Summary: Immigration is one of the big — perhaps the biggest — story of our time. Yet we know little about it, in part because the news media filter what we see. Only fringe sources give us glimpses of truth, albeit with their own biases. Here is one, conveying a litany of bad news.
“Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.”
— John Adams in A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law(1765).
(1765).
America’s major news media have a near-blackout on reporting news from Europe’s newspapers about the adverse effects of immigration. Almost the only english-language source is The Gatestone Institute. It publishes information from a right-wing perspective (along with far-right editorializing. Founded in 2008 and based in NYC, John R. Bolton (former Ambassador to the UN) is its chairman. Here is one of their recent stories.
“Germany: Police Powerless Against Middle Eastern Crime Gangs”
by Soeren Kern at the Gatestone Institute, 18 June.
“The clans simply have no respect for the authorities.”
It refers to this article (translated): “Police angered over mild verdict against Lebanese clan” in Focus (a large German weekly; see Wikipedia), 18 May 2017.
“It was only luck that nothing more happened,” said Stefan Joseph, judge of the Hanover Regional Court, about the violence on 14 January 2015. Among other things, stones and pepper spray injured 24 policemen and six other people. The trigger was the fall of a 26-year-old alleged robber in an escape attempt from the seventh floor of the magistrate’s office. Members of his family then rampaged before the court and before the hospital, where the man died a little later.
Now the trial has ended: despite the brutal riot, six members of the large family, Mhallami Kurds from Lebanon , received only sanctions. The five men and a woman were sentenced on Wednesday …to parole of six months to two years.
The judgment was not well received by the police. Dietmar Schilff, the Lower Saxony federal and vice-chairman of the police union union (GdP), told FOCUS Online that especially the Hameln police were “very surprised and annoyed”. They had not even been called to court for the trial. “{The police are upset} because they expect protection and support from the state,” says Schilff. “If we want to protect those who care for our security, it is clear that anyone who attacks police officers attacks the state – and has to fear appropriate consequences. It does not matter where the perpetrators come from. “
The Gatestone article cites other articles in the German press pointing to a breakdown of law enforcement before the growing power of gangs of immigrants from the Middle East.
“The clans reject the authority of the German state. Instead, they run a “parallel justice system” in which disputes are resolved among themselves with mediators from other crime families. A classified police report leaked to Bild described how the clans use cash payments and threats of violence to influence witnesses whenever German police or prosecutors get involved.” {Bild is a large German tabloid; see Wikipedia.} …
“Berlin is lost,” said Michael Kuhr, a well-known Berlin-based security consultant. “These clan structures have established themselves in all areas of organized crime. We will never go back to how things were 20 years ago. In addition, these people are highly dangerous and have lost all respect for the power of the state.”
In Duisburg, a leaked police report revealed that in the Marxloh district, the streets are effectively controlled by Lebanese clans that reject the authority of German police. They have taken over entire streets to carry out illegal business activity. New migrants from Bulgaria and Romania are contributing to the problems. Marxloh’s streets serve as invisible boundaries between ethnic groups, according to Die Welt. Residents speak of “the Kurdish road” or “the Romanian road.”
Gatestone cites this “In North Rhine-Westphalia ‘problem areas’ are increasing” in the Rheinische Post. (a regional newspaper; see Wikipedia).
“In North Rhine-Westphalia, the criminality in the so-called ‘problem areas’ appears to spread more. The local police no longer seem to be able to control the violence in these neighborhoods, and they more often have to ask for support from the state police. …
“The brutality and aggressiveness of the clan members of the police are alarming. In Gelsenkirchen, and Duisburg, there have been several confrontations between police and relatives of the criminal family associations. Policemen often suffered injuries.”
Back to the article at the Gatestone Institute.
If police dare to intervene, hundreds of clan members are mobilized to confront the police. A local woman interviewed by Deutschlandfunk radio said she was afraid for her safety: “After dark I would not stand here because there are a lot of conflicts between foreigners, especially between Lebanese and Turks.”
A 17-page report prepared for the state parliament in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) revealed that Lebanese clans in Duisburg divide up neighborhoods in order to pursue criminal activities. These clans do not recognize the authority of the police. Their members are males between the ages of 15 and 25 and “nearly 100%” of them are known to police.
The report also described the situation in Duisburg’s Laar district, where two large Lebanese families call the shots: “The streets are actually regarded as a separate territory. Outsiders are physically assaulted, robbed and harassed. Experience shows that the Lebanese clans can mobilize several hundred people in a very short period of time by means of a telephone call.”
Peter Biesenbach of the Christian Democrats (CDU) said: “If this is not a no-go area, then I do not know what is.” He has called for an official inquiry to determine the true scope of the criminal clans in NRW. NRW Interior Minister Ralf Jäger rejected that request because such a study would be politically incorrect:
“Further data collection is not legally permissible. Both internally and externally, any classification that could be used to depreciate human beings must be avoided. In this respect, the use of the term ‘family clan’ (Familienclan) is forbidden from the police point of view.”
In nearby Gelsenkirchen, Kurdish and Lebanese clans are vying for control of city streets, some of which have become zones that are off-limits to German authorities. In one incident, police were patrolling an area in the southern part of the city when they were suddenly surrounded and physically assaulted by more than 60 members of a clan.
In another incident, two police officers stopped a driver after he ran a red light. The driver stepped out of the car and ran away. When police caught up with him, they were confronted by more than 50 clan members. A 15-year-old attacked a policeman from behind and strangled him to the point of unconsciousness.
Senior members of the Gelsenkirchen police department subsequently held a secret meeting with representatives of three Arab clans in order to “cultivate social peace between Germans and Lebanese.” A leaked police report revealed that the clans told Police Chief Ralf Feldmann that “the police cannot win a war with the Lebanese because we outnumber them.” The clan members added: “This applies to all of Gelsenkirchen, if we so choose.”
The Gatestone article continues with more citations of similar news stories. They publish one or more of these every week, usually from Germany and Sweden. They document a serious problem growing worse, with their governments either afraid to act — or passive for political reasons. Which is worse?
Conclusions
We are ignorant because we rely on our news media for information about the world. Unfortunately the US news has become — on many subjects — to large extent a source of carefully filtered news. In effect, propaganda. Chief among them are effects of the massive wave of immigration flooding the West.
But slowly the news leaks through the American people. The news companies are sacrificing their credibility for this cause. Why are they doing this?
As for immigration – what is happening? Why have our borders been opened? What are the effects now? What effects can we expect to see in the future? We won’t learn the answers from our newspapers. Fringe sources like the Gatestone Institute can help, so long as we are aware of their biases.
Successful action begins with clear vision. It never comes easy.
For More Information
See the articles in the archives of the Gatestone Institute. Lots of disturbing information there, plus right-wing propaganda.
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about immigration, about fake news, about the news media, about information and disinformation, and especially these…
- Stratfor: Why Germany Cannot Stop the Flow of Migrants.
- Stratfor: How immigration will change German politics, which will change Europe.
- Stratfor: The Refugee Crisis Redefines German Politics. It could get ugly.
- Recommended: Torching Utopia: Sweden tries mass immigration.
- Horrific news from Sweden about sexual assaults by immigrants.
- Trump points to Sweden’s problems with migrants. Then they riot, again.
Bias is a key word as you write in particular when Gatestone Institute misrepresent people like Jäger.
Summary by Gatestone Institute:
Quote from:http://www.fnp.de/nachrichten/politik/No-go-Areas-und-Parallelgesellschaften;art673,1739112
Ralf Jäger does not say a study would be politically incorrect but it would be illegal according to German law. A major difference. Google translate will translate the last paragraph properly into English.
Rune,
It is your representation that is less accurate. First, the Gatestone article gives a summary of Jager’s remarks (it is not in quotation marks). Second, you omit the Google translation — which contradicts what you say. Here is the translation.
By “not politically correct” Gatestone is accurately describing Jager’s remarks about the reason for the law limiting the police in this respect.
Well, Gladestone Institute puts a spin on their story, too. Why did they not ask the interesting question what reasons the CDU had to not to introduce legislation when they had power in NRW in 2005-2010? Giving that Albanian & Kurdish family gangs are old news in Germany. For example the gang wars in Hamburg in the 1990’s between Albanians & Kurds.
German police from 2011.
http://www.kriminalpolizei.de/ausgaben/2011/juni/detailansicht-juni/artikel/rotlicht-und-organisierte-kriminalitaet.html
It will be interesting to see if CDU again will do nothing now that they are back in charge in NRW.
Also You’re not above putting a spin on stories too.
It’s like passing on the claim of no go areas in Sweden.
https://twitter.com/fabiusmaximus01/status/781135895172755456
There are no “no go areas” or such.
https://polisen.se/Global/www%20och%20Intrapolis/Ovriga%20rapporter/Utsatta%20omr%c3%a5den%20-%20social%20ordning,%20kriminell%20struktur%20och%20utmaningar%20f%c3%b6r%20polisen.pdf
You have 61 areas in three groups
32 vulnerable areas (utsatt område) – Too high crime levels but ordinary police work is all that is needed to eliminate problem.
6 At risk areas (Riskområde) – which is vulnerable areas with the potential to become especially vulnerable areas.
23 Especially vulnerable areas (särskilt utsatt område) – Requires double size police patrols and in order to eliminate the problems social workers etc needs to be involved. Police work alone cannot solve the problem. The problems have been under development for decades and will most likely require as much time to solve. (like the Irish and Italian mafia in the US)
I wonder how many such areas you have in the US using the standards of Swedish police. Chicago springs to mind. Quarter of the population of Sweden but 7-times the number of murders (2016). Would 32 areas be enough?
Or your take on a Swedish-Somali student with political incorrect views elected at a British University in Manchester as representative of developments in Sweden. Should it not be Britain which has a problem?
https://twitter.com/FabiusMaximus01/status/881167480143486979
Rune,
You appear to believe covering your eyes is rebuttal, and your refusal to see means that others “spin” the news. How odd.
“There are no “no go areas” or such.”
I suggest you go tell the various police leaders in Sweden who have said that there are zones in which they have lost control. It’s not something the police confess to lightly.
“I wonder how many such areas you have in the US using the standards of Swedish police.”
Lots. That’s why its so easy for an American to recognize what’s happening. What’s your point?
“Should it not be Britain which has a problem?”
Yes, they too have a problem. What is your point?
Please read the police report. That you do not trust Swedish police leadership is your problem. That you choose to trust the claims of a Russian state media selling news that matches the views of pro-Russian West European right wing political parties is revealing.
Have you considered there is a reason RT make these claims.
The real crime problem in Northern Europe is the American imported biker gangs who can hide behind constitutional protection as clubs.
They have an international networks (chapters) like the biggest local club in Germany, Gremium MC. Including Thailand, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Turkey.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gremium_MC
These biker gangs are the top dogs in crime and subordinate local gangs including migrant biker gangs, like Bahoz and Osmanen Germania Boxclub.
As for no go zones.
You have nothing in Sweden like the American “no go zones.” (if you can even use the term as there is no definition). But I can’t help seeing similarities with Sweden in Social housing as centers of crime.
Instead of Chicago one could use Baltimore:
https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21724399-america-gets-safer-marylands-biggest-city-does-not-crime-and-despair-baltimore
How many 1.000’s of “no-go-zones” does the US have when using the Swedish definition? How many decades have these developments been under way in the USA without action?
Sweden have noticed the problems same with Germany. And they are doing something about it. As for results we will have to wait but for comparison how many decades did it take to eliminate Italian crime families in the USA. Some seven decades?
Rune,
Repeating silly things you have said is odd. They’re not more compelling the second time. I’ll point to just on.
“You have nothing in Sweden like the American “no go zones.”
I’ll repeat what I said: we have no-go zones in the US. That’s why it’s so easy for an American to recognize what’s happening in Europe. It’s quite mad to use that as a justification for the social decay in Sweden. It makes you sound desperate to deny what you are seeing.
Also, it’s probably premature to say that they’re worse in the US than in Sweden. “No go” means that police enter with care into a zone which they no longer control — not that they don’t go there.
There seems to be this idea among our media elite that if you ignore a topic or “de facto” ban it as unsuitable for discussion by All Decent People, it will go away. Not these days, given the basic (and justified) lack of faith Americans have in their ruling class and in their Fourth Estate. It might creep away from the surface for a while and not show itself in the world of the Beltway, but the almost Newtonian eventual cost can be frightful. This is a major underlying cause in political polarization, especially over issues like immigration that transform the battle from ideology to tribe.
In Europe, the problem is arguably even greater. The hard-right or “hard-right quietly sympathizing” is a very youthful and fastly growing demographic in Europe. Here, the GOP’s insane attachment to free-market fetishism limits how far the hard-right can get with youth (if only because of guilt by association-prominent “alt-right” figures like Sailer , et all, have been quite loud about the Market Uber Alles vibe for the GOP for decades), and Trump in will heavily reinforce this, at least in the short term. In Europe, on the other hand, figures like Marine Le Pen genuinely are the economic populists/protectionists in other regards, apart from being the only ones willing to discuss the effects of mass immigration-meaning that their ability to reach under 35s is a lot greater.
Anyway, when mainstream outlets push important topics to the fringes of political discussion, inevitably, fringe figures will pick it up. And odds on they will make it more radical-or open to genuine, born radicals-than it had to be. I’ve gotten the pleasure of checking this dynamic out for myself in my e-travels in alt-right land. I speak from experience: the more the MSM visibly doubles down on all dissent, irrespective of whatever mental logic leaps they have to take to do it (the laws of supply and demand, according to the Washington Post, work differently in Mexico than they do in the US*), the more open newcomers (who are typically young, male, the dangerous combination of impressionable yet already cynical, and alienated/isolated) become to ideas they otherwise wouldn’t contemplate.
And as I mentioned in a previous post, given birth rates in Africa, not to mention the “already coming” wave of South Asia despite the admirable check in the birth rate there, immigration is just going to become an even bigger issue as the decades pass by.
*Source:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/mexico-prepares-to-absorb-a-wave-of-deportees-in-the-trump-era/2017/03/03/a7bd624a-f86c-11e6-aa1e-5f735ee31334_story.html?utm_term=.30ed4095d7cf
*(quite loud about the disdain for)
I apologize for that, and other typos.
Leaving,
“this idea among our media elite that if you ignore a topic or “de facto” ban it as unsuitable for discussion by All Decent People, it will go away.”
What is your evidence for this? We ban speeding, but nobody expects it to go away.
“This is a major underlying cause in political polarization, especially over issues like immigration that transform the battle from ideology to tribe.”
Can you explain why journalists’ actions are a major cause of political polarization? That sounds unlikely to me.
“immigration is just going to become an even bigger issue as the decades pass by.”
Immigration is caused by domestic problems — war, stagnant economic growth, etc. Birth rates are a very distant secondary cause. If Latin America and Africa kickstart growth, emigration flows will probably slow. Will that happen? Our ability to accurately predict such things is almost zero.
All things being equal, high fertility rates increase growth — Economics 101. Hence the widespread concerns that the West’s falling fertility will slow growth.
The newspapers are fear factories, and have to be read skeptically. Falling fertility in the West — bad! High fertility in developing nations: bad! Breathing: bad!
Hi FM,
When I lived in Germany (Bonn) in the late 80s early 90s, I had this Spidey-sense feeling that something was not quite right with the “Gastarbeiterprogramm” or guest worker program. Now, as a rule, I am most definitely *not* an anti-immigrant sort (hell, I *was* one, if on a temporary basis), but, in my opinion there has to be a balance of immigration and assimilation.
At the time, I was incredibly sympathetic to the Turks, but I thought it odd that they were serving me my pomme frites mit jägersauce out of proto-food trucks — not something that you necessarily need a guest worker program to fulfill. I felt positively American, communing with my entrepreneurial kin, who happened to be Korean immigrants, by buying groceries on a Sunday on the DL by patronizing their restaurant that, oh by the way, was connected to their grocery store. That wasn’t something you could do by flashing the Frommer’s guide… they had to know you, and for good reason.
Now, I lived in an apartment in a Turkish area North of Bonn, and if you squinted it was “Germany”, but not German. The Korean restaurant/grocery was smack-dab downtown, not very far from the city center and the University of Bonn, where the owners planned to sent their kids who were knocking the lights out of Gymnasium, or the Uni-track “high school” in Germany.
So there were these two modes of immigration: the immigration in isolation of a some large number of Turkish Gastarbeiter on the one hand and this subversive/assimilative of the Korean entrepreneurs on the other. Now, I don’t want to use a specific case to extrapolate generalizations about populations — it’s merely illustrative of two models of immigration, and I wish, wish, wish, I could have had a Turkish example in Germany (I have an Algerian/Egyptian one for France, but that’s a different story). Alas, my experience is so limited.
So now fast forward. Incomplete, if that’s the word, assimilation of multiple groups who, fundamentally, do not share German values. I will be “PC” enough to say that for every group represented in Germany, I’m sure there are individuals and large groups and organizations that do, but they are, apparently, “insignificant next to the power of the Force” which may prove folks like van Creveld and Lind and others right about fourth generation warfare and the disintegration of the West. While I’m trained as a scientist, the experiment of the compatibility of human rights and multiculturalism is not one I want to run in practice, because the theory does not predict a good outcome.
You may get some haters by citing Gatestone, while openly partisan, they have done good work, and let the facts lead us where they may.
With kindest regards,
Bill
Bill,
Thank you for sharing your experience in Germany. First person evidence is always valuable!
“You may get some haters by citing Gatestone”
Truth in America has become tribal. If it challenges our tribal belief, it is automatically doubleplusungood — inherently illegitimate and need not be seen or considered. This makes us easy to rule, a gift to the 1%.
I peruse the website ZeroHedge, which collects stories from a lot of non-mainstream right wing (and a few left wing) sources, including Gatestone. I find it’s a good way to get exposed to stories I wouldn’t otherwise hear about without having to pour through a whole lot of nonsense. It’s a big part of the reason that despite being far to the left of Bernie Sanders on most issues, my view that every nation-state has an obligation to the citizens it governs to tightly control its own borders places me well to the right on immigration.
Karl,
The problem with fringe websites — and those that aggregate them, like ZeroHedge — is that readers accumulate misinformation. I can often identify people who read ZH because they are loaded with fake news.
I have written a few posts debunking stories on ZH (see here). I used to flag them on Twitter until they blocked me. My favorite were the stories about US naval armada’s assembling to attack Iran — which were normal carrier rotations.
Even the economic news, supposedly their speciality, is often either misrepresented or bogus. For years they would report non-seasonally adjustment monthly economic numbers as BIG SWINGS, when they were normal seasonal fluctuations. Repeated ominous but meaningless technical warnings – like today’s about the Hindenberg Omen. Doomish headlines like “Even The Fed’s Own National Economy Activity Index Just Collapsed In May” (no, it didn’t — zero represents average growth, so the average of the index is zero). Exciting but exaggerated headlines like “Durable Goods Orders Tumble (Again) In May” (new orders are volatile, -1.1% MoM is a commonplace move — esp since new orders have been flat for a decade).
Since 2008 they’ve probably decaded the approach of a dozen recessions, Weimar-like hyperinflations, and collapses of the dollar.
Unless read carefully, checking anything there that is original reporting or from a fringe source, ZH makes its readers stupid. The news from reliable sources is just bait. That it has been so successful shows our decay, and love of info-tainment over facts.
Fabius–I shouldn’t have made it sound like I take ZH as gospel. Indeed, a lot of what they publish is pure garbage and as an aggregation site Naked Capitalism is much better. I merely meant that perusing ZH is good way to be exposed to what the alt-right press is publishing without going to the individual sites.
Karl,
Thnkyou for the clarifation! I too watch the fra left and right. They tend to be the breeding grounds for new political and social trends, and provide the energy for US politics.
That statement from Ralf Jaeger was somewhat like the zenith of his political career. Or to the people of North Rhine-Westphalia more like the “dot on the i” as we say in German, it is quite well-known around here. Mid May, his social-democratic/Green coalition was voted off in the state elections and a christian-democratic/right-wing liberal coalition voted in. We will see how they perform.
On a related note, the No-Go areas are actually not the foremost public concern – because, let’s face it, it is people form the repective ethnic groups that live there (not a good attitude but all too human) and the lawlessness does not noticeable “radiate” into the rest of the town (*) -, but moreover the mugging and pocket-theft at railroad stations (i. p. Cologne and Duesseldorf) and in the commuter trains is … rumour is, that the territory is devided: railroad stations and public places in front are “fiefdom” of some Magrhrebinian gangs, while the platfroms and trains are “farmed” by some ethinc gangs from the Balkans. This is always hard to argue with Americans, but what happened at New-Years Eve at Cologne railroad station one and a half year ago was not so much related to the freshly arrived migrants, but moreover the next evolutionary step of that social eco-system.
The German law cannot effectivily deal with ethnic crime gangs (especially if they have a second base in the near abroad). This is well known, but nobody has any idea what to do about it without sacrificing our liberal democracy and justice system. Migrants compund to it, but they are not the root cause.
P.S.: Organized burglary, car-theft, etc. in North Rhine Westphalia is done by ethnic Groups from the near abroad or travelling clan members who return to their home-bases in the Balkans after an extended looting trip. An outstanding specialty here is marauding cash-points at Banks, which as the rumours have it is solely (!) done by one large Maghrebinian gang situated across the border in the Southern Netherlands (think of that famous war movie with the bridges). They are actually very good at it, as they know how to break up the machine with the proper amount of explosives so that the anti-burglary mechanisms do not set it in, manage to perform the heist in a few seconds and have tuned heavy Audis and Jason Statham skilled drivers which can escape police helicopters. Vorsprung durch Technik.
hajo-hi,
Thank you for a local perspective on these events. There is an almost complete news blackout on this side of the Atlantic about these events in Europe. So the occasional translation of news stories and reports like your are all we have. Sad that the information superhighway still looks like a dirt path when it comes to non-politically correct news.
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