When Are The Italians Going To Say "enough Is Enough"?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3038913/Hundreds-migrants-die-trying-reach-Europe-Libya-Boat-carrying-550-people-capsizes-victim-board-vessel-thrown-sharks.html

They should be rescued from their flimsy unseaworthy vessels and transported back to Africa.

[RandyMarsh]

We just need to crush people's aspirations of having a better life for them and their families.

[Svejk]

jim360 /// Perhaps the best solution is to allow the EU to slide into abject poverty? That way people will soon stop believing that the streets are paved with gold...///

I believe you have (accidentally) stumbled on to the (Marxist) master plan, Jim.
As an aside, was it Edinburgh uni you went to, jim?

[jim360]

I'm at Edinburgh Uni now, having been to Cambridge as an undergraduate.

[naomi24]

Jim, //Perhaps the best solution is to allow the EU to slide into abject poverty?//

If we follow your idealistic notions, that's a possibility.

[Svejk]

Would you happen to know Ken Rice?

[jim360]

It's absolutely not, Naomi. And it's not idealism either. I would class it as something closer to "idealistic realism" -- we can't solve the problems, but we should try. Even a small improvement is worth striving for.

It's not like keeping the money here will fix the internal problems the EU faces, either.

[jim360]

Afraid not, svejk -- he works up the hill from where I am, so I don't think I'm likely to run into him much.

[jim360]

Although I have seen him a couple of times, now I think about it. Just never met personally.

*apologies to AOG for going off-topic*

[naomi24]

Jim, we do try. We throw millions of pounds at Africa. Nothing changes – and nothing ever will. You’re not only idealistic - you are naïve. What you are asking is impossible.

[jim360]

Well, whatever. I don't think we're trying hard enough. In Libya in particular, or in various other failed African states like Somalia, it's not enough to just build a few wells here and there.

I don't think it's naivety at all. Although I would say that -- but the fact is that this problem will always be with us, and the Africans making such a perilous journey, as long as they have sufficient reason to leave. No amount of border protection will change this. It is... well, naive! to think so.

[naomi24]

Jim, //No amount of border protection will change this.//

Yes it will. If we close Europe’s borders to people who come by the boatload, as they are doing now, that’ll be another boatload Europe doesn’t have to accommodate. It's not that difficult to understand, surely!

[jim360]

They will try to come anyway. Far more secure borders than the ones being proposed have never dissuaded people from trying. You could even start shooting people and torpedoing the boats, and still they will come.

[Svejk]

They won't, jim, They're poor, not stupid.

[naomi24]

Jim, That’s a silly argument. People trying to enter Europe surreptitiously is one thing – helping them off boats, feeding them, housing them, and administering any medical attention they might need is quite another.

[jourdain2]

Agree. Khandro 9.09 post.

[BilSuth]

It certainly looks like saving their own skins, rather than going to get help to bring back their families.

[Khandro]

Yes, it seems ironic that the youngest and strongest are the ones fleeing and leaving the vulnerable to their fate, such large numbers could make a considerable contribution to overthrowing their oppressors I would have thought.

[Svejk]

Perhaps they've promised to send for all their family/friends/tribesmen once they're British. ;-)

[Khandro]

They're not all running;
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0edf0a46-cb2e-11e4-bac3-00144feab7de.html#axzz3Xr4fAwBC