If you are desperate to post something on an older post, let me know by email.

Not desperate no. And it would be adversarial stuff you don’t like. So never mind.

PS> Xenos, Stassa and Travlos I owe you 2 separate answers but I have little time and I already spent far too much time on this post.

All in good time. Sorry I garbled your nickname in my last comment btw (I called you Oath Given!). That was not some weird attempt to make fun of you, just the effects of old age :/

What HRW and most experts are asking for is a proper asylum system that treats legitimate refugees and children in accordance with the rule of law. The rejected asylum applicants can be deported to “safe countries of origin” or can be given humanitarian permits (e.g. family reasons, health reasons). Non-deportable aliens (e.g. from Somalia) are a problem across Europe and usually people who actually are from such countries are given legal status as a better option. The really big problem is with convicted criminals from countries to which they cannot be deported.

Greece does not yet have a particular problem with anything, other than the fact that the number of people arriving across the Turkish border in hte last 3 years increased a fair bit (but not to the level of the fraudulent figures issued by Greek politicians). What is really Greece’s problem is that it refuses to put in place a proper system for asylum. The reason for this can be debated, but it should be noted that the ONLY time Greece ever gave refugee status readily was in the 1980s when it gave it to a large number of Turkish Kurds — specifically to annoy Turkey. There was never any consideration of human rights issues, or the Geneva Convention, just the naked self-interest of Greece in its regional power games. Nothing has changed since.

The Interior Ministry said that migrants can appeal any decision to deport their families and instead of a residence permit will be issued with a document confirming their legal status (“veveosi”) that will then be renewed every six months until their case is heard.

This is the Greek state playing cynical games with people’s lives. The veveosi is not a legal status at all: it is the absence of a clear status, which merely provides protection from police arrest and summary deportation. As every non-EU immigrant in Greece can tell you, this is the preferred style of residence permit applications — leaving people in limbo with no rights at all. The veveosi does not grant the right to work, to open a bank account, to leave Greece temporarily, or to do anything, in fact.

Most of Europe is disgusted by Greeks and their treatment of immigrants. Are there any demonstrations or collections of money in support of such people? NO. Nobody gives a fcuk.

According to reports from the island, the illegal migrants also demand travel documents to be issued in a short amount of time so they can travel to Athens, and from there, to other destinations in western Europe.

from:
http://www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/.....ervice=142

I am not a lawyer but the legality of such demands appears to me to be very dubious – especially given that (quite improbably) all 580 claim asylum seeker status (not a single economic migrant) and at the same time
many have no papers or what proves to be forged papers.

Now while I truly doubt anything other than a minute percentage of the 580 would be interested to stay in Greece, a free-for-all policy such as asked from the migrants and their supporters would probably result in the rest of the EU countries where they would end up in kicking Greece out of Shengen and instituting very strict controls on the movement of people and goods out of Greece.

As I had mentioned another time (regarding the Patras camp and why it is there in the first place) migrants try and sneek inside trucks headed to Italy – the end result is sometimes fatal (and the driver gets in trouble anyway). In the latest case below the driver (whose truck was damaged) is now in trouble with the law and one migrant is dead:

From:
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4d.....07/08/2009

MIGRANT DIES

Body found at Igoumenitsa port

The body of an 18-year-old unidentified migrant was found near the port of Igoumenitsa, northwestern Greece, early yesterday. The unidentified man’s body was discovered next to a road leading away from the port and police suspect that the 18-year-old had been part of a group of immigrants that sneaked onto a truck believing it was about to board a ferry for Italy. However, it appears that the truck was headed for mainland Greece and the migrants jumped off as it set off on its journey. Police said that they had discovered a truck, driven by a 32-year-old foreigner, whose tarpaulin had been slashed. The driver has been arrested.

Now, let’s assume for a moment that the government instead of trying to create a bad reputation for Greece among illegal immigrant so that they are dissuaded from using it as their gateway into Europe decided to put in the effort, manpower and money to expeditiously adjudicate on the asylum applications (which everybody seems to make regardless of whether they are fleeing persecution or just trying to escape poverty). Say out of the 580 1/4 (using the latest Swedish figures according to Bill Frelick) are accepted and the rest are then issued with deportation orders. See what happens then – the originating countries refuse to take them back or delay their response so much that the period of detention expires and the migrant should (irrespective of whether the police really does do so) be set free (and vanish so that he/she cannot be deported):
http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dc.....009_314183
BTW this article shows this policy was planned back in May.

Overall I think it is clear the whole system is completely broken. Even if (as it should based on its international obligations as well as basic humanism) the Greek state expeditiously and fairly handled all asylum applications and only deported illegal immigrants that do not manage to prove they are genuine asylum cases, it would still end up being stuck with the bulk of them if the intermediate countries do not accept them back (and why should they?) Not to mention the legal issues with sending these failed cases to countries where there is a possibility they would be mistreated. On the other hand nobody has been able to demonstrate that doing away with the whole system and basically instituting an open borders policy (which is what the hunger strikers are essentially asking for and what most of their supporters – Greek citizens and foreigners alike – seem to believe in, even if they do not always openly admit to it) would not create even more problems, if not for the illegal migrants, then for Greek citizens and legal residents.

PS> Xenos, Stassa and Travlos I owe you 2 separate answers but I have little time and I already spent far too much time on this post.

I have set it up to close posts after I month. Of course, sometimes wordpress goes horribly wrong and closes comments before it should but mostly it works

It is an anti-spam measure nothing personal against readers here! Spam bots target ANY post with comments open so it meant I was getting hundreds per day.

If you are desperate to post something on an older post, let me know by email.

That’s… devious >:D