The deadly consequences of Europe’s porous borders were laid bare this week after a spate of attacks from those welcomed by Europe’s liberal establishment left multiple innocents dead and several others suffering life-changing injuries.
Churchgoers were chopped down in horrific attacks at two Spanish churches on Wednesday as a Moroccan national wielding a machete wreaked havoc in the port city of Algeciras in the country’s southwest. A priest sustained serious neck injuries, while a church worker was stabbed and, despite attempting to flee, was chased by the attacker dressed in traditional Maghreb attire and dealt a fatal wound in the nearby public square. The attacker was reportedly heard shouting something during the attack. We’ll give you three guesses…
Just hours earlier, a Palestinian asylum seeker stabbed to death two passengers and injured five others on a regional train from Kiel to Hamburg in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The attacker was already known to police for his violent background and a string of sexual offenses, and had reportedly been in police custody just days before the attack.
Meanwhile, an Afghan asylum seeker in the U.K., who had conned British border officials into believing he was a minor upon entering the country, was sentenced on Monday to 29 years in prison for murdering an aspiring Royal Marine following a spat over an e-scooter in March last year. Following the guilty verdict, the court was horrified to learn the full extent of his life of crime during his years-long escapade across borderless Europe.
The man had already been tried in absentia in Serbia for gunning down two people at an asylum center and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He had also been found guilty and handed a non-custodial sentence for dealing drugs in Italy. He fled to Norway where his asylum application was turned down before trying his luck in Britain; upon arrival, he claimed to be a minor before being placed in foster care and handed a school place. Perhaps he’s just misunderstood?
Things have gone from bad to worse in Sweden this year after another week of gang-related bombings and shootings shocked the nation, and in particular the capital of Stockholm. The rise in gang crime, much of which is attributed to the country’s failure to integrate vast numbers of immigrants, resulted this week in Swedish authorities relocating 100 police officers from across the country to tackle the chaos in the capital. The extra resources are on top of the 190 police officers already recently redeployed to the area.
In news totally unrelated to the issue of migrant crime, the Polish consul in Berlin warned tourists that visiting certain areas of the German capital, hailed for its diversity, could be dangerous, noting that 10 times more crimes were committed in Berlin than in Warsaw in 2021. Who fancies a weekend away?
Sweden also became the subject of national attention this week after a Danish fringe politician publicly burned a copy of the Quran, sparking mass protests across the Islamic world, including calls to boycott Swedish goods. Death threats were even made toward the Swedish government for allowing the PR stunt in the name of freedom of expression.
The incident has caused a mass diplomatic fallout between Sweden and Turkey in particular, resulting in Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar canceling scheduled talks with his Swedish counterpart over Sweden and Finland’s prospective NATO accession, to which Turkey has proven to be a key stumbling block.
Despite the latest examples above, some liberal governments continue to push on with their mass migration agenda. The Dutch government showed no signs this week of slowing down in catering to expected higher numbers of asylum seekers this year, despite a recent report from the country’s Court of Audit revealing the Netherlands has spent far more on asylum policy than it budgeted for in 21 of the last 23 years.
Its recent over-reliance on emergency, short-term accommodations at considerable cost to the Dutch taxpayer will come to a head later this year as cruise ships and other emergency accommodations used to house asylum seekers return to their primary use as the tourist season arrives. Dutch news program Nieusuur believes the government will soon be scrambling to find 38,000 new reception spaces to handle the new arrivals. Who’s got a spare bunk bed?
Some countries, however, have continued in their steadfast approach to protecting Europe’s borders, with the likes of Greece and Hungary doing their best to repel the hundreds of thousands enticed by the warm welcome promised to them by governments of nations far away from the chaos they have created. According to official figures, Greek authorities prevented 260,000 migrants from entering the country illegally from Turkey last year, and it has vowed to continue in the same vein with the announcement of a substantial extension of the border wall already in place along the Greek-Turkish border. Well done, Greece!
Austrian Minister of the Interior Erhard Karner also called on the European Union to tighten its immigration policy and ease deportation rules after the country struggled to process a record-breaking number of asylum applications last year. We’re sure the Austrian government’s new stance has absolutely nothing to do with polling results published this week that show Austria’s anti-mass migration Freedom Party (FPÖ) topping the polls for the first time in seven years.
These struggles are being experienced across Europe where the number of asylum applications rose to nearly 1 million last year, up 46 percent compared to 2021.
It’s not just the topic of migration that is turning the Western European electorate away from the status quo of the liberal elite. Tens of thousands attended a rally in Madrid last weekend to protest the administration of socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
The demonstration was organized by right-wing parties, with the leader of the populist Vox party, Santiago Abascal, telling reporters the country is being subjected to “the worst government in history.” He claimed Sánchez “has divided Spaniards and freed rapists and coup leaders,” referring to the pardoning of Catalan separatist leaders and the government’s latest sexual offense reforms that have inadvertently led to hundreds of convicted rapists being eligible for early release. Softy socialists strike again…
On the war in Ukraine, the latest developments this week saw Germany finally cave to international pressure and give the go-ahead for the transfer of heavy-armored Leopard 2 battle tanks to Kyiv. The announcement came as the United States also outlined its intention to send its own Abrams tanks in what can only be described as a dramatic escalation of the conflict. Of course, better tanks than Eastern Europeans being used as cannon fodder as billionaire oligarch-financier George Soros suggested in a recently unearthed piece from 1993.
Considering Germany’s initial reluctance to provide NATO battle tanks to Zelensky’s troops was to avoid direct confrontation with Russia, there is something ironic about the country’s incompetent Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock openly stating that the country is “at war with Russia.” Her comment came during a debate in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Tuesday.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, however, has reiterated his desire for Hungary to remain firm and not allow itself to be dragged into the war, telling an event on Sunday, “We cannot be lured into a trap by siren voices telling us to side with the good side of history.”
“The Hungarians have learned that the good side of history is determined by the great powers that prevail, and they are not interested in what is good for Hungarians,” he added.
As the energy crisis continues to rock Europe, Poland has taken steps to ensure its energy procurement is future-proof with energy giant PKN Orlen agreeing this week to a 20-year supply contract with U.S. utility company Sempra Infrastructure for a million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year from the U.S. terminal in Port Arthur, Texas. The country’s electricity production in 2022 was also the highest in history, helping shore up Poland’s energy market and generate export revenue.
And with the corruption scandal rumbling on in Brussels, have a read of this breakdown of one of those involved, former Spanish Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, a man who has ironically been a key part of the anti-Polish crusade in the European Parliament over concerns of alleged Polish wrongdoing.
Talking of corruption, Hungary’s left-wing opposition could soon face criminal charges for taking foreign money from the United States and Switzerland, raising serious concerns about election interference. We’re sure it was all above board…
