Anti-immigrant policies in Europe

The anti-immigration agitation in Europe, as in America, is often a fact-free zone. Facts are very often more than inconveenient for the xeophobic narratives.

Still, facts do matter. Not to xenophobic politicians and agitators. But they do matter.

Christoph Reuter et al prsent a count of Syrian refugees in "Die Logik der Sieger" Der Spiegel 33: 2018 (11.08.2018):

Doch zumindest die Verlierer des Kriegs stehen fest: all jene, die sich gegen das Regime Assads erhoben. Doch letztlich hat das ganze Land verloren. Unter den 400 000 bis 500 000 Toten sind auch Zehntausende Soldaten aus Assads alawitischer Minderheit. Fünfeinhalb Millionen Syrer sind in Anrainerstaaten geflohen, dazu kommen sechseinhalb Millionen Binnenvertriebene, insgesamt etwa die Halfte der Bevölkerung von 2010.

[... at the least it is clear who the losers of the {Syrian civil} war are: all those who rose up against the Assads regime. Actually, in the end the whole country lost. Among the 400,000 to 500,000 dead there are also tens of thousands of soldiers from Assad's Alawite minority. Five and a half million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries, in addition to six and a half million internally displaced, altogether around half the population of 2010.]

War makes refugees.

Meanwhile, the Austrian government of Chancellor Sebastian "Babyface" Kurz continues to embarrass itself with it foreign policy that looks more all the time like subservience to Putin and Russia.

Here again the Russian state channel RT presentation of Putin dancing with the bride at the wedding of Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, after which she bows and kneels to the Russian President, Putin dances, speaks German at Austrian FM’s wedding 08/18/2018):

The event called further attention to the deferential attitude Kurz' government has been taking toward Russia and pro-Russian parties in the Balkans, as Adelheid Wölfl reports in Die türkis-blaue Politik sorgt am Balkan für Irritationen 20.08.2018. Over eight months into the existence of the new government, it's pretty clear that Chancellor Babyface (ÖVP) is following the lead of his Vice Chancellor Hans-Christian Strache, whose party (FPÖ) has an Agreement on Joint Endeavors and Cooperation with Putin's United Russia party. Wölfl notes with in the FPÖ has an "ideological alliance" with hardline nationalists in Serbia and the "Republika Srpska," which is actually part of Bosnia but which Serbian nationalists regard as a legitimate part of their envisioned Greater Serbia.

Austria in the past has sought to position itself as a kind of disinterested party that could mediate between contesting countries and factions in the Balkans. But Kurz and Strache appear to be tilting to a more pro-Russia policy, which positions them more as a partisan actors there.

Kurz' government has also made it a practice to divert criticism from its other policies and missteps by posturing on the immigration issue. So it's not surprising after the humiliating performance before Putin this past weekend, Chancellor Babyface is singing the close-the-borders song again.

Michaela Kampl reports on the latest rescue ship that has picked up refugees and is looking for permission from some country to dock the Diciotti with 177 rescued people on board. (Italien fordert von EU Lösung im Streit um gerettete Migranten Standard 20.08.2018) Babyface, who is currently serving a six-month turn as President of the Council of the EU, let it be known that he would prefer that no EU country allow rescue ships to dock there. This is the immigration policy equivalent of NAMBY, i.e., we'll dump the problem on someone else and not worry about the consequences. Instead of "let them eat cake," this is more like "let them drown in the sea."

No wonder that even members of Kurz' Christian Democratic Party (ÖVP) are asking just where the "Christian" part is in this government's policies.

The opposition SPÖ is calling him out on this diversionary tactic:

Schweigen oder schließen? Für #kurz gibt es immer nur diese 2 Optionen. Während die Außenministerin #kneissl mit dem #kniefall vor #putin aufregt, lenkt Kurz mal wieder mit Asylpolitik ab. Wie lange will er die ÖsterreicherInnen noch hinters Licht führen? pic.twitter.com/vmQv408re0

— SPÖ (@SPOE_at) August 20, 2018

Putin drops by in middle Europe

Vladimir Putin made his trip to Austria and Germany on Saturday.

The optics of Putin's appearance at the wedding of Austria's Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl. From a pro-EU standpoint, the optics were pretty bad. (Melissa Eddy, The Bride Was a Dream in a Dirndl, but Putin Stole the Show New York Times 08/18/2018)

The Russian state channel RT ran this report on the event. It includes Kneissl dancing with Putin. With Kneissel bowing and kneeling to him at the end, Putin dances, speaks German at Austrian FM’s wedding 08/18/2018)

If Chancellor Sebastian "Babyface" Kurz' government wanted to send a message that they are copying the deferential posture Trump took toward Putin in Helsinki this summer, I think they succeeded.

Vice Chancellor Hans-Christian Strache seemed to be pleased to be part of the event.

Wie "parteifrei" ist die Außenministerin wohl, wenn sie zu ihrer "privaten" Hochzeitsfeier Deutschnationale und Volkshetzer mit Nähe zum NS-Gedankengut einlädt, die kein normaler Mensch auch nur in seiner Nähe haben will und schon gar nicht auf seiner Hochzeit? pic.twitter.com/C6QLZn2lOm

— FPÖ Fails (@fpoefails) August 19, 2018

Strache is the head of the junior partner in Chancellor Babyface's governing coalition, the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ), which has a formal "working agreement" with Putin's Russia United party.

Kurz claims he got to chat with the Russian President about various issues, including Syria and Ukraine. (Kanzler Kurz sprach mit Putin über "Krisenherde" Die Presse 19.08.2018)

Putin flew on to Germany to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. (Melissa Eddy, Merkel and Putin Sound Pragmatic Notes After Years of Tension New York Times 08/18/2018)

That meeting was a more normal one by diplomatic standards and almost certainly more productive. Eddy notes that Syria is a major issue on which Germany and Russia can find common ground:

Both leaders could benefit from finding a way to ensure sufficient political stability in Syria to allow Germany to begin encouraging refugees to return, while Mr. Putin is seeking support from Berlin and the European Union to help rebuild the country, said Stefan Meister of the German Council on Foreign Relations.

“It is in the domestic political interest of the German government that Syrian refugees be able to return to a stable Syria,” Mr. Meister said.

Odd diplomatic mystery in Austria today

There's a strange event that went on this weekend in the state of Graz in Austria.

Russian President came to the wedding of Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, an independent sponsored for her post by from the far right national coalition party Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ) on Saturday. The FPÖ which has had a formal "working agreement" with Putin's Russia United party since 2016. (Rechtspopulisten und Putin-Partei rücken enger zusammen FAZ 19.12.2016) The FPÖ/Russia United agreement commits them to the "strenthening of friendship and raising the young generation in the spirit of patriotism and joy in labor." Yes, that does have a bit of an "Arbeit macht Frei" ring to it. [Updated 08/19/2018: Italicized portion added to clarify that Kneissl was backed by the FPÖ to be the Foreign Minister although she is formally not a member of the party.]

Sebastian Kurz' government is officially describing Putin's visit as a "working visit." (Katharina Mittelstaedt und Walter Müller, Ein russischer Chor, doch kein US-Vertreter zu Gast bei Kneissl Standard 18.08.2018) Russia expert Gerhard Mangott has described this Putin visit to a European Foreign Minister's wedding as highly unusual for Putin, maybe unique. (Katharina Mittelstaedt und André Ballin, Putin bei Kneissls Hochzeit: Liebesgrüße aus Moskau Standard 16.08.2018) "Es ist ein protokollarisch und diplomatisch völlig außergewöhnliches Ereignis." ("According to protocol and diplomatic practice, it is a completely exceptional incident.")

Mittelstaedt und Ballin also report that when Karin Neissl herself was on a trip to Moscow in April, the Russian Foreign Minister brushed off the idea that Austria could play any role in mediating in the Syrian conflict. And Putin himself turned down her request for a personal meeting then.

Othmar Karas, a member of the European Parliament for the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), the party of Chancellor Kurz, recently framed the issue of Austrian and European relations to Russia this way:

ie können wir die großen wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Unterschiede in Europa ausgleichen, die es nach wie vor gibt? Wie können wir angesichts der Autokraten vor unserer Haustür Demokratie und Rechtsstaatlichkeit starken und unumkehrbar machen? Wie kann Europa eine globale Rolle spielen, damit wir nicht zwischen China, den USA und Russland wirtschaftlich und sicherheitspolitisch aufgerieben werden? Keine dieser Fragen kann Österreich oder ein anderer europäischer Staat alleine beantworten.

[How can we level out the large economic and social differences in Europe, which we have now as earlier? In view of the autocrats just outside our door, how can we strengthen democracy and the rule of law and make it irreversible? How can Europe play a global role so that economically and in security matters we won't be worn down between China, the US, and Russia? Neither Austria nor any other European state can answer any of these questions alone.]

But Kurz' government this year has seemed to spend little time on activities to promote common EU actions, even though he is currently serving a six-month term as the President of the Council of the EU. But his government has been doing political stunts to reinforces it reputation for being tough on immigration.

Karas goes on to explain:

Auch der österreichische Blick auf Russland wird von vielen EU-Partnern skeptisch beäugt. Ohne Zweifel ist Russland für Österreich ein traditionell enger Partner, vor allem was die Wirtschaftsbeziehungen betrifft. Doch dass die Regierungspartei FPÖ mit der Partei »Einiges Russland« von Präsident Wladimir Putin eine »Vereinbarung über Zusammenwirken und Kooperation« unterhält, ist doch mehr als ungewöhnlich. Und Österreich gehört zu einer Minderheit von EU-Staaten, die nach dem Giftgasanschlag in Salisbury die nicht aus Solidarität mit Großbritannien zumindest symbolisch einen russischen Geheimagenten mit Diplomatenpass ausgewiesen haben. Das war eine politische Entscheidung, die nichts mit den völkerrechtlichen Verpflichtungen aus dem Neutralitätsgesetz zu tun hat. Schließlich kritisieren österreichische Politiker zunehmend das an sich fast fertig verhandelte.

[... the Austrian {government's} view of Russia is seen skeptically by many EU partners. No doubt that Russia is traditionally a close partmer of Austria, especially on economic issues. That the government party FPÖ has an "Agreement on Joint Endeavors and Cooperation" with the Russia United party of Vladimir Putin, is certainly more than unusual. And Austria is among a minority of EU states, that after the poison gas attack in Salisbury on a Russia secret agent with a diplomatic passport did not at least symbolically express. That was a political decision that had nothing to do with obligations undert international law in the Neutrality Law. Eventually Austria politicians increasingly criticized it after it had almost been dealt with.]

Putin's main business in middle Europe this weekend is almost certainly the meeting he has scheduled with Germany's Angela Merkel later on Saturday.