Image of dead child on Turkish beach haunts and frustrates the world

[waldroj]

Gentlemen,

Despite what some respondents have said in earlier posts to this topic, it seems fair to say that innocent people (mainly from Syria) continue to suffer terribly through no fault of their own.

Elsewhere, some are suggesting that we are experiencing "...the biggest humanitarian crisis since the end of World War II" (see http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-03/european-migrant-crisis-drowned-toddler-photos-sparks-outrage/6745808; http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/09/daily-chart).

Whilst it is difficult to have compassion for those who, we believe, are belligerent towards us, we must realise that (as identified in the Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Thus, the governments of ALL countries (if they are able to) have a responsibility to put humanitarian needs ahead of their political self-interests, either by accepting a fair quota of displaced persons as refugees, or by assisting those countries currently accommodating and feeding them.

Whether countries choose to do anything (or not) ultimately rests with their citizens and governments. Germany, it seems, is taking in 800,000 refugees this year! Meanwhile, the following link describes how the people of Icland have responded: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/syrian-refugees-iceland_55e5c5abe4b0aec9f3548683

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/Introduction.aspx.

[Chicog]

The logical thing to do would be to restore order in Syria and allow them to return home.

But that would require another war, for which the West no longer has an appetite.

Plus it's not like it turned out too well in Iraq, which is where this bloody mess started.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Chicog

[Asheron]

The logical thing to do would be to restore order in Syria and allow them to return home.

But that would require another war, for which the West no longer has an appetite.

Plus it's not like it turned out too well in Iraq, which is where this bloody mess started.

No, it started about 1400 years ago.

[Chicog]

Of course "the west" is responsible for everything in the world... everything from an 3 year old drowning to a "no named" General taking the power in "La-La"-land! And of course ISIS is really well disguised white CIA agents!

That may be going too far, but I'm willing to bet they have a whole bunch of CIA-supplied weapons.

[Scott]

Inflammatory post removed.

[DaddyWarbucks]

The logical thing to do would be to restore order in Syria and allow them to return home.

But that would require another war, for which the West no longer has an appetite.

Plus it's not like it turned out too well in Iraq, which is where this bloody mess started.

Anyone who has studied history knows when the modern wars and terrorism started in the Middle East.

The invasion of Iraq was not the beginning.

[Usernames]

This kid deserved to live under ISIS and the calamitous conditions in Syria. Father simply an economic refugee seeking to bleed the generous provisions of western welfare states. Turkey can stop these people in the same way that US can stop the bloody mexicans. It's Turkey's problem (well, the kid's really), not mine. How dare they use pictures of dead children to show that children are dying. Disgusting.

So, how many Syrian "refugees" are you putting up in your house?

As far as I'm concerned sunshine, it's the more the merrier. I'd just as soon my taxes go to the likes of this kid than to paying for upper class welfare and further tax breaks for the fat, greedy and xenophobic who now want to shut the doors of a country that they themselves stole from someone else.

So, the answer for the number of people being put up in your house is: none. It's "taxes" that will pay for the so-called migrants who no doubt will be housed and schooled in working class neighborhoods, which, I'm guessing, are nowhere near yours. BTW, just who did the Hungarians and others "steal" their lands from? Or is this another off topic slam against the US by you? If so, better know that I'm Cherokee and Choctaw. So that would be ME you stole land from, Paleface.

[Seastallion]

No man is an island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the maine. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. Therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Wow.... Nice words

So well known, I didn't feel the need to attribute.

But for the illiterati,, Jon Donne, 16 hundred and something.

Strikes quite well in this case.

If you're going to post something as pompous as that and try to give the impression that you are more educated and cultured than everyone else here try to get things right. The poet's name was John Donne and using a word that does not exist [illiterati] confirms you as being less knowledgeable than those you are foolishly sneering at.

Oh Great Typist, He Who Never Makes a Typo, I bow before your keyboard superiority.

The word may not exist in your lexicon, however, sometimes people above your linguistic skills will coin a new word, a neologism, and those with linguistic skills can appreciate it for it's etymology or structure.

Talk about foolish sneering! Here's another one for you.....ignoratti.

[RaoulDuke]

Boo hoo hoo! One dead child on a pretty beach and the whole world goes crazy. Meanwhile, millions of people, including children, die in warfare that no one seems to care about. Billions more live in poverty and no one cares. The sad truth is that this world simply cannot accommodate 7 billion people living a life of luxury. With technology continuing to make more and more jobs and careers redundant, the need for people continues to plummet inversely proportionate with our exploding population. Just imagine how much worse it will be in 2100 when we are projected to somewhere between 11 and 13 billion people, and technology has made us all redundant.

It is a very sad and upsetting reality, but we are way overdue for another mass extinction (a land-based continuation of the extinction well-underway in the ocean right now from overfishing and pollution). Barring some unforeseen epidemic or global catastrophe, the 21st century will be marred by brutal warfare across the planet. 'Refugees' keep pouring into Europe, but they are bringing all of the problems with them, and they refuse to accept or appreciate the very societies that are bending over backwards to help them. Instead, they are trying to establish the same barbaric and autocratic dictatorships in Europe that they nearly died trying to escape in their native Islamic despotic hellhole country. We have been digging our own hole for the last 200+ years of colonization and natural resource exploitation, and now are children will be the ones to lie down in it. Get used to death, it is not going away any time soon.

Edited September 4, 2015 by RaoulDuke