The German Government Will Allow 270,000 Syrian Migrants To Bring In Their Families, Which Could Double The Immigrant Population

The German government, supported by Angela Merkel, granted nearly 270,000 Syrians in Germany the right to bring in family members.  More than a million migrants flocked to Germany in 2015 and 2016, but arrivals have dropped significantly. This new rule is expected to cause Merkel and her Party to fall in popularity in the upcoming September elections.  –GEG

Around 270,000 Syrians have right to bring families to Germany: report

Around 270,000 Syrians in Germany have the right to bring in their family members, a newspaper said on Wednesday – a statistic that could fuel the debate about migration less than six months before a national election.

Mass-selling tabloid Bild cited a government paper as showing a total of 431,376 Syrians applied for asylum in Germany in 2015 and 2016 and said that of those 267,500 would be entitled to family reunifications in Germany.

That could play into the hands of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has lost support in recent months as the refugee issue recedes from the headlines ahead of a Sept. 24 election.

Senior AfD member Alexander Gauland condemned the figures, saying it was “absolute madness” to allow so many people to bring their families to Germany: “Billions and billions of tax money are being swallowed and the social state is being steered toward breakdown while our eyes are wide open.”

Neither the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) nor the Interior Ministry immediately responded to requests for comment on the report.

In 2016, the government decided to suspend family re-unifications for two years for migrants who get “subsidiary protection” – granted to people who are not considered as being persecuted individually but in whose home country there is war, torture or other inhumane treatment.

Syrians are the biggest group of asylum applicants in Germany. They are increasingly being granted subsidiary protection rather than refugee status and that means they are only granted the right of residence for a year, although this can be extended.

But Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), their Bavarian sister party – the Christian Social Union (CSU) – and the Social Democrats (SPD), their junior coalition partner, decided last week to make exceptions for people with subsidiary protection status in hardship cases.

More than a million migrants flocked to Germany in 2015 and 2016 but arrivals have dropped significantly. The AfD, which has made immigration one of its key rallying points, is currently on between 7 and 11 percent in opinion polls, above the 5 percent threshold to enter parliament.

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Germany Will Heavily Fine Social Media Networks If They Do Not Promptly Remove Comments That Are Critical Of Government Officials Or Their Policies

The German cabinet is backing a law to prohibit free speech on the Internet. Under the guise of preventing so-called fake news and hate speech, they have proposed fining social-media outlets, such as Facebook and Twitter, as much as $53 million if they fail to delete undesired content within 24 hours.  The government will decide what is fake news or hate speech. The short deadline and the severe penalty will force providers to delete even mildly critical statements regarding government officials and their policies. –GEG

German leadership approved a plan Wednesday that fines social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter up to $53 million if they do not promptly remove hateful posts and take steps to reveal the identity of those responsible.

“The providers of social networks are responsible when their platforms are abused to spread hate criminality and criminal false news,” German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement Wednesday.

“There can be just as little space on social networks for criminal acts as on the street,” Maas argued, in defense of the high penalty.

The law would give social media sites 24 hours to delete or block obvious criminal content, and would give sites seven days for cases that may not be as obvious.

 German officials have taken a deeper interest in concerns regarding hate speech and fake news afters watching the dramatic events in the 2016 United States Presidential Election. Germany is concerned that fake news could alter their own elections, set to take place this year.

The country has some of the strictest hate speech laws, including potential prison time for denying the Holocaust or inciting hatred against minorities.

Organizations representing digital companies and websites say that the government is rushing a law to parliament that could adversely effect free speech, according to Reuters.

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Evidence That The Syrian Chemical Attack Was “Trumped-Up”

President Trump warned Obama in 2013 to avoid war with Syria following the chemical attack in Ghouta, because there was no advantage to it. The current attack is highly suspicious – because of issues described in this analysis. –GEG