Thomas Rassloff/Demotix. All rights reserved.
The confrontation with the dramatic images of refugees in Europe’s eastern backyard has brought the Syrian civil war back to the attention of European citizens and their political elites: refugees in sinking boats; refugees cramming into train stations and climbing border barriers; drowned little Syrian boys washing up on beaches.
On 4 September, the New York Times published an extended report of the refugee crisis in Europe, entitled ‘Exodus of Syrians Highlights Political Failure of the West.’ In a nutshell, this article said that it was never any secret that the mounting number of Syrian refugees would sooner or later erupt beyond the borders of the Middle East and reach Europe. Yet little was done in European capitals to stop or mitigate what the author described as ‘the slow-motion disaster’ that was befalling Syrian civilians.
