solutions here.
And there is a much deeper issue that is surfacing as this crisis rages on: Europe’s defenses are highly vulnerable, which is a real risk if elements of those migratory influxes turn from desperate to hostile.
This may seem at odds with the narrative of the EU being home to hundreds of millions of people, an active NATO member and aspiring world power (with nuclear weapons to boot). All very good indeed, but let’s consider what is lacking across the Old Continent right now: