What happened to that little boy? Elian or whatever?

I think he went back to Cuba with his dad.

I thought we let him choose?

Full fledged member of the Cuban army.

http://d3819ii77zvwic.cloudfront.net...n-gonzalez.jpg

This is great news, though obviously they've been embarrassed into it. Still, if it save lives I'm all for it.

from CNN

Indonesia and Malaysia agree to take in migrants arriving by ships, as long as the international community helps to resettle them within one year, Malaysian state media says.

The offer was announced in a joint statement by the Malaysian and Indonesian Foreign Ministers in Malaysia, according to Malaysian state news agency, Bernama.

In recent weeks, hundreds of migrants crammed onto ships have been arriving in the waters of both countries. They're believed to be economic migrants from Bangladesh and Rohingya fleeing persecution in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma

we already have this issue in the united states, though the refugees come from south & central america/the caribbean instead of jihadistan

from a moral perspective i'd like to be compassionate and let them stay

from a more pragmatic perspective i realize that doing so gives and incentive for others to try to flee here. and realistically there has to be a limit on immigration, otherwise you just end up importing poverty and social strife on a mass scale.

I do understand that, but your refugees aren't (are they?) drifting at sea without food or water, and with young families? I honestly don't see how you couldn't give them at least temporary shelter in those circumstances.

dunno what the process is so i'm not gonna comment on that, if you really wanna know google it i guess, but yea i think the immigrants are sometimes in similarly desperate situations. i know there are flotillas that come in from the caribbean and **** like that...

Time to bring this back into the light again.
What's your opinion --- esp any Europeans here --- on the current situation? People being treated like they're a hostile invading army when all they're trying to do is escape conflict and genocide and make a better life for their families? Walls being erected to keep them out? Cameron calling them a "swarm"? Right wing fascist parties gaining numbers and support on their anti-immigration policies? Is there no room for human compassion here? We look at the terrible newsreels of the refugees on the road during WWII and our hearts break; how is this any different? We have a chance to make a difference, to show we care, that we're human, and all we do is shut our gates, turn our backs and say NIMBY?

Opinions?

The xenophobic hatred against the refugees is pretty damn scary.
Even scarier is how widespread it is. German Facebook is swarming with this ****.
It's a no-brainer that people who are facing death and destruction should be helped.

I'm a little taken aback by the naivete of my fellow liberals though, with them advocating virtually uncontrolled influx and thinking
that there won't be huge problems because of culture clash, abuse of the system and criminal behaviour by the refugees.
But all that is obviously not reason enough to let millions of people suffer and die in their ravaged homelands or on their way to safety here.