Refugee Logistics: Nothing Happens for No Good Reason (2)

Last summer we saw the spectacle of thousands of central America children turning up on America’s southern border, and I noted at the time, in “Nothing Happens for No Good Reason,” that it was unlikely that the sudden flood of immigrants to the U.S. simply happened spontaneously. Someone had to put the word out in central America to create critical mass of “migrants” as well as organizing the logistics to get thousands of people over thousands of miles to our southern border. And somehow Mexico gave them safe passage through their country, when Mexico is otherwise very hostile to “undocumented” immigrants.

“Nothing happens for no good reason” is the maxim of my great teacher of international relations, the late Harold Rood. One of his other great maxims, and now the title of a fine book conveying his style of analysis, is You Run the Show, or the Show Runs You. Let’s review the questions I asked last year about the central American refugee crisis and apply it to the current scene in Europe, with an eye to “who’s running this show?”

• The level of violence and misery in central American nations has been severe for many years. Why are current conditions thought to be a catalyst for a surge in refugees now? Something has changed.  What?

Ditto for Syria and other spots in the Middle East. The extreme violence in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East has been going on for several years. Why the sudden massive surge in refugees right now?

• The passage of a child trafficking law in 2008—The Wilberforce Act—is insufficient to explain what has taken place.  Someone has put the word out widely in the region.  Who?  By what means?  Purely word of mouth, or has someone organized a publicity effort to spread the word?  Persuading mothers to surrender their children to be transported a thousand miles away is not an automatic sell, even with the vague promise that Obama will take care of them.  What are families specifically being told?  Where is the CIA in all this?  Do we have agents on the ground in central America figuring out who is publicizing and organizing this massive movement?

• It is not a simple matter for children to travel a thousand miles to get to the U.S. How are the logistics being organized for transporting thousands of children thousands of miles?  Who is hiring the buses?  Someone is paying for this.  Who?—Drug cartels?  How much is this costing?

Likewise today: How are the “migrants” transiting through Turkey? Who is providing the transit through Turkey? Who is organizing it? Most importantly, how can we know whether ISIS or Al Qaeda terrorists aren’t among the “undocumented” refugees since Europe has tightened entry through the usual channels? How many terrorists are establishing new false identities? Maybe ISIS and Al Qaeda are behind the whole “crisis”?

I wonder if the CIA has any clue about any of this. Or are they too busy “verifying” the Iran nuclear arms deal?

Meanwhile, here are a few scenes of what the “migrants” are leaving behind near the border of Austria and Italy, from Kamil Bulonis, a Polish travel writer. Camp of the Saints indeed.