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mercyxRachel Vorona Cote
6/26/16 11:47pm
The number of commenters more sympathetic with Jordan, a nation-state, than with starving refugees trapped in the desert is both startling and disgustingly unsurprising.

Jordan needs to reopen their borders and the US needs to start sending massive amounts of humanitarian aid, NOT military aid, to the areas impacted by the Syrian refugee crises. The US also needs to start actively inviting refugees here and rehoming them here for free.

But with the appalling lack of support these totally blameless refugees receive, none of that will happen.
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  Ari Schwartz: Dark Lord of the Snarkmercyx
  6/27/16 1:57am
  1. Jordan has limited resources and already has struggled to home its current refugee population. Should Jordan allow in unlimited refugees regardless of their resources? And without knowing whether aid from other sovereign states is necessarily going to cover this? Jordan has also seen a drop in relative arable land in the past 30 years. Where does the food come from?
  
  2. Taking in too many people too quickly can lead to a regime collapse in stressed nation-states. That’s an even worse outcome given the current status quo in the region. Let’s be honest: part of the reason for the rise of populism in Europe now is due to the refugee influx. It is not without downsides to host states.
  
  3. And how do we integrate these folks into the US? Do we set up Arabic schools? Do we immediately train thousands (tens of thousands?) of new ESL teachers overnight? Where do we house them, exactly? How do we give them economic meaning? Read up on the refugees in Nauru who, despite being fed and sheltered, are basically all depressed due to lack of meaning: http://www.npr.org/2016/02/07/465...
  
  Look, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t help these people, but saying “JUST FIX IT” isn’t realistic.
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  PolysyllabicusAri Schwartz: Dark Lord of the Snark
  6/27/16 2:03am
  “. And how do we integrate these folks into the US? Do we set up Arabic schools? Do we immediately train thousands (tens of thousands?) of new ESL teachers overnight? Where do we house them, exactly? How do we give them economic meaning? Read up on the refugees in Nauru who, despite being fed and sheltered, are basically all depressed due to lack of meaning:”
  
  We worry about them STARVING TO DEATH first, ESL lessons second.
  
  Look at what Canada has done. For instance, as we brought the refugees here we utilised already existing Arabic-speaking organisations to help people integrate into the country and begin learning English (if they didn’t already know it - remember, may of these refugees are professionals who may already have working knowledge of English). We worry first and foremost about people’s literal survival.
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anisa-typesRachel Vorona Cote
6/26/16 11:06pm
It’s an unfortunate action taken by a government stretched to its limits by refugees. Europeans and Americans like to talk about the influx of immigration, but the population of Jordan exploded from 5 to 7 million in just 15 years. Jordan has been the US’s greatest ally in the region, quietly taking on refugees from Palestine, Syria, and Iraq from US-led or US-backed aggressive actions for the last 13 years.

That said, this is a particularly bad time for practicing Muslims to find themselves in such a precarious situation. It’s not only July in the desert, we’re in the latter half of Ramadan. I hope a solution is found soon, but this has been a long time coming.
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  John Olerud's Helmetanisa-types
  6/26/16 11:31pm
  Seriously. Places like Jordan and Lebanon have seen their populations swell from 30-40% with Syrian refugees. While the response from their official seems callous, those places are dealing with a serious crisis and it is an international problem.
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  CapucinaJohn Olerud's Helmet
  6/26/16 11:42pm
  I appreciate these comments but what does having too many (refugee or not) immigrants have to do with letting others through to donate water? I maybe should read it again..
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Ari Schwartz: Dark Lord of the SnarkRachel Vorona Cote
6/27/16 2:01am
Let’s be honest here: unless the West and Asia continue to step up their aid programs, it’s highly likely that countries like Jordan will start shutting down their borders even more aggressively. Europe is already stressed (and seeing a rise in populism as refugees create cultural ripples), the US has lost its appetite for poor immigrants since... forever, and the “richer” Middle Eastern states are not willing to help or in the case of Jordan unable to help.

Saudi, UAE, Kuwait: they’re not going to let these folks in. And even if they do, they’ll just make them de facto slaves anyway.

It’s awful, but given how fast the influxes of immigrants has been throughout the ME and Europe, it’s hard to imagine a happy ending here. It’s already helped speed up the problems in the EU, and I can’t imagine relatively poorer countries faring better.
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  Jonathan is my Doctor StrangeAri Schwartz: Dark Lord of the Snark
  6/27/16 4:53am
  Yeah, despite the long term romanticization of the immigrant experience in America the US attitude towards poor immigrants has always been “Ugh, fine, whatever, I guess they’re already here.” Whenever we’re asked to actively take people we invariably say no.
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  Ari Schwartz: Dark Lord of the SnarkJonathan is my Doctor Strange
  6/27/16 3:48pm
  Honestly, as someone who’s lived in other countries, it’s hard. It’s hard to integrate. I can’t imagine what it’d be like being a poor uneducated immigrant and trying to get by and also become part of society-at-large.
  
  The US can barely handle its Latino immigrant populations. How would we handle, say, a few hundred thousand Syrians? Where?
  
  Do the folks in big cities want to pay more in rent? Because that’s what will happen. Dumping another few hundred thousand into LA or NY would cause rent to skyrocket. You could dump them in mid-tier cities, but where will they work? Find community?
  
  People, just fucking think for Chrissake.
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pantalonesRachel Vorona Cote
6/27/16 3:52am
Kind of a serious/naive question. Why can’t Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Kayne West/Kim Kardashian take all of the money they’ve earned from product royalties in just the last month, and instead of paying for $10 million commercial performance art (vanity) pieces no one will remember in five years, more custom designer clothes, and their fifth and sixth houses, pool it together to rent a couple of planes and private ex-military pilots to do an independent one-off aid drop while the UN figures out how to get in and set up shop in the long term? Maybe they could even divert the water they use on their swimming pools to fill Kiyancé Swift-est (TM) brand commorative filtered camel packs and cubes that super-fans could also buy before and during the pay-per view benefit concert they trade Jordan for safe passage. Fans could fast 16 hours before the concert and consume the contents in solidarity. Maybe to ensure enough subscriptions they could use they’re collective influence to convince all of the celebs in Kayne’s new video to sing an acaccapella of “Lean on Me” holding hands in nude bodysuits together on stage. This way they still get the serious performance art-cred they crave as well as the profits they thought they were trading in exchange for this meaningful gesture. George Bush could use his leverage in the ME to push this through.

I would work an extra shift to pay for this experience and I really don’t care for any of them at all.
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  Flying Squidpantalones
  6/27/16 8:18am
  Because money alone doesn’t solve anything. You have to pay the right people the right amounts. That might mean illegal bribes. That might mean paying people who have committed serious atrocities. These solutions are not solvable by throwing money at them.
  
  For example, doing things like food drops without any sort of infrastructure in place on the ground to distribute them results in things like hoarding and even criminals taking control of the food. There’s a reason We Are the World didn’t end up ending famine in Africa.
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  Nom de pixelpantalones
  6/27/16 9:17am
  A better question is why the US continually chooses to spend outrageous amounts of money on a military that causes so many refugees, but is so reluctant to divert that money to fixing things.
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IAmBrettRachel Vorona Cote
6/27/16 2:20am
They need to let them in, then transfer them to Turkey or Saudi Arabia. Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Russia have been the biggest shit-stirrers in the Syrian Civil War, and they should carry the bulk of the refugee burden (although I want the US and EU to give them major amounts of aid and help in doing so, and also take in refugees).
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  Ari Schwartz: Dark Lord of the SnarkIAmBrett
  6/27/16 3:34am
  Sending them to KSA is basically guaranteeing zero long-term well-being, though. They’ll become an underclass, or even slaves.
  
  And Turkey is already bad enough with Kurds. Why would they treat Syrians any better?
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  trulymadlydeeply2Ari Schwartz: Dark Lord of the Snark
  6/27/16 9:13am
  Its easy enough for someone to say that Russia and Saudi Arabia should take the refugees. But, how the fuck, does one propose making them do that? And if they did, the refugees would find themselves in a dangerous situation in Putin’s Russia or Saudi Arabia where refugees would likely be, essentially, an enslaved worker class. Turkey has already taken in about 2million Syrian refugees and has illegally returned some refugees to Syria.
  
  edit: this was intended as a response to iambrett
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incandescent_blueRachel Vorona Cote
6/27/16 3:21am
Why was the third shipment of water turned away? That seems like the most obvious and stunning failure of policy and of empathy in this entire saga. Shouldn’t be a footnote to the story.
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  thatsjustmyhairincandescent_blue
  6/27/16 1:17pm
  bc fuck Syrians that’s why. That seems to be the worldwide policy.
  
  Jordan has also, allegedly, been stealing weapons that the US intended to go to FSA and other US-backed rebel groups. Jordan can go to hell.
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bluelarkRachel Vorona Cote
6/27/16 12:11am
This is absolutely terrible. At the same time, Jordan is a tiny country which has taken on 1.5 million Syrian refugees-they are stretched to the brink. Their population has nearly doubled in the past ten years and that is in large part due to refugees.....Not to mention there are large amounts of other refugees like Palestinians too. The Jordanians also cover 60-70% of the cost of caring for the refugees. While they should open their borders for foreign and domestic aid workers to cross into Syria and provide water, I’m hesitant to criticize them too harshly because they are doing 80 times more than any other country for the refugees.

Other countries and organizations need to step up and relieve the burden on Jordan instead of going in on them so situations like this don’t occur.
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  thatsjustmyhairbluelark
  6/27/16 1:27pm
  except Jordan won’t let other countries or organizations help. You have to go through this maze of bureaucratic horseshit to even attempt to help. Also Palestinians have been in Jordan for generations now, but still aren’t allowed to be fully integrated. I guess it could be worse. Could be Palestinian in Lebanon.
  
  But right now, nothing is worse than being a Syrian refugee. Your status is less than human. It is mind boggling.
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Nom de pixelRachel Vorona Cote
6/27/16 8:11am
A charity that is consistently ranked as one of the most efficient in the world is the American Refugee Committee. One of things that I like about donating to them is that they don’t sell your contact information (which floods my mailbox with junk mail and makes the environmentalist side of me scream with rage). They also prioritize giving to women and children and they are often the only source of birth control or other reproductive health care in a refugee woman's life. Just something to consider.

http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServe...
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  dumbbelleNom de pixel
  6/27/16 9:51am
  You are so right!! Thank you for recommending an org that is actually making a difference, and here is the ranking from Charity Navigator for those interested:
  
  http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=...
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FIGJAMRachel Vorona Cote
6/27/16 2:21pm
Repost this article but change “Jordan” to “France” or “England” and see how the comments change. I don’t understand how when a country has concerns about terrorism and whether their infrastructure can support a huge influx of refugees, that they’re considered xenophobic or racist, but when the country is essentially the same race and religion, suddenly the tone changes and is more sympathetic.

I’m no expert on the Middle East by any means, just your everyday uninformed Internet commentor so I may be way off base.
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RandomYouTubeVideoRachel Vorona Cote
6/26/16 11:20pm
Sad to see. Jordan has long been a nation sympathetic to the West and to its neighbors. It has borne the greatest burden regarding Syrian refugees, and this action is not surprising. The US simply needs to step up. President Obama should use his last few months to strengthen support for the refugees and UN aid. We can at the least write a big check to the Jordanians to help them house, provide security, and feed refugees.
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