Tuesday, October 02, 2018

Assad Plays the Refugee Card

Assad's government has made its offer to Europe for their cooperation in continuing Assad's rule in Syria:

Syria's foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem, told the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday that the country was ready for the voluntary return of refugees who fled during the more than seven-year conflict.

And of course, the Syrians expect European aid to settle them back in Syria.

This will work. Europe will get rid of a lot of the refugees and migrants that they unwisely welcomed in large numbers and Syria will extort money and recognition from Europe to cooperate.

My only question is whether Germany will try to claim that money spent on refugee return should count toward their pledge to spend 2% of GDP on defense.

Okay, and I question whether Assad will take the money but refuse to take more than token numbers of Syrians who fled his rule.