Drowning Migrants: Where is the Italian Navy?

Vincent J. Curtis

30 May 2016

RE:  More than 700 migrants feared dead.  Largest loss of life since April, 2015.

Today, the Associated Press reported that more than 700 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean Sea because the boat carrying them was leaky and overloaded.  All the talking heads, from UN spokesmen to the Pope, are calling for means of enabling safer passage for these illegal migrants.  It occurs to no one, apparently, that the more you encourage something, the more you are likely to get of it.  If Europe made it clear that illegal migrants would be summarily returned to Africa, perhaps the flow, and the drownings, would cease.

The Italian navy is uniquely poised to do something about it.  It is Italy that the migrants are seeking when they leave Libya.  The Italian navy could protect Italian sovereignty and the rest of European civilization from this migrant crisis by sinking the migrant fleet in Libyan harbors.  There is nothing the so-called Libyan government can do about it.  But presently, the Italian Coast Guard is burdened with having to save thousands each week.  When do the Italians say, "enough!"?

Below is a commentary.

The refugee crisis in the Muslim world is getting out of hand when hundreds routinely drown while trying cross the Mediterranean Sea to get to Christian Europe.  It is up to the European powers, particularly Italy, to put a stop to it.

The Italian navy can stop the crisis immediately and at the same time protect Italy and Europe from this invasion by going into Libyan harbors and sinking every vessel capable of either transporting migrants or towing migrant vessels.  Libya is a state in name only, with no central government capable of exercising sovereign power over the country.  It can do nothing, and so Italy must.

The AP story correctly identifies the drowned as ‘migrants’ from Eritrea.  In no sense were these people, ‘refugees.’  Eritrea is a Muslim country that lies on the Red Sea near the Horn of Africa.  It obtained its independence from Christian Ethiopia in 1993.  The dead were not fleeing persecution at home, they were running into a war-torn failed state.  The dead were economic migrants looking for an Eldorado they believed was to be found in Germany.  This migration is like a gold rush for the German dole.

To get to Libya from Eritrea, one has to pass through the deserts of Sudan and Egypt, and then pass through hundreds of kilometers of harsh Libyan Desert to get to the Mediterranean coast.  They died because they thought their paid guides would get them across to Italy safely.

It’s high time Italy put these guides out of business and saved lives.

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