'The Invasion of Europe'

I've been waiting for this video. Turns out Condell does just one video per month on average, at least according to the frequency of postings to his YouTube page. But no one speaks more forcefully on the pox of European Union corruption, and as the EU's institutional edifice has been collapsing like a house of cards, I've been checking over at his page for updates.

Here you go. The inimitable Pat Condell:

The Truth About the European Migrant Crisis

From Michael Teitelbaum, at Foreign Affairs, "The Truth About the Migrant Crisis: Tragic Choices, Moral Hazards, and Potential Solutions":

The actual numbers of people crossing the Mediterranean into European Union territory, insofar as the limited available evidence is credible, are daunting. During the first eight months of 2015, well over 400,000 people successfully made the fraught journey. In the first part of this year, about 80 percent were departing from the now failed state of Libya and landing on Italian soil  More recently, migrant smuggling activities from Turkey to nearby Greek islands have increased.

In increasingly raucous political and press debates in Europe and elsewhere, recent movements are being described as new “disasters,” “policy failures,” and even “invasions” that the EU and its member states have proven incapable of addressing effectively. In fact, such “irregular” migration across the Mediterranean is hardly new, but the volumes are indeed far larger than in prior years. So, too, are the numbers dying in the attempt. The International Organization for Migration in Geneva estimates that during the first eight months of 2015, more than 2,700 would-be Mediterranean migrants perished at sea.

The stark and widely disseminated images of hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children transiting the Mediterranean in crumbling boats, and of the resulting humanitarian disasters at sea, are impossible to ignore. The heart-rending photos of a drowned three-year-old Syrian boy washed up on a Turkish beach were highlighted in print and online media worldwide. Such deeply disturbing images create daunting daily challenges for an EU already struggling with deep recessions, sustained high unemployment, terrorist attacks, economic and political instability in Greece, and challenges to the euro currency system. They provide useful political fodder for the strengthening populist and anti-EU parties and movements that have appeared in most of the 28 member countries. And they have stimulated a rising tide of violent attacks on facilities housing migrants—more than 200 such attacks in Germany this year, described by German Chancellor Angela Merkel as “unworthy of our country.”

TRAGIC CHOICES, MORAL HAZARDS

As they consider responses to these challenges, European government, advocacy, and media leaders need to keep in mind two important concepts: tragic choices and moral hazards.

The recent mass migrations pose deep moral dilemmas for European societies, of a kind that moral philosophers and theologians call “tragic choices.” These are decisions that bring into conflict the ultimate values by which societies define themselves, such as how to allocate scarce resources among very large numbers of desperate people.

The numbers of potential migrants now are exceptionally large. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that by the end of 2014, nearly 60 million had been forcibly displaced owing to persecution, conflict, and human rights violations—the highest level on record—and of these, it classified nearly 20 million as “refugees.” To these huge numbers may plausibly be added tens or even hundreds of millions more who would likely be attracted by any available option to migrate away from conditions of deep poverty, starvation, or environmental disaster.

In a world of widespread tragedy, what choices should humanitarian societies make to allocate assistance among these potential migrants? Are they obliged by international law and their own values to admit all who wish to come, whatever the effects? Must they give priority to resettling refugees, as defined by international law, over other migrants? And if so, are they obliged to admit all the 20 million counted as “refugees” by the UNHCR? If not, how should they deal with mass casualties among others who risk their lives to gain access to European countries?

In fraught debates about such moral dilemmas, the legal definitions and everyday usage of “refugees,” “asylum seekers,” and “migrants” have become profoundly confused. There is a vast literature on these definitions; suffice it to say that the 1951 UN Refugee Convention defines a “refugee” as a person outside of his or her country of nationality who is unable or unwilling “to avail himself of the protection of that country . . . owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” An “asylum-seeker” differs from a “refugee” only by geography, having already entered the country in which asylum or refugee status is being sought; those who are approved are called both “refugees” and “asylees,” injecting yet another source of confusion. Contrary to common usage, under the Refugee Convention, people who flee failed states, conflicts, or desperate economic conditions do not qualify as refugees or asylees unless they have a legitimate fear of persecution based on one of the five grounds listed above. But such desperate migrants certainly still deserve humanitarian concern.

On top of tragic choices, European officials must contend with moral hazards. In finance and economics, these arise when incentives or guarantees provided by governments or insurers have the perverse effect of encouraging banks, corporations, and individuals to take dangerous risks such as high “leverage” through heavy borrowing, risks that most would otherwise prudently avoid.

International migration itself should now be understood as a highly leveraged phenomenon. Many millions migrate and settle lawfully each year, but they are dwarfed by the dramatically larger numbers of potential migrants created by immense global economic inequalities and the proliferation of failed states and civil wars. These realities, coupled with nearly global access to modern media and transportation, mean that the option of migrating to more peaceful and prosperous countries is increasingly both known and attractive to potentially massive numbers of people—as but one incomplete measure, more than 1 billion of the 7.3 billion human population currently live on less than $1.25 per day.

With such a large pool of migrants waiting in the wings, even small policy shifts on the part of countries seen as desirable destinations—admirable statements of humanitarian welcome for migrants or policy changes intended to provide migration benefits to smaller groups—can cause great swings in the movement of people. To this may be added the perverse incentives facing people who are able to meet the UN refugee definition but unable to obtain visas to be resettled as refugees in a European country. At risk of their lives, they can force the issue by paying smugglers to transport them to that same country in order to claim asylum. Indeed, several EU governments have formally stated that even the humanitarian sea rescue missions are encouraging greater numbers to pursue such high-risk journeys...

Vote to Approve Migrant Relocation Tests Limits of European Unity (VIDEO)

Things are coming to a head.

At the New York Times, "Plan on Migrants Strains the Limits of Europe’s Unity":

LONDON — After weeks of indecision, the European Union voted on Tuesday to distribute 120,000 asylum seekers among member states, a plan meant to display unity in the face of the largest movement of refugees on the Continent since World War II.

Instead, the decision — forced through by a majority vote, over the bitter objections of four eastern members — did as much to underline the bloc’s widening divisions, even over a modest step that barely addresses the crisis.

Nearly half a million migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe this year, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a number that is only expected to rise.

The crisis has tested the limits of Europe’s ability to forge consensus on one of the most divisive issues to confront the union since the fall of Communism. It has set right-wing nationalist and populist politicians against Pan-European humanitarians, who have portrayed the crisis in stark moral terms.

“We would have preferred to have adoption by consensus, but we did not manage to achieve that,” Jean Asselborn, the foreign minister of Luxembourg, said after a meeting of home affairs and interior ministers.

Leaders from across the 28-member bloc will meet in Brussels on Wednesday for further discussions on how to respond to the crisis.

Mr. Asselborn said even countries that voted against the distribution of asylum seekers — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia — must comply. “I have no doubt they will implement these decisions fully,” he said.

But with the prime minister of Slovakia immediately threatening to defy the plan, the outcome was more than an example of the bloc’s inability to coordinate its policies — formidable enough through the long crisis over the euro and Greece’s debt.

The response to the refugee crisis so far has also raised profound questions about a failure of European principles, a trembling of the pillars on which the bloc was founded more than 20 years ago.

The European Union’s reputation, and its faith in Brussels, have suffered in the past few months, with sharp and vocal divisions among member states and continuing doubts about Greek economic sustainability.

The migrant crisis “risks bursting the E.U. at its weak seams,” said Stefano Stefanini, a former senior Italian ambassador now based in Brussels. “It’s more dangerous than the Greek drama and more serious than the euro, because it challenges fundamental European accomplishments and beliefs.”

With Tuesday’s vote, he said, “the cleavages only get deeper.”

Keep reading.

BONUS: At the Los Angeles Times, "Refugee crisis exposes a deep divide in European Union."

Europe's Huddled Masses Yearning to Break Free (VIDEO)

Awful conditions in Europe. Fortunately, summer's winding down and the flow of migrants will ease a bit as the weather turns nasty. That'll give European countries time to figure out what to do. If they're smart they'll deport all of those who're not really facing certain death upon return.

At CBS News:

Greek Voters Return Marxist Syriza to Power in Sunday's Snap Elections (VIDEO)

At the Guardian UK, "Greek election live: Alexis Tsipras celebrates victory - as it happened":

Here’s a quick closing summary, as another gripping chapter in Greece’s debt crisis closes, and another one opens.....

Greece’s leftwing leader Alexis Tsipras has emerged triumphant from a snap general election after securing a dramatic victory over his conservative rival, despite a turbulent first term in office and predictions that the race was too close to call after he accepted a crushing eurozone-led austerity programme during his first term in office.

The charismatic leader looked set to be returned to power with a near repeat of the stunning win that catapulted his Syriza party into office in January.

With most of the ballot papers counted, Syriza is leading with a 35.5% share of the vote compared with 28.2% for the centre-right New Democracy party. Speaking in Athens, Tsipras declared the election a victory for the people. “This victory belongs to the people and those who dream of a better tomorrow and we’ll achieve it with hard work,” he said.

Jubilant supporters, clearly relieved at the result, took to the streets in celebration, with many singing and dancing outside Syriza’s main election marquee in central Athens.

Tsipras told supporters that he would tackle endemic corruption in the country. “The mandate that the Greek people have given is is a crystal clear mandate to get rid of the regime of corruption and vested issues,” he said. “We will show how effective we will be. We will make Greece a stronger place for the weak and vulnerable, a fairer place.”

More, "Syriza returns to power in Greek general election: Conservative rival New Democracy concedes defeat to leftwing party led by Alexis Tsipras."

And at WSJ, "Tsipras’s Syriza Set to Return to Power After Resounding Greek Election Victory."

Greeks Expect Little from Latest Elections (VIDEO)

Greek voters go to the polls -- again!

At WSJ, "Disillusioned Greeks Hope for Stability, and Little Else, From Sunday’s Elections":

NAOUSA, Greece—Greeks are going to the polls for the third time this year on Sunday, but fewer of them than ever believe their politicians will end the country’s long economic crisis.

After a turbulent year including elections in January, a referendum in July, a showdown with Europe and the imposition of crippling capital controls, the only thing many Greeks hope for from Sunday’s new parliamentary elections is some calm that would allow them to get on with their lives and searches for prosperity.

“These constant elections bring everything to a halt in business. Nobody is hiring, everyone is waiting to see what will happen,” says Panagiotis Fountoulakis, a former information-technology manager who says he needs to find work again by this winter before his family’s savings run out. “Political stability is my big wish, but I’m not confident we will get it.”

Disaffection with politics and a potentially low turnout could decide who wins Sunday’s contest: Syriza and its leader, Alexis Tsipras—who stepped down as premier last month to trigger snap elections—or their conservative challengers New Democracy under Vagelis Meimarakis. The two parties are neck and neck, according to most opinion polls.

The victor will probably have to form a coalition government. In Greece such pacts are usually fractious and short-lived. Policies will be heavily constrained by the bailout agreement with Europe that Mr. Tsipras signed this summer, which imposes further fiscal retrenchment after five years of unpopular austerity...

Keep reading.

Holly Williams Update on Greek Authorities Sabotaging Refugee Boats at Sea (VIDEO)

The Greek government is "investigating." But they won't confirm if it was their personnel who attacked refugee boats last week.

Watch, "Migrants attacked at sea: Migrants attempting the perilous crossing to Europe must now also risk harassment and sabotage. Holly Williams has the latest."

Greek Coast Guard Allegedly Sabotaging Refugee Rubber Boats, Cutting Fuel Lines, Leaving Migrants Adrift at Sea (VIDEO)

Remember, the Greeks locked refugees inside a stadium without food and water for days. They're really compassionate over there, being communists and all.

Holly Williams reports, for CBS News, "Uniformed men accost refugees, leave them adrift at sea."

Unending Flow of Migrants Cross the Greece-Macedonia Border (VIDEO)

A refugee crisis can't go on forever, and frankly, it won't. There'll be a political backlash, sooner rather than later.

Watch, at AFP, "Hundreds of migrants were pouring over the frontier between Greece and Macedonia on Tuesday as they made their way towards the European Union following a day of tensions with police."

Also, at NBC News, "Thousands of Migrants Still Streaming Into Hungary Despite Maltreatment."

BONUS: At Moonbattery, "End Times: Europe Crumbles Under the Devastating Impact of Mass Immigration."

Migrant Crackdown Sows Chaos in Europe

At WSJ, "European Efforts to Stem Migrant Tide Sow Chaos on Austrian-Hungarian Border":

German chancellor warns of need to share burden across EU; Austria steps up border, highway checks.

Austrian and Hungarian efforts to stem a growing tide of migrants sowed chaos along their frontier on Monday as Germany’s chancellor warned that Europe’s open-border policy was in danger unless it united in its response to the crisis.

In Austria, police toughened controls on the border, triggering miles of traffic jams as they checked cars and trucks for evidence of people smuggling. They said they were compelled to conduct the highway searches after discovering the decomposed bodies of 71 people, most of them believed to be Syrian refugees, in an abandoned truck last week.

Authorities also stopped and boarded several Germany-bound trains overcrowded with hundreds of migrants, refusing entry into Austria until some of them got off. Migrants had packed into the trains in Hungary earlier in the day after officials in Budapest abruptly lifted rules barring them from traveling further into the European Union without visas.

Such temporary checks remain in accord with the Schengen Agreement, which allows people to travel freely across the borders of 26 European countries that have signed onto the treaty. But in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel cautioned that some countries could move to reintroduce systematic passport controls at their borders—unless EU governments agreed to more equally bear the burden of the bloc’s escalating crisis, “Europe must move,” she told reporters in Berlin. “Some will certainly put Schengen on the agenda if we don’t succeed in achieving a fair distribution of refugees within Europe.”

Ms. Merkel’s warning—aimed at governments in the bloc’s east that have resisted taking on a greater number of migrants—marked her most direct intervention in the fraught debate between those European countries, such as Germany, Italy and France, that have called for a fairer distribution of migrants across the bloc, and those that have opposed binding quotas.

The comments also came as a rebuttal to opposition politicians and some members of the chancellor’s ruling coalition who have accused her of being slow to address the crisis. Echoing comments she made last week in a German town shaken by three days of antimigrant riots, Ms. Merkel urged her compatriots to welcome those fleeing war or persecution while warning that economic migrants, namely those from Southeastern Europe, couldn’t expect to settle in Germany.

“If Europe fails on the question of refugees, then [Europe’s] close link with universal civil rights will be destroyed and it won’t be the Europe we wished for,” she said.

The warning from the Continent’s most powerful leader has weight: The chancellor has repeatedly described free movement in Europe as a core value of the bloc. Her comments underline the pressure that the record wave of migrants arriving on European soil is putting on the region’s most exposed member states—mainly countries at its periphery, such as Hungary, Italy and Greece, as well as Germany and Sweden, which have received the bulk of migrants since the crisis started early last year.

Schengen rules have been contested before amid rising migrant numbers. In 2011, France and Italy called on the EU to impose tighter border controls in an effort to stop the influx of migrants unleashed by North African unrest. But the EU failed to reach a concrete agreement over how Europe should handle the wave.

Germany, which was the destination for 40% of asylum seekers in Europe last year, has repeatedly said the bloc must agree on binding quotas for the redistribution of refugees across the EU. The number of arrivals has soared over the summer months, forcing the government to nearly double its forecast for migrants this year to 800,000 from 450,000—equal to almost 1% of Germany’s population.

“We face a huge national challenge that concerns all of us, it will be a central challenge not only for days or months but as far as we can tell for a longer period of time,” Ms. Merkel said.

Germany said last week that it would allow Syrian refugees to stay in the country regardless of where they first entered the EU—both for humanitarian reasons and in an attempt to speed up the review of asylum claims filed by Syrians.

Still, Ms. Merkel said the German government had been in touch with Hungary over what she called Budapest’s misunderstanding that all Syrians could travel to Germany without having to register in Hungary. The chancellor insisted Hungary should register migrants who arrive there and review their asylum applications.

Still more.

Arrests Made as Death Toll Rises in Migrant Truck Trafficking Atrocity (VIDEO)

At the Wall Street Journal, "Four Arrested in Hungary Over Migrant Truck Deaths":

Hungarian police said Friday they arrested four men in connection with the scores of migrants found dead Thursday in a truck in Austria, a discovery that deepened the debate across Europe about how to accommodate or stem the biggest inflow of migrants in its post-War history.

The men, three Bulgarians and one Afghan, are suspected of being part of a clandestine migrant smuggling network, the Hungarian police said.

Austrian police said earlier Friday that the bodies of 71 migrants had been removed from an abandoned delivery truck on a highway some 20 miles from the Austrian-Hungarian border. The migrants were thought to have suffocated or died of thirst, the police said.

The gruesome discovery in the heart of the continent shocked European Union countries, which have struggled to address the crisis sparked by the arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Africa and the western Balkans since the start of 2014.

As they scramble to house and process the newcomers, national governments, often under pressure from hostile or fearful electorates, have also sought to stem the influx, beefing up border controls and debating cuts to the handouts some argue have acted as a magnet for economic migrants with unfounded asylum claims.

An EU initiative to distribute migrants, now concentrated in a handful of countries, more broadly across the region has faced stiff resistance in several key countries.

The bodies of 59 men, eight women and four children were discovered in the refrigerator truck on Thursday, Austrian regional police chief Hans Peter Doskozil told a news conference Friday. Based on travel documents found in the truck, the police assume that most of the victims were refugees from Syria.

Police and forensic medical examiners in Vienna are working to ascertain the migrants’ identities, as well as the time and cause of their deaths. Investigators believe the migrants had been dead for at least one-and-a-half to two days when they were discovered.

The highway where the truck was discovered is one of the main migration routes from eastern to western Europe, Austrian police said Thursday.

Many migrants are now traveling from Turkey to Greece and then across the Balkans to Hungary, a course considered less risky than the often deadly sea route across the Mediterranean.

Around 3,000 people a day are currently being moved through the Balkans, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates. The route has been used by roughly 10 times as many migrants so far this year as over the same period in 2014, according to the EU border agency Frontex.

Smuggling has become a lucrative business for criminal rings in Europe as more migrants have converged on the continent and tougher controls at the EU’s borders have made it more difficult to enter the region without outside help. The Austrian police estimate migrants pay between €3,000 ($3,370) and €5,000 for the trip from Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq.

Prosecutors in Italy, which has faced a large inflow of migrants coming by sea, say one of the main challenges is catching the masterminds behind smuggling rings—small groups that operate through a web of contacts mainly in Europe, Libya, Turkey and the countries of origin of the migrants and refugees...

Earlier, "Up to 50 Migrants Found Dead in Refrigerator Truck in Austria (VIDEO)."

Western Balkan Exodus Puts Pressure on Germany and European Union

They won't be allowed to stay.

At Der Spiegel, "Mass Migration: What Is Driving the Balkan Exodus?":

More than a third of all asylum-seekers arriving in Germany come from Albania, Kosovo and Serbia. Young, poor and disillusioned with their home countries, they are searching for a better future. But almost none of them will be allowed to stay.

When Visar Krasniqi reached Berlin and saw the famous image on Bernauer Strasse -- the one of the soldier jumping over barbed wire into the West -- he knew he had arrived. He had entered a different world, one that he wanted to become a part of. What he didn't yet know was that his dream would come to an end 11 months later, on Oct. 5, 2015. By then, he has to leave, as stipulated in the temporary residence permit he received.

Krasniqi is not a war refugee, nor was he persecuted back home. In fact, he has nothing to fear in his native Kosovo. He says that he ran away from something he considers to be even worse than rockets and Kalashnikovs: hopelessness. Before he left, he promised his sick mother in Pristina that he would become an architect, and he promised his fiancée that they would have a good life together. "I'm a nobody where I come from, but I want to be somebody."

But it is difficult to be somebody in Kosovo, unless you have influence or are part of the mafia, which is often the same thing. Taken together, the wealth of all parliamentarians in Kosovo is such that each of them could be a millionaire. But Krasniqi works seven days a week as a bartender, and earns just €200 ($220) a month.

But a lack of prospects is not a recognized reason for asylum, which is why Krasniqi's application was initially denied. The 30,000 Kosovars who have applied for asylum in Germany since the beginning of the year are in similar positions. And the Kosovars are not the only ones. This year, the country has seen the arrival of 5,514 Macedonians, 11,642 Serbians, 29,353 Albanians and 2,425 Montenegrins. Of the 196,000 people who had filed an initial application for asylum in Germany by the end of July, 42 percent are from the former Yugoslavia, a region now known as the Western Balkans.

The exodus shows the wounds of the Balkan wars have not yet healed. Slovenia and Croatia are now members of the European Union, but Kosovo, which split from Serbia and became prematurely independent in 2008, carves out a pariah existence. Serbia is heavily burdened with the unresolved Kosovo question. The political system in Bosnia-Hercegovina is on the brink of collapse, 20 years after the end of the war there. And Macedonia, long the post-Yugoslavia model nation, has spent two decades in the waiting rooms of the EU and NATO, thanks to Greek pressure in response to a dispute over the country's name. The consequences are many: a lack of investment, failing social welfare systems, corruption, organized crime, high unemployment, poverty, frustration and rage...

Keep reading.

Hungary Accused of Treating Refugees Inhumanely as Migration Crisis Worsens

Oh man, this is just awful.

At the Telegraph UK, "Refugees left to bake in the heat for hours without food, shelter or medical aid on Hungary's border with Serbia."

Up to 50 Migrants Found Dead in Refrigerator Truck in Austria (VIDEO)

Horrific.

The migrants likely suffocated in the back of the truck, which was probably locked on the outside so the refugees had no way to open to door for air.

At Russia Today, "20 to 50 migrants found dead in truck in Austria, suffocation likely cause."

And at the Wall Street Journal, "Austrian Police Find Up to 50 Migrants Dead in Truck":

Europe’s migrant crisis took a deadly turn far from the continent’s coasts Thursday with the discovery in Austria of a truck containing up to 50 decomposing corpses.

The bodies were found in an abandoned delivery truck parked off a highway outside of Vienna, on one of the main migration routes from eastern to western Europe, Austrian police said Thursday.

While more than 2,300 people died this year trying to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration, the gruesome discovery in inland Europe cast a sharp light on the European Union’s struggle to deal with increasing numbers of refugees crossing its borders.

The quickening flow and its consequences have sparked a debate about whether and how the influx of migrants into border states should be shared among all EU countries.

Many migrants are now traveling from Turkey to Greece and then across the Balkans to Hungary, a course considered less risky than the often deadly sea route. Around 3,000 people a day are currently being moved through the Balkans, the United Nations’ refugee agency estimates. The route has been used by roughly 10 times as many migrants so far this year as over the same period last year, according to the EU border agency Frontex.

The truck with Hungarian license plates was found near the Austrian village of Parndorf, the site of a popular outlet shopping mall about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Hungarian border. It had been left by the side of the highway for more than 24 hours, Austrian police said. Late Thursday they said they couldn’t yet determine the migrants’ cause of death, adding that preliminary inspection suggested the people suffocated or died of thirst.

Austria’s police said they were in contact with their counterparts in Hungary regarding ownership of the truck, which appeared to be a refrigerator vehicle previously used to transport chickens.

Separately, Janos Lazar, minister in charge of the Hungarian prime minister’s office, said the vehicle had been purchased from a Slovak firm and was registered to a Romanian national in Hungary.

“This shows once again that we need to take responsibility and offer refugees asylum,” Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said at a conference on the Western Balkans in Vienna on Thursday. Mr. Faymann emphasized the need for European countries to cooperate, secure the union’s borders, and “fairly share” the refugee burden...

More.

Migrants Mass at Serbia-Macedonia Border

They're moving through Greece to Macedonia, pretty much with the green light from Greek officials.

Remember, the first-contact nation is responsible for refugees under EU rules, so if initial receiving states let refugees pass through with a wink, then migrants will move on to next door neighbors and start a border crisis there. This is why some consider the migrant crisis an existential threat. No nation has an unlimited ability to continue to accept outsiders.

Rinse and repeat.

At the Wall Street Journal:

Thousands of migrants gathered at the border between Macedonia and Serbia on Sunday, after Macedonian officials allowed them the day before to cross into their territory following days of high tension and clashes.

The move is likely to add to the pressure on Serbia and Hungary, two main transit countries for Middle Eastern and African migrants attempting to reach Northern Europe.

During the night, about 40 private buses ferried the migrants from the train station in Gevgelija, near the country’s southern border, to Tabanovce, at Macedonia’s frontier with Serbia. In normal driving conditions it takes around two hours to cover the distance.

Authorities had also set up at least two trains to cross the country. In recent days, at the Gevgelija station, taxi drivers were available to take people north for about €100 ($114), according to migrants interviewed there.

In letting the migrants enter relatively freely, Macedonia reversed an earlier decision to effectively seal the border with Greece, leaving thousands stuck on the Greek side in difficult conditions.

Tensions rose so high that police used stun grenades, batons and tear gas to control the crowds late last week. Authorities then tried Saturday to regulate the flow, but were quickly overwhelmed and decided to open the border, allowing as many as 2,000 people to cross.

“On Saturday the migrants [at the southern border] managed to put so much pressure that they got in,” said Ivo Kotevski, spokesman for the Macedonian Interior Ministry. “But we aren’t letting everybody in, and we won’t.”

Indeed, Macedonian authorities again tried to regulate the flows on Sunday, allowing only about 50 people at a time to cross. More than 1,000 migrants have crossed the border so far, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The flow of migrants toward Macedonia’s southern border is likely to continue, the Macedonian government and aid groups said. The number of migrants, mainly fleeing war and persecution in Syria and Iraq and entering Greece from Turkey, has shot up in recent months, making the country the main entry point into the European Union.

Nearly 142,000 seaborne migrants have arrived in Greece since June 1, according to the International Organization for Migration.

According to the U.N., some 124,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Greece by sea between January and July this year, a 750% increase from the same period last year. The vast majority aims to cross the so-called Balkan corridor—an area stretching from Greece to Hungary—to reach Northern Europe.

“We are trying to let the people in according to our capacity,” said Mr. Kotevski, the government spokesman. “But I am very worried because the migrants’ pressure from the Greek border will continue to be high.” Aid groups expect thousands of seaborne migrants to arrive at the southern Macedonian border in the coming days...

More.

Greece Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Resigns! Snap Elections Called! (VIDEO)

I saw something about new elections in Greece last night, but nothing about the prime ministers resignation.

But it's official.

At WSJ, "Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Resigns, Clearing Way for Elections in Bid to Uphold Bailout Deal":

ATHENS—Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned in a bid to trigger snap elections and return to power stronger, plunging his country into weeks of political paralysis just as it seemed to have scraped through a summer of fraught bailout talks and near-bankruptcy.

Mr. Tsipras’s gambit, announced in a short televised address late on Thursday, is expected to lead to his re-election in September, thanks to his popularity and the absence of strong challengers. But whether elections bolster his grip on Parliament, as he hopes, hinges on his ability to persuade Greeks that the €86 billion ($96 billion) bailout he negotiated with Europe is the only path out of the country’s long crisis.

Greece’s head of state, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, was expected to accept Mr. Tsipras’s proposal to hold the vote on Sept. 20.

The election will effectively be a referendum on the 41-year-old Mr. Tsipras and his bailout agreement with the rest of the eurozone.

The deal commits Greece to further years of stringent economic retrenchment, including tax increases and cuts to pension entitlements. Greeks elected Mr. Tsipras and his left-wing Syriza party only in January this year to put an end to five years of unpopular austerity measures, which the country’s creditors demanded in exchange for bailout loans.

Mr. Tsipras’s acceptance in July of creditors’ policy demands followed months of diplomatic confrontation. The standoff ultimately led to Greece defaulting on its debts to the International Monetary Fund and imposing capital controls, further battering Greece’s depressed economy.

The premier’s U-turn has split Syriza. Dozens of his lawmakers have withheld support for legislation needed to clinch the bailout package. Mr. Tsipras has had to rely on the votes of opposition parties, but they have warned they won’t prop him up for long...

More.

Greece Kos Refugees Receive Little Help and No Shelter

The Greek communists would make the Nazis proud.

At Der Spiegel, "Migrant Misery: Greek Island of Kos Makes Refugees Fend for Themselves":

Up to 600 people arrive each night on the Greek island of Kos, fleeing wars, oppression and hunger. When they arrive, they are often made to sleep outside with not sanitation facilities available. Greek authorities seem uninterested in improving the situation.

Along the beach promenade on the island of Kos, a small settlement of tents has sprung up. Colorful clothing flaps in the breeze, hanging from a palm tree after having been washed in the sea. In the shade beneath the tree sits a 14-person family from the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo. Children, the 65-year-old grandmother, the pregnant aunt: They're all there.

The women don't want to give their names or be photographed. But they do have something they want to share. "Will you just look at that!" says the grandmother, pointing to the broad, black overcoat that covers her body. It is covered in light-colored dust -- the product of having to spend the night outside, sleeping on a patch of dried-out grass.

The family's home back in Aleppo was destroyed just a few days ago after fighting in their neighborhood flared up again. Now, they are camped under a palm tree on a Greek vacation island with nothing to eat or drink. There is no toilet nearby, much less bathing facilities.

The grandmother once again points accusingly at the spot on her overcoat. Up until 10 hours ago, before her first night under the stars on the island of Kos, she was a proud woman. After leaving Aleppo with her children and grandchildren, she found hotel rooms in Turkey for the family and paid traffickers for the trip across the small strip of the Aegean Sea that separates Turkey's west coast from Greece's easternmost islands. Once they arrived, the family did what they could to find a hotel room on Kos, but nobody wanted to rent a room to them.

Suddenly, on the Greek island, the 65-year-old matron is someone who is unwelcome in the homes of respectable people, someone who the police drive out of the city center at night, someone who is beginning to smell due to a lack of facilities to wash. Someone whose clothes are dirty. "Are we really in Europe here?" she asks. She had expected respect and human dignity.

Like other Greek islands near the Turkish coastline, Kos has for months been experiencing a huge number of new arrivals. Around 600 people land on the shores of the island every day, says the Greek coast guard, in addition to those arriving on Chios, Samos, Lesbos and other nearby islands. The European Union's border agency, Frontex, announced last week that nearly 50,000 migrants arrived in Greece in July. That would be an enormous challenge for any country. But one gets the impression that Greece isn't even trying...

Keep reading.

More Migrants Wash Up on Greek Island of Kos (VIDEO)

This really is a huge story, with tremendous implications for Europe. Especially interesting is the horrible treatment the migrants are getting, especially from the Greeks. And across Europe, getting a legal visa is a total long shot. But they keep coming.

Watch, at Euronews, "More Migrants Wash Up on Greek Island of Kos":

From a distance they almost look like holidaymakers.

But Monday morning's dinghy-load brought the latest batch of migrants to wash up on the Greek island of Kos after "crossing from nearby Turkey.

Like many, this particular group said they were from Syria. They want to travel to Hungary...

Migrant Crisis Threatens European Union's Cohesion

This is exactly what I blogged about the other day, "Migrant Crisis Raises Existential Questions for Europe."

And now at the Wall Street Journal, "The Migrant Threat to EU Cohesion":

Just as the European Union appears to have resolved one crisis, it risks being overwhelmed by another.

Last week eurozone finance ministers approved Greece’s new bailout, a major step toward ending a crisis that had threatened to tear apart Europe’s single currency. Meanwhile, the European Commission was outlining its latest efforts to address what it called the greatest migration crisis Europe has faced since the end of World War II.

Few believe the measures announced match the scale of the challenge. The EU border agency Frontex estimates that more than 100,000 migrants crossed into the EU in July alone, compared with 270,000 in the whole of 2014.

More than 50,000 turned up in Greece in July, more than in the whole of 2014. Many of them have been washing up in small inflatable boats on four small Greek islands. Similar numbers have been making their way to Italy from Libya, while 35,000 have arrived in July alone at the Hungarian border with Serbia.

Many are fleeing violence in Syria, Afghanistan and Libya; others are traveling from Iraq, Pakistan and the Horn of Africa in search of a better life. Most have paid large sums to traffickers who brazenly advertise their services via social media.

Once in Europe, many are intent on making their way to Northern Europe, where jobs are more plentiful. Germany reckons up to 600,000 migrants have arrived this year. Meanwhile, large numbers have congregated around the French port of Calais, where they have besieged the Channel Tunnel, hoping to smuggle themselves into the U.K.

The migration crisis may yet prove a bigger test of European cohesion than the euro crisis. Both pose fundamental questions about where the balance lies between national responsibility and intra-government solidarity. But whereas the Greek crisis was ultimately a dispute over money, the migration crisis concerns visceral questions of culture and identity.

It also has revealed serious deficiencies in the EU’s institutional and legal setup and exposed rifts between Northern and Southern Europe.

The problem is that national governments have responsibility for controlling their borders and deciding on whom to grant citizenship and asylum. But most countries have abolished border controls within the EU, allowing those inside to move freely between the member states.

That makes each country’s border and migration policies a common EU concern. In response, Brussels has put in place harmonized rules on treatment of asylum seekers. But many doubt how rigorously these rules are being applied, particularly in those countries receiving the bulk of the migrants, some of which have been overwhelmed by the scale of the challenge.

Under EU law, those claiming refugee status—as most migrants do—are entitled to be fed and housed while their cases are investigated, an expensive process. For a country such as Greece, in the midst of a deep financial crisis, the drain on resources has been too much, leading to angry scenes at reception centers on the island of Kos.

There, 12,000 migrants have arrived this summer, equivalent to more than a third of its population. Meanwhile, EU rules also say that refugees must be registered and fingerprinted in the country in which they first arrive, which then becomes responsible for housing them until their status is decided.

This system is now in disarray. Richer Northern European countries accuse Southern European countries of failing to keep track of illegal migrants, passing the problem on to them. This summer, France briefly reopened its border post with Italy. Meanwhile, Southern countries say they are unfairly being forced to take responsibility for migrants whose real objective is to head to the richer north.

This makes forging a common response to the crisis extraordinarily difficult.

Faced with harrowing reports of migrants drowning in the Mediterranean earlier this summer, the member states agreed to provide military assistance for search-and-rescue missions and efforts to disrupt smuggler networks off the coast of Italy and in the Aegean Sea. The EU has also handed out €2.4 billion ($2.66 billion) in emergency assistance to member states to help with the cost of managing the crisis. It also says it will use its diplomatic muscle to tackle the problem at source at a summit with leaders of African countries in November.

But when the commission proposed in June that all 28 members of the EU commit to a plan to resettle 20,000 refugees from outside the EU and relocate 40,000 migrants already inside, several countries—including Eastern European countries with no tradition of accepting refugees and richer countries such as the U.K. and Austria where anti-immigrant sentiment is strong—refused to participate. Some EU officials describe this as the darkest moment in EU history...

That's NIMBY politics at the international level. Not-in-my-backyard. You take care of the problem. It's ugly, but it's the way international politics works, and it's interesting that it's the EU system as a whole that's coming up short in response. That's not how institutional theories of cooperation conceptualize problems. Greater integration of states is supposed to facilitate collective action to mutual problems, but the migration crisis shows how self-interest causes collective action failures, and how institutional cohesion breaks down.

It's pretty fascinating.

Still more at the link.

Nazi 'Comments' Attacking European Migrants Voted Up at London's Daily Mail

I guess this was some kind of "experiment," by the leftist parody account The DM Reporter on Twitter.

And of course, this "experiment" proves absolutely nothing, as comment threads are completely unrepresentative of anything except perhaps unreconstructed stupidity.

At Medium, "We Were Upvoted for Posting Nazi Propaganda about Migrants in the Daily Mail."

And as I argued previously, it's not just "far-right extremists" who're reacting badly against the migrant crisis. Remember, the communists are in charge in Greece, and they've thrown migrants in the camps.