Tragic Human Failure

Unfortunately this is not a new thing, I remember going to Malta in the early 80s as the island is between their set-off point and destination many of them ended up in Malta on the way to Italy. The Maltese didn't want them and large numbers were penned in at the airport ready for removal. Unfortunately they think that Europe is the land of milk and honey nobody told them the milk went sour and the bees are dying.
 
accyman said:
these lot were heading to italy then on in through europe and i have no doubt the channel tunnel would have played a part in their journey after the french tossed them down it.

on the news it said they were using known smuggling routes so why arnt these routes been patrolled ?There may not have been so many lives lost infact possibly no loss of life if aprehended and shipped back to where they came from
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There is a European organization called Frontex that is supposed to patrol the coasts , but it only goes into action when the country the immigrants are heading for, asks them to intervene.
As regards Sicily, by the time these boats ( so old that they are used only once so there's no way they could make a return journey) are seen , they are already too far away from their port of departure, have often been abandoned by the organisers('scafisti) or are no longer in condition to arrive at a port on their own and are then helped or by the local fishermen or by the coastguard and this Frontex, as far as I know, as never intervened.
I think it's a problem destined to get bigger as these people will not stop trying ( there have been two more arrivals here this morning!) Perhaps a joint- European effort should be considered because I don't think Italy is in any condition to do it alone. Just heard on the news that the death toll is now 221 and still growing
 
davebtelford said:
2 questions to ponder :

1. What would Africa be like if Europeans had never colonised it?

2. South America was extensively colonised - why has it turned out differently from Africa?
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Questions are not really all that difficult. Lots of info available for those prepared to do a little reading.

Come to think of it, I just finished an excellent book on the pre-Columbian Americas: "1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus," Charles C. Mann.
 
According to the BBC news website

Eritrea:

  • UN says 3,000 people try to flee each month
  • Human rights groups say the country is becoming a giant jail, with some 10,000 political prisoners
  • Young people conscripted to army - sometimes until age of 40
Somalia:
  • Much of the country controlled by al-Shabab Islamist militants
  • Country ravaged by two decades of war
 
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