* It is the volume of immigrants that is the problem and as soon as they cannot find work and the locals are in the same boat then watch what happens and it will not be pretty. It is also where the immigrants are coming from their culture and religion that will be important.
* The refusal of many of these people, to be assimilated into the German way of life, despite three generations of living here, already causes adversity and fear, amongst the native population. Now, from Merkel, Gabriel and Gauck, the German taxpayer hears everyday, demands for solidarity towards immigrants. Would it not be wonderful if these over-privileged people, instead of hiding behind their bodyguards, were themselves to follow the example of the Pope? They could move into simple flats, thereby providing space for refugees in such buildings as the Hammerschmidt villa in Bonn and the Belvue Palace in Berlin. Setting a good example is much better than curbing free speech, or threatening the electorate with punishment for expressing an opinion. It would also lead to more understanding amongst those who themselves have little, but are still expected to share with others who have nothing.
* At first a flow of immigrants looks great from the standpoint of business economics. Lots of low wage labor for instance. However consider one is not getting highly intelligent skilled labor people. Most will be uneducated, unskilled laborers in droves. Here in the USA these people have cost us trillions of dollars over the last decades. One comes in and his whole family comes next who bring in other families, etc. Feeding them, housing them, schooling them, imprisoning their law breakers, paying welfare all rack up incredible costs.
* Because when you voice your opinion, which does not at all conform to ‘der spiegel’ opinion on this avalanche of needy people it will simply not be published. (Eds. Response: Not totally true. If you voice your opinion intelligently without veering into demagogic racism, a temptation many forum contributors find difficult to avoid, then we are happy to publish your opinions. But yes, we don’t tend to feel that unvarnished hate, blatant insults and insipid generalizations actually contribute much to the debate.)
* The only thing that muslim care about is Islam. They have no interest in Germany or the Germans or in democracy, equality or the European Ideal. So what will happen when the Germans realise they’ve been had?
* Can someone answer a few questions to me: German media, and consequently also German people and politicians welcome the illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants that prefer Germany to nearer and poorer countries on their way (Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria). Why would Germans like to impose the sharing of illegal immigrants against immigrants will (as they have chosen Germany for it’s reaches), to countries that do not share the German sympathies towards illegal immigrants? From what I hear and read Germans love illegal immigrants, and illegal immigrants love German generosity. So obviously everyone is happy, why spoil the happy times and forcefully spread immigrants elsewhere with quotas against everybody’s will? Is anyone here acquainted with the term “asylum shopping” (check Wikipedia) or of the tale The Emperor’s New Clothes? Would it be possible to include to the graphs beside age also gender distribution among illegal immigrants and compare it to maybe conquistadors, gold seekers, vikings, crusaders,…? What is the purpose of media? Is political correctness, one sided public opinion making in media above spreading truth and logic?
* Per the German media from Bild to Welt via Spiegel there are only two views in Germany. On the one hand there are the virtuous, so virtuous they might be in line for beatification, and on the other Nazis. Where are the ones who think a country has the right to choose who migrates to it rather than accept whoever crashes through its borders? They are not demons. Where are the ones who think beyond striking a saintly pose today and think of the future? Neither are they demons. Their rational voices are ignored by media deceit and the Holy Willies dominate the”debate”.
* “Which Germany will prevail?” The one where children are dressed in burkas? More demand for the 3 series 12 yrs old BMWs with black windows? Riots like in France and Sweden? Der Spiegel, you’re pushing hard your opinion meanwhile censoring those who disagree with you, but if democracy is so dear to you, why you’re not pushing a referendum if the citizens of Germany actually want a multicultural society? What’s the difference between you and a former fascist or communist newspaper? That you’re in a different corner but just like those back in the day there’s just “one official” opinion and version of a story?
* I was interested to hear the views of the German People on immigration as in the UK we only hear what Angela Merkel and the German Government have to say. Angela Merkel has criticised the UK for not taking more asylum seekers however the UK has had record numbers of immigrants. The second language spoken in the UK is Polish and we now have schools in which some classes have all immigrant children and no children born in the UK. Mass immigration has meant that wages have been driven down and some UK residents have lost jobs which have been given to immigrants. We have a shortage of social housing and our health service is not coping with the rise in population. We are a smaller country with less land then Germany and France. We fear loss of services and unemployment due to mass immigration into the UK.
* If Germany thinks she can decide the fate of whole Europe then she is wrong, as it has been wrong in the past. Who allowed the Germans to invite millions of refugees to come over to Europe and then giving them a sense that they are welcome and will not be deported. After inviting millions of refugees to Europe the Germans are expecting from the other EU countries that they will share their burden. You have invited them and you should keep them, bring over millions or zillions but don’t expect from other EU countries that they will take part in this lunacy.
* Since when does the Spiegel feel they are the moral voice of Germany, and they decide who makes up the beautiful and ugly sides of Germany. If you want to be a serious magazine (and not some left leaning slogan band), then stick to the news and stop passing moral judgments based on your left leaning theories. I am a German citizen, and a long time SPD voter. And no, I do not want to see my country overrun by groups of people who come from a different civilization to me. United Europe with open borders – yes, absolutely. But my country being overrun by 10s of thousands of people who we have nothing in common with – no thank you. I don’t see any of them being endangered in Turkey where they transit from so why is the EU accepting them in the first place?
* We in Britain have accepted millions of Africans and Asians over the past 50years and very few have integrated. We have changed our laws to suit their wishes and whole areas have been changed exponentially by their wish to live together. London is now said to be two-thirds foreign, and may be the next mayor will be an immigrant. New political parties are springing up, driven by the dislike of native British for the situation that has been imposed on them and this may influence the coming vote for or against membership of the EU. My own family have lived in London for 400 years and today not one remains in the town – maybe we should have another town for the British? The continuing immigration crisis will not improve things.
* Cosmopolitism within a society works when there is a relatively high level of shared wealth and a shared sense of cultural liberalism between the host society and the immigrant communities that settle. However, as is being demonstrated across Europe, when large numbers of highly conservative and very poor immigrants arrive and settle in areas where the indigenous community is also poor and conservative this does not create a cosmopolitan environment. It creates cultural ghettoization, social division and an increase in extremism in both immigrant and indigenous groups. It’s very interesting how the biggest divide in this debate is based around class. Those pushing for high levels of immigration tend to be from the well off European middle-classes who are least effected by the negative effects of immigration and often whose experience is based on interacting with a relatively small number of immigrants very much like themselves, westernised, university educated, socially liberal and with a shared language. It is easy to accept immigration when immigrants share your values and don’t threaten your economic interests. While those who are against are generally Europe’s poor who will have to bare the majority of the burden in dealing with the huge numbers of immigrants streaming into Europe. It is Europe’s poor who will have to complete increasingly for low skilled, badly paid jobs. It is Europe’s poor who will increasingly struggle to access to housing, welfare and healthcare systems. It is Europe’s poor who will deal with the problems of integrating with people who have very different cultural values to them; cultural values that often go against the liberalism promoted by Europe’s middle-classes. This problem is made worse in that there is a sense that European middle-class enforce their own cultural liberalism onto poor European’s, while doing little to challenge the religious and cultural conservatism of immigrant communities because of the fear of being accused of racism. The reality is that across all classes the need for immigration, the wish to help those form war torn countries, the need accept change is accepted. However, unless this change is managed and controlled, those whose interests do not align with mass uncontrolled immigration will look, as they unfortunately are already, to political parties that will look after their interests. It is then those who think they are doing the morally right thing who will perpetuate the rise of the dark Europe they fear.
* The migration crisis is another demonstration of the incompetence of the German government. Let’s look at some examples: 1 Introduction of the euro when many wiser voices said a monetary union without fiscal and political union would not work. 2 When finding that they were in a hole over the euro instead of reversing out they dug in even deeper exposing Germany to vast losses when it cracks apart – as it will. 3 The Energiewende. Solar power in northern Europe and polluting brown coal instead of fracking for natural gas with much lower CO2 emissions and nuclear with none. Then. 4 Schengen without procedures to control Europe’s external borders. The common theme is the failure to take the world as it is not as they would like it to be. Germany has a desperate need for a government which is both pragmatic and competent and and not as we say in Glasgow “away with the fairies” in a land of dreams.
