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The west is still supporting and arming rebels in Syria.

• throwaway1974 10y ago
  So is Saudi and Qatar and UAE, I do not see queues of refugees fleeing there despite sharing the same climate, religion and culture.
  • sevenless 10y ago
    There are, though. Turkey, Iran and Jordan's proportion of refugees is a very substantial % of their population. In the gulf states there are millions of Syrians and Palestinians, just called guest workers rather than refugees. In a lot of ways that's more humane, as they can work straight away. We, bizarrely, refuse refugees the right to work while complaining that they don't contribute.
    • hx87 10y ago
      That's because in most countries that take refugees, average people own no capital (except maybe housing, an illiquid and unproductive asset) and can only contribute labor for income, resulting in a situation where "jobs" are a scarce resource. Now, if ownership of capital were more widespread, refugee labor would be much more welcome.
      • sevenless 10y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lump_of_labour_fallacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lump_of_labour_fallacy
        • hx87 10y ago
          In the long term, yes, but the labor market is quite inelastic in the short term, and without a strong and robust safety net, short term effects dominate for most workers.
  • ilitirit 10y ago
    > I do not see queues of refugees fleeing there Hmmm... have you actually looked? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War_in_Jordan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_W... This is doesn't even include Palestinian refugees. http://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/jordan http://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/jordan Same story in Lebanon and Turkey https://mgtvwspa.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/refugee-story-3.png https://mgtvwspa.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/refugee-story-3...