Do you think russia sees this as a separate process from their process of trafficking humans to their frontlines? Of course it IS a separate thing, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is going to keep seeing it that way if Europe does not act on two fronts simultaneously, 1. fight russia and support Ukraine and 2. fight the tendency to dehumanize immigrants in Europe and the “west” that makes it so easy for russia to maintain power and legitimacy in the global south that is made to sustain their death machine.
I am not interested in the tit for tat tactics going on here, I am interested in why everybody around the mediterranean is allowing migrants to be cast over and over into the mediterranean.
It is both about the humanity of the people here especially those who drowned but also not about them at all since this repeated signal is a sure sign as any that war and instability have come, these victims are messengers of that not bringers of it, and if people continue to fail to meet the moment in Europe as they are now (and in the US) than the narrative will be allowed to be continually written by hateful rightwing people who portray the signs of instability and war (large sustained waves of immigrants fleeing somewhere or something) as the enemies themselves in war and russia will have to do ZERO work to convince the Global South Europe is the true brutal enemy not them.
If you want Exhibit A of these dynamics well here ya go
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Ceuta_migrant_crisis
Money. Only that.
Money for the smugglers.
Money for the politicians of the ports of departure countries, with a bit of blackmail (help us or we will not “stop” immigration).
Money for the people in the “reception” industry, while most of the people really help who arrive, we had some cases (that we know of) of money that were used to buy expensive items (luxury clothes and so on) by the people who should have used it to help the immigrants.
The immigrants are only a commodity to keep this “industry” going.