Refugees and Migration in Europe
on the background of migration . In Germany and other European countries , the Leftist post-communist parties blur the differences of party ideologies and are basically at one with many right-wing populist and neofascist groups in the assumption that cooperation with Russia , Iran , or Syria is necessary .
The failures of Western interventions from Afghanistan and Iraq to Libya contributed to the disintegration of statehood in Iraq and Syria . Sometimes this process is compared with the collapse of Yugoslavia . There is , however , one important difference : in Yugoslavia , even during Communist times , there existed “ national communities ” on the basis of federal structures , with integrating elements , such as language and religion . In the states of the Arab and Near East , which British and French colonialism left after the First World War , on the other hand — in spite of a certain unity of language with the exception of Curds — there were no political institutional frames and no established churches and party systems . Especially in Syria , a clear division between the followers of President Assad and the “ Islamic State ” ( IS ) was not even feasible . Many intermittent groups fight the President and at the same time occasionally collaborate with the system of his arch enemy IS . Sometimes these groups are the target of Russian bombs , meant to fight the IS in support of Assad .
Cooperation between Arab groups became increasingly difficult because of the dominance of clans and tribal groups in various Arab countries suffering from civil war . These unclear divisions in the civil wars contribute to the exile and emigration of many uncommitted citizens who were sacrificed between the front lines and escaped terror and the threat to life . Thus , the United States as the “ universal policeman ” caused the rise of new enemies , such as “ Al Qaida ” and the “ Islamic State ,” which ardent critics ( Lüders 2015 , 62 , 170 ) referred to as “ made in the USA .” Turkey followed the West in political miscalculation when Erdogan broke relations with Assad . As a result , about 2.3 million immigrants arrived in Turkey which the West has recently tried to reduce by accepting certain numbers of them in Europe in exchange for another risky concession : the renewal of negotiations with Turkey for access to the European Community . The states in the European Union ( EU ) are still fighting about the redistribution of refugees , Cyprus has already refused to contribute money , and the envisaged redistribution of 160,000 refugees within two years has so far made little progress ( figures in FAZ . 7.1.2016:15 ).
2 . The Concept of Power in the Near East
Sometimes the propaganda of the IS that “ Islamism is fighting the West ” is taken literally by frightened Western commentators . This hypothesis overlooks the fact that Islamism predominantly is not fighting the West — except for some terrorist incidents — but is fighting itself in civil wars , not only between Sunnitism and Shiism . The situation in the Near East in the meantime is compared to the disruptions of the Thirty Years War in Germany ( 1618 – 1648 ). “ Confessionalism ” and thinking in terms of tribes created growing intolerance . The Alawites support Assad for their
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