*promote just beat me to it.

Promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Tuesday, September 8th, 2015 6:35pm PDT - promote requested by eric3579.

*related=http://videosift.com/video/Hans-Rosling-Why-Boat-Refugees-Dont-Fly

Hans Rosling: Why Boat Refugees Don't Fly? has been added as a related post - related requested by notarobot.

And while Australia and the US have an abysmal record on refugees, NZ is worse.

While at least we're not sending them to concentration camps, er, "detention centers", this is the first time I've ever felt truly ashamed of my adopted country.

This comes up a bit short on some issues.

For instance, the ongoing drought in the Euphrates-Tigris area pushed people in Syria into the cities, adding pressure to already overstretched infrastructure.

Also, what about the West's glorious idea to run illegal wars of aggression in Iraq and Libya, which destabilized the entire region? Nevermind Afghanistan or the bombing campaigns in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. What about the gulag that is Palestine? What about the economic consequences of our obsession with free trade, taking away from developing countries the ability to protect and nurture their own industries? What about our subsidies of farm exports, thereby undercutting local farmers and destroying these peoples' ability to feed themselves?

All of these countries have heaps of issues of their own, but let's not forget that "we" not only didn't help, but actively made things worse in many cases. As cities drain resources from the hinterland, so do our centers of capitalism drain resources from developing nations. They are our hinterland.

Yugoslavia seems to have been forgotten by most people, but the split and following neoliberal treatment left the entire area in a state of instability. Kosovo today is basically run by organised crime.

So, as horrible as Assad's actions are, very few countries are in a position to offer meaningful criticism, having pissed away what little moral authority we had to begin with.

And as far as legal responsibilities towards refugees go, I'd say after torture, wars of aggression, global espionage, a stateless people in Europe (Roma/Sinti), destruction of a society (Greece), an openly xenophobic regime (Hungary), etc, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that "rights" are meaningless unless actively enforced by someone with the required amount of power.

Look at Calais, look at Lesbos, look at Lampedusa, and tell me all about our European morals and values...

Written by the grandson of a man whose family fled from Silesia in '45 with nothing but two bags and walked all the way to Lower Saxony on foot.

While your points are well made, I don't think John Green thinks that the US is not to blame. No more nor less than the Gulf states, who are just if not more wealthy than all the ME put together yet have done nothing, with the problem right at their doorstep.

*controversy *news

Adding video to channels (News) - requested by MrFisk.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'John Green, vlog bros, refugee, crisis, Syria' to 'John Green, vlog bros, refugee, crisis, Syria, xenophobia' - edited by MrFisk

"Oh, they were people? We didn't realise. Why didn't you tell us that they were people sooner, we wouldn't have dehumanised them so much!" - UK Press.

It's really not correct to say we're all human and we have a responsibility to care for one another and so forth when so many of the refugees are dangerous, mediaeval fanatics.

It's not that they're predominantly brownish-skinned; it's not that they're poor or uneducated; it's not that they come from some other country, as if geography means anything; it's that they're devout and practising members of a cult of murderous, totalitarian evil. Europe has enough fascists already, we don't want any more.

The compassionate, humanitarian thing to do would be machine gun all the muslims at the border, and welcome the rest of the refugees with open arms. Migration is a human right; some people just aren't human.

Ahh, it's apparently time for another game of Crazy Person or Troll!

Wow, and I thought I was Islamophobic. You're giving the rest of us Islam haters a bad name with that kind of bullshit.

Ban all religions. Simple.

This is America fault. Leadership from behind has failed the wold. From the Arab spring to this disaster. 7 years of failed leadership of President Obama.

Obama drew a line in the sand and Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons and my pussy president did squat just as he did for Ukraine.

Leadership from behind has failed the wold.
My American President sits back and lets ISIL rape, kill and destroy with out impunity.


The world needs a super power to keep peace. This lesson has been well taught under the Obama legacy.

The irony is that many European countries stand to gain significantly in the long term from new migrants who tend to be young because of their ageing populations and need to sustain elderly pensions with working age income tax. Even for border countries who are struggling now with capacity, it is probably worth taking that down cost.

One of the benefits of the US bordering Mexico is not being able to control immigration is that they will automatically benefit from this regardless of what the politics of day decides the right amount of immigration should be.

The problem is the usual mix of lump of labour fallacy, short termed stinginess, xenophobia, nationalism, and a general fear of foreign cultures.

It's a discussion we've been having in this country for as long as I can remember and was one of the prime arguments made for a vast set of reforms a decade ago. And I still don't buy it.

At the very basic level, the argument is that a declining percentage of working age people have to pay for an increasing number of pensions. But that's only half the story. The working age population has to generate enough output to sustain not just themselves and retirees, but also children, the unemployed, the sick, anyone not working. A shrinking population means less children, and most importantly less unemployed. Increases in productivity are more than enough to compensate for that, no need to increase birth rates or immigration.

Germany is regularly paraded around as a country in dire need of immigration, given our low birth rate. Even if we ignore for a minute that any 50 year population forecast of the past has been invalidated after maybe 5 years, the "worst" they could conjure up was a decline in working age population of 34% by the year 2060. So what? That's 0.8% a year. And since it's based on a population decline of 20% over the same time, it's an annual drop of 0.2%. That's their worst case scenario, and it's statistical noise.

We've had a massive increase in average age over the last century as well as two world wars and our system managed just fine. And an annual drop of 0.2% is supposed to bring it to its knees? Pah.

Now, I'm all in favour of immigration, primarily to spice things up and prevent our society from becoming too homogeneous. But our pension system needs neither mass immigration nor an increased birth rate. What it needs is for politicians to stop funneling funds from our "PAYGO" system towards their buddies in the private sector. Current income = current payments, public system. Everything else is too volatile and susceptible to the Vampire Squids on Wall Street.

And...the rebels are nearly just as much at fault as the Dictator himself...and this guy leaves them out why?

Extremely one sided "explanation". His view is pretty much the same as an extreme right winger, just from the opposite direction.

He says that people say that immigrants and refugees is the same in this crisis. The thing is for some countries it is. If they are in that country, even if they are not accepted as immigrants, they are allowed to stay. Look at Germany for example. Only EXTREMELY few people get deported from there. Period. If youre lucky enough to get into Germany, you will most likely stay there.

He also says that most people arriving in Europe are refugees. Thats also bullshit. Only about a third are refugees from unstable countries. Thanks to speeches like that of Merkel and her politics people are streaming into Europe in hope for a better life, because everyone expects the land of milk and honey.
The fact of the matter is that nobody would care much if it all were refugees, who will be there only temporary.

He also puts most blame on Assad and Iran and Russia, blah blah. He even puts the chemical attack on Assad, even though NOTHING has been proven and actually point more towards the extremists incl. ISIS. The USA, UK and France started that war by supporting those extremists from day one and even before that! The country was stable before that! Same mistake like in Iraq and Libya! And their allies in that region supported them too! And then he wonders why they dont take refugees. LOL! Unbelievable...

Here is a MUCH better explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB4WWYSnXmM
Notice how they avoid to talk about the real cause of this crisis, yet get a huge applause when they mention it. Guess why. Same reason most western media avoids it.

I just lost a lot of respect for this guy. Because if he doesnt get this right, he wont get other things right either.

@radx

It all comes down to the figures behind it. I'm no expert in this matter but most of the reporting I have read about advanced ageing economies like Germany suggests increasing health care and pension costs will substantially dwarf existing costs. Germany is of course much better placed than say China or Japan which have very restrictive immigration policies to begin with. This is purely looking at the cost rather the distribution of other funds and how that affects the deficit.

Germany's budget seems to be relatively well managed, but I think you will see many countries postpone the issue until the last minute or have some kind of crisis precipitate the problem (I'm comparing countries to the likes of Detroit's bankruptcy after house prices and thereby property taxes collected collapsed after 2008). When you look at immigration having very limited costs but huge potential humanitarian, cultural and economic benefits it seems to me that it's almost necessary to defend the argument to not raise it rather than vice versa (although I know you're not arguing against it).

The European Refugee Crisis and Syria Explained has been added as a related post - related requested by PlayhousePals on that post.