26th October 2010
European Union to Deploy Armed Guards
Mark Hanson
In a startling escalation of the European Union’s transformation into a fully fledged nation state, the EU has announced that it will be deploying its own border guards.
The guards, although not being called military will carry arms, are to patrol the short but isolated border between Greece and Turkey.
Greece has found itself under severe strain in numerous areas, and has faced unrest following the financial crisis which saw the EU, IMF and UN increase their influence over domestic Greek affairs. The current crisis that has prompted the armed border patrols is the massive influx of refugees and asylum seekers across the Greek-Turkish border.
Named the Rapid Intervention Border Teams, the guards will comprise a multinational force of border patrols made up from EU member states’ domestic guards. According to the Guardian newspaper, the patrols are to begin imminently, and are the first time a specific EU border patrol has been set up.
Greece is having severe difficulty with illegal immigrants and refugees making their way across the wilderness border with Turkey, with numbers increasing from approximately 9,000 last year to the present annual number of about 34,000. Refugees are often from Afghanistan and other Asian and African countries, as previous entry routes into the EU have been largely closed by border patrols in the Mediterranean.
The moves, which have been welcomed by Greece, are, ostensibly, a wise response to a severe crisis, yet the widening influence of the EU is of concern.
The Greek response to asylum seekers is extremely worrying, with immigrants detained in inhuman and degrading conditions. Greece has been often criticized for its dealings with refugees.
Yet the news that the EU is setting up its own armed force, under direct control of Brussels, is an unwelcome further development in the EU’s ultimate ambition to become not only a nation state in its own right, but a world governmental regime.
