The EU's Migrant Stress & Japan's Psychological Trap

Politics should be devoid of emotions.

There are two examples of how reason can be clouded by foolish emotions:

1. The appeal made by the President of the European Commission
2. The Japanese protest against the new Nipponese Military Law.

Appealing to the hearts of Europeans, Obliterating their Minds

Jean-Claude Juncker, circa a fortnight ago, wrote a rather emotional piece appealing to the Europeans' “collective courage  to follow through on our commitments – even when they are not easy; even when they are not popular.” that is, the collective courage to bear a heavier social burden.

“When we talk about migration we are talking about people. People like you or I, except they are not like you or I because they did not have the good fortune to be born in one of the richest and most stable regions of the world. We are talking about people who have had to flee from war in Syria, the ISIS terror in Libya and dictatorship in Eritrea.” - Jean-Claude Juncker

Mr Juncker's piece – dubbed by many readers as “a primary school essay” - is a perfect example of the strategic failure of using emotions in politics.

Not only was this appeal ill-received by Europeans – who already perceive the EU as intrusive and a threat to their respective countries' sovereignty - but it also raised a lot of good questions. For instance, after reading the mentioned piece, people wondered why the European Commission is so bent on placing a higher burden on member-states when these are still trying to create jobs for their nationals (competing thus with countries like China), reduce their expenditures and fix existent social problems (e.g. the failure of multiculturalism and the growth of domestic terrorists).

They also wondered why the European Commission puts so much emphasis on bringing Islamic migrants instead of focusing on Christian refugees fleeing Islamic countries. Moreover, people asked why the European Commission doesn't focus on developing countries of African migrants so that they wouldn't have to subject themselves to human traffickers (though this is a two-decade old question that remains relatively unanswered).

Mr Juncker's misguided piece may hide a specific agenda, one that can harm the security of the European Union since it totally ignores intelligence reports showing the plans and methods of groups like ISIS to infiltrate Europe through the migrant route.

“(..) we proposed to establish a relocation mechanism to assist Member States by relocating a small portion of the high numbers of people in genuine need of international protection arriving in Italy and Greece.” - idem

How can the European Commission verify in absolute terms who are the “people in genuine need”? Countries like Portugal and Austria have allowed “Syrian refugees” (including children) to enter and receive care, as per the European humanitarian values, only to see them vanish into obscurity – since when do refugees have access to a network in the host country capable of making them disappear from hospitals and from under the authorities' radar? No, the European Commission can't offer any guarantees to Europeans' security and welfare.

We, as members of the European collective, would like to know the following:

• Why doesn't the European Commission start talks with the wealthiest and stablest Arab nations to receive their brethren? 
• Why must Europe take the burden when it's having a hard time providing jobs and securing pensions for their nationals and legal immigrants? 
• Why is the President of the EU Commission trying to impeach the character and intelligence of the EU citizens as if they didn't know the difference between legal immigration, illegal immigration and infiltration? 
• What is the European Commission getting/promising in return for this migrant crisis?
• When is the European Union going to start putting its Regional Security and Customs in front of blind humanitarianism that have caused a gradual erosion of European safety, tradition and culture?

"A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true." - Socrates

The Japanese Psychological Trap 

Some sectors of the Japanese society, including the Emperor, prefer to stick their head in the sand over facing the present regional conjuncture in which Japan is inserted.
The concerns are understandable, after all “collective self-defence” has put Japan in a difficult position before (when it chose to side with Hitler's Germany) however, we must wonder if Japan can afford to sit idle when China is playing Power Politics and sending signals of military build-up (i.e. last week's military parade [that included 12,000 troops, 500 pieces of equipment and nearly 200 aircraft] whose “armaments are currently in active service”, according to a military official - Source).

China has stated that last week's military display “represent[ed] the new development, achievement and image of the building of China’s armed forces,” which begs the clarification of the  employment of expressions like “armaments...in active service”...active for which service and when? Since the answer to these questions are blurred, the current Japanese government had the right vision to alter the law.

Reforming Article 9 of the Constitution, besides the obvious, will enable Japan to build a strong military, to modernise its arsenal, to better prepare its armed forces, to engage in military exercises abroad (to gain experience in different scenarios), to update itself in modern warfare and contribute to the International Security (because in order to receive one has to give). Therefore, the emotional reaction of certain Nipponese pacifist groups (i.e. leading the people into perceiving the narrow picture) is suspicious and deserves a thorough perusal to learn whose interests they really serve.
Meanwhile, the Japanese must not fall for the psychological trap of guilt because no Power in this world is exempt of moral culpability. More importantly, Japan can't afford to fall for it...

“You win battles by knowing the enemy's timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect” - Miyamoto Musashi

(Image: The Floor Scrapers - Gustave Caillebotte)