It does not take a lot of deductive reasoning to figure out why France's President Nicolas Sarkozy was so eager to lead a coalition of nations in the "liberation" of Libya. Realpolitik may have played a far greater role than matters of the heart in the case for intervention. The politically disastrous prospect of tens of thousands of North African and Sub-Saharan migrants pouring into France is untenable from Sarkozy's perspective, given the electoral threat posed by the country's far-right. For the same reason it is also clear why Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was compelled to join the Western chorus protesting Libyan aggression against its citizens, even though the Prime Minister has long enjoyed a cozy relationship with Col. Muammar Gaddafii. African migration is the bete noire
| See how clever that is? 'Cause noire means black, get it? |
of Europe and migrants of every shade are boogeymen to be feared. However, Sub-Saharan Africans and Muslims, according to a multitude of polls on European attitudes toward immigration, are especially feared.
Too many of the ones previously migrated to Europe are causing problems. More to the point, no society can look with equanimity upon the native population being swallowed up by a tsunami of newcomers, even were they of the same hue and culture. |