Earlier: Turkey Unleashes The Migrants and Greeks Resist Invasion from the East

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has boasted that he’s “opened the doors” to refugees to use them as a weapon against Europe. He has provided buses to ship “migrants” to Greece, and his interior ministry has sent just 1,000 cops to the border to stop Greek authorities from pushing those migrants back into Turkey [Turkish police move to stop Greece pushing migrants back, BBC, March 5, 2019]. Thus does the Long War continue. Like their ancestors at Thermopylae, Greeks are trying to repel an Asiatic invasion. Woke classicists such as Mark Zuckerberg’s appalling sister Donna notwithstanding, Western Civilization began with ancient Greece. And it might end with the Third Hellenic Republic if the West doesn’t fight back.

Greece has stopped some 35,000 migrants from entering the country, and is feuding with Turkey over allegations that Greek security services killed migrants trying to enter [Greece blocks 35,000 migrants, plans to deport arrivals after March 1, by Lefteris Papadis’s and Bulent Usta, Reuters, March 5, 2020; In blame game, Greece denies Turkish claim that it killed three migrants, Reuters, March 3, 2020].

The anti-Western international Main Stream Media is trying to guilt-trip beleaguered Europeans into accepting unlimited refugees because migrants’ “dreams” are at stake [Syrian migrants trying to reach Greece from Turkey find their dreams evaporating as border guards push them back, by Sarah Dadouch, The Washington Post, March 2, 2020]. And Erdogan cynically claims he needs more European aid to handle Syrian refugees. But the refugees can’t go home because Turkey is waging war against the legal government of Syria [Turkey shoots down third plane as Syrian forces retake town, by Linah Alsaafin, Al Jazeera, March 3, 2020].

All this is reminiscent of The Camp of the Saints, that forbidden tome and most prophetic book of the last 50 years. [VDARE.com readers can buy the book from us directly—email our office for details.] The West is being extinguished because its people are unwilling to repel the invaders. They know they will suffer from the Third World invasion, but they are morally paralyzed. Thus the West isn’t just vulnerable to global demographic trends, but the cold-blooded use of migrants as a weapon [Strategic Engineered Migration as a Weapon of War, by Kelly Greenhill, Civil Wars, March 2008]. Both those who push the migrations and demand we accept the migrants know mass immigration is a punishment [Punishment Migration, by James Kirkpatrick, The Social Contract, Fall 2018].

President Erdogan certainly understands that. “It’s done, the gates are open,” he smirked. “You will have your share of this burden now.” He said “millions” of migrants will be coming to Europe [Turkey’s Erdogan warns Europe to expect ‘millions’ of migrants after easing border restrictions, by Robert Gearty, Fox News, March 2, 2020]. Of course, the Main Stream Media would demonize any European or American public figure who called immigration a “burden.”

Another sign of the West’s weakness: European leaders are angry at Erdogan not because he’s threatening the continent, but because he’s “weaponized” migrants.

Still, when it comes down to it, European leaders do seem to understand “refugees” are a danger. Thus Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis tweeted (n.b. in English) that Greece would protect “the external borders of Europe.”

The borders of Greece are the external borders of Europe. We will protect them. I will be visiting the #Evros land border with Turkey along with Charles Michel @eucopresident on Tuesday.

Once more, do not attempt to enter Greece illegally - you will be turned back.

🇬🇷🇪🇺 — Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) March 1, 2020

Greeks on the island of Lesbos, overrun by 20,000 migrants who live in squalid camps, are rebelling against the foreign takeover, throwing rocks at NGO groups and reportedly attacking “aid workers or refugees” [‘It’s a powder keg ready to explode’: In Greek village, tensions simmer between refugees and locals, by Justin Higginbottom, CNBC, March 2, 2020]. Yes, yes, violence is deplorable, but when you invade someone’s home, what do you expect?

Even European commission president Ursula von der Leyen praised Greece, thanking the Hellenic Republic for “being our aspida (shield) in these times” and announcing financial aid for the Greek government [Migration: EU praises Greece as ‘shield’ after Turkey opens border, by Jennifer Rankin, The Guardian, March 3, 2020].

Yet can Europe and Greece stay strong? The international MSM is already accusing the Greek government of human rights abuses for trying to stop migrants. Here are just three of countless examples:

The Greek government denies these allegations. But, one might ask, so what? Eventually, someone will be killed as migrants rush the border. But then the moral pressure will intensify. The MSM is already publishing photos of sad migrants to convince the elites that Europe must accept the put-upon migrants [Thousands of Migrants Attempt to Cross Into Europe From Turkey, by Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, March 2, 2020]. We saw the consequences of such thinking when Angela Merkel opened Europe’s borders after the MSM exploited Alan Kurdi’s death—while, of course, ignoring the child victims of Muslim terrorists in Europe

Hysterical moral blackmail to open the Greek border is bad enough, but MSM do-gooders are also, albeit inadvertently, furthering Erdogan’s agenda and shilling for Turkish expansionism. Many of these “refugees” aren’t even Syrians. They’re Afghan economic migrants who apparently haven’t benefitted much from America’s nation-building experiment in the graveyard of empires [Erdogan’s Empty Threats, by Tessa Fox, Foreign Policy, March 2, 2020]. Erdogan is unleashing the hordes because he’s losing his war in northern Syria, not because he wants to help the migrants [Why Is Turkey Threatening a Full-blown Conflict With Syria and to Shatter Its Alliance With Russia, Haaretz, March 3, 2020]. Migrants are his weapon to win concessions from Europe.

Erdogan’s reckless aggression against Syria threatens to draw in Russia, Syria’s main ally [Erdogan is reaping what he sowed: Turkey is on the brink of disaster in Syria, by Simon Tisdall, The Guardian, March 2, 2020]. Though direct talks may forestall conflict for now, only force will deter Erdogan’s imperial ambitions. Fortunately, Russia seems willing to provide it [Russia reinforces Syria before Putin-Erdogan talks – flight and shipping data, by Maria Tsvetkova and Yoruk Isik, Reuters, March 4, 2020].

And unfortunately, the United States government might enable Turkey’s aggression. “Russia’s Putin and Syria’s Assad are behaving like war criminals,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, forgetting that Assad is fighting to put down the last rebel stronghold in his own country [Veteran senator Graham says appreciates Turkey’s moves in Syria’s Idlib, urges no-fly zone, Daily Sabah (a pro-Turkish government website), March 3, 2020].

Conflicting reports have suggested the United States might send military supplies to Erdogan. U.S. special representative James Jeffrey said America would be “willing to provide ammunition” to Turkey, “a NATO ally” [U.S. willing to give Turkey ammunition for Syria’s Idlib, by Tuvan Gumrukcu, Reuters, March 3, 2020]. However, later reports “clarified” that America would not be send new supplies but keep doing “what we are already doing” while “considering Turkish requests for assistance” [US not planning to send new weapons to Turkey for Syria campaign, by Jack Detsch, Al-Monitor, March 3, 2020].

President Trump should kill that idea now. Nor, as Democrat presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard tweeted, should we fight Russia on behalf of Erdogan.

.@realDonaldTrump needs to make it clear to NATO and Erdogan that the United States will not be dragged into a war with Russia by the aggressive, Islamist, expansionist dictator of Turkey, a so-called NATO “ally.” --> https://t.co/EOE63oHrin pic.twitter.com/Ldd09QrFzH — Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 4, 2020

Greece is a NATO ally too. Turkey threatens Greece and all of Europe with the strategic weapon of mass migration. At a time when the world is confronting a potential pandemic, this isn’t just despicable, it’s dangerous. And it shows why NATO never should have permitted Turkey to join.

There’s no purpose to the alliance at all if the West can’t act against Erdogan, even if Turkey is a member. Let’s hope President Trump doesn’t betray our civilization for a few arms sales.

If NATO’s purpose is protecting Europe—and Greece is a part of Europe—then Article V, which provides for the common defense of members under armed attack, should be invoked against the tyrant in occupied Constantinople.

And the international community must recognize and condemn the tactic of weaponized migration.

Otherwise, elites in Mexico and throughout Latin America might decide to unload their poor on us.

James Kirkpatrick [Email him |Tweet him @VDAREJamesK] is a Beltway veteran and a refugee from Conservatism Inc. His latest book is Conservatism Inc.: The Battle for the American Right. Read VDARE.com Editor Peter Brimelow's Preface here.