Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Migration researcher on Europe’s migrant crisis: “We are approaching 2015 levels”

Published 21 September 2023
– By Editorial Staff
The influx of African and Arab migrants into Europe continues apace, according to recent figures from the EU asylum agency.
3 minute read

During the first half of 2023, over half a million asylum applications were received by the EU – the highest number since the major migration wave of 2015 and the second-highest figures ever from the EU’s asylum agency.

The small Italian island of Lampedusa, with just 6,000 inhabitants, has seen a staggering 7,000 migrants, mainly from the North African coast, arrive on its shores within two days.

Migrants reaching the EU’s external borders via the Mediterranean have significantly increased in number during the first half of 2023. The EU’s increasingly limited toolbox to address the strained situation has so far had no effect, according to Bernd Parusel at the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies.

I am concerned about the situation because I don’t think the pressure will decrease. At the same time, many EU countries are very keen to reduce the number of migrants reaching the EU, he commented on the numbers during an interview with the Bonnier newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

As for the countries of origin, the number of asylum seekers from Syria, like in 2015, remains high. There are now, however, also a large number of people who have traveled from Syria to other countries, such as Tunisia, Lebanon, and Jordan and are trying to reach the EU for various reasons. Most of them are motivated by a deteriorating economic situation, according to Parusel.

Approximately 90% of the boats with migrants arriving in the last three months come from Tunisia, where political instability prevails. The path via Libya to Europe has been open since NATO’s bombings in 2011 toppled Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, also nullifying the agreement that had been in place to keep migrants on the African continent.

Large migrant inflows across Europe

During the period of July-August, a majority of migrants arriving in beleaguered Italy mainly came from Tunisia, reports Reuters. Italy, despite criticism from prime minister Giorgia Meloni, continues to be a central transit country for migrants wanting to enter the EU. So far this year, over 115,000 migrants have reached Italy, according to the interior ministry, a dramatic increase compared to the 65,000 who arrived during the same period last year. Preliminary figures from Spanish authorities show that the number of migrants arriving in the Canary Islands has also dramatically increased recently, more than doubling to 2,891 people during the first two weeks of September.

The number of detections of illegal border crossings at the EU’s external borders increased by a fifth during the first eight months of 2023 to over 232,350 – the highest number for the January-August period since 2016, according to preliminary estimates. In the United Kingdom, illegal immigration has totaled 36,250 people so far this year. Spain has also seen an increase in migrants arriving illegally; this year, 16,700 have migrated, an increase of 3.8% compared to the same period last year.

One million by the end of the year

EU countries had previously concluded a revised migration pact aimed at distributing asylum seekers physically and financially across the union. However, the agreement has not yet been implemented, and negotiations are still ongoing between the council of ministers and the european parliament regarding its final form, according to Bernd Parusel.

Historically, the number of asylum applications has been even higher during the second half of the year, which could mean that in 2023 as many as over a million applications could be submitted to countries within the EU.

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Over 100 killed in Gaza over the weekend

The situation in Gaza

Published yesterday 16:01
– By Editorial Staff
Ruins after bombings in Gaza, archive image.
1 minute read

On Saturday alone, at least 70 people were killed in Gaza and 208 were injured, reports the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

At least 40 more people were killed in new attacks on Sunday, including six children who were killed at a drinking water distribution point, according to a spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defense authority to AFP. Representatives from Al-Awda Hospital confirm that they received ten bodies following an Israeli attack on a water collection point in nearby Nuseirat. Hospital staff estimate that the actual death toll is 129 and that 33 of those killed were queuing for humanitarian aid.

The Israeli military, which has recently intensified its operations in Gaza, has according to Defense Minister Israel Katz received orders to establish a concentration camp that they refer to as a “humanitarian city” in the southern part of Gaza, where they aim to eventually house Gaza’s entire population.

According to health authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza, the death toll now exceeds 58,000 people.

North Korea declares “full support” for Russia

The war in Ukraine

Published yesterday 12:58
– By Editorial Staff
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during their meeting in Wonsan, North Korea.
1 minute read

North Korea is providing its “unconditional support” to Russia in the war against Ukraine. This was declared during a meeting between Kim Jong-Un and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Wonsan on Saturday, according to North Korean state media.

Kim Jong-Un informed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the country stands ready to provide strong assistance in the conflict against Ukraine during a meeting that took place on Saturday in the coastal town of Wonsan on North Korea’s east coast, a location that the country has recently attempted to market as a tourist destination.

According to the North Korean news agency KCNA, Kim Jong-Un told Lavrov that North Koreans have “expressed full sympathy and support for all the measures taken by the Russian government to remove the root cause of the Ukrainian conflict”.

The North Korean leader is also said to have expressed his “firm conviction that the Russian army and people” will triumph and “achieve the sacred cause of defending the country’s dignity and fundamental interests”, KCNA reports.

Before the meeting with Kim Jong-Un, Lavrov met with his North Korean counterpart, Foreign Minister Choe Son-Hui, earlier in the day.

Deepened military cooperation

Lavrov’s visit to North Korea marks increasingly extensive military and political ties between the two countries, which have accelerated in connection with the war in Ukraine.

Pyongyang has previously sent thousands of soldiers to the Russian border region of Kursk to participate in fighting against Ukrainian forces that occupied parts of the area.

War hawk: Trump will send “record amounts of weapons” to Ukraine

The war in Ukraine

Published yesterday 11:05
– By Editorial Staff
War hawk Lindsey Graham with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo to the right in a meeting in Helsinki, Finland in August last year.
2 minute read

The US will send more weapons than ever to Ukraine. These are the tones being heard around the Trump administration as NATO chief Mark Rutte now visits Washington.

A large part of Trump’s voter base is generally considered to be voters who voted for him in hopes that he would reduce US involvement in foreign wars, partly because he promised during the campaign that he would end the war in 24 hours. However, these promises seem to be becoming increasingly distant for the American president.

On Monday, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is scheduled to meet Trump in Washington, and Rutte can be pleased that more weapons than ever are now heading to the war in Ukraine. This according to information from, among others, the neoconservative war hawk Lindsey Graham, Republican senator and close ally of the Trump administration.

In the coming days, you’ll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves, says Graham on CBS’s program “Face the Nation”.

European countries foot the bill

A central part of the escalation is that NATO countries, including Sweden, have pledged to increase their weapons purchases, which in practice are largely procured from the American military-industrial complex.

Graham believes that the US escalation of weapons deliveries to the war in Ukraine is part of a “massive effort” to force Russian President Vladimir Putin into peace negotiations. It should be added that Russia has in many different contexts over a long time emphasized that they have been open to negotiations as well as being open about their peace conditions, which primarily revolve around guarantees of Ukraine’s neutrality.

Trump has signaled that he will make a “major statement” about Russia during the day.

FBI official in audio leak: “Law enforcement turned a blind eye” to Jeffrey Epstein

The Epstein case

Published 13 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff

3 minute read

A high-ranking FBI official accuses the justice system of having “turned a blind eye” to Jeffrey Epstein in a leaked audio recording. Rami Hasan, a senior FBI official, says that “you can see where the law enforcement either turned a blind eye… or missed things (on Jeffrey Epstein)”. In the same recording, he describes the FBI as “a shit show”.

The statements come as the Trump administration’s handling of Epstein documents draws sharp criticism from both the president’s supporters and opponents, after Attorney General Pam Bondi previously promised to release extensive material that is now claimed not to exist.

Internal criticism of FBI’s Epstein investigation

In the leaked audio recording, published by O’Keefe Media Group, Hasan says:

– You can see where the law enforcement either turned a blind eye… or missed things (on Jeffrey Epstein).

Jeffrey Epstein was the American-Jewish financier who was accused of extensive sex trafficking of minors before he suddenly died in his cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.

– There is opportunities there, just from like hearing and listening, Hasan says in the recording according to O’Keefe Media Group regarding the investigation.

When asked if he believes Epstein was murdered, Hasan responds:

– I think he just killed himself… I mean, even the FBI came out and said he killed himself.

Hasan also commented on how government officials allowed influencers and internet personalities to distribute Epstein-related documents, which he called “messy” and said lacked clarity and professionalism.

Scandals surrounding the Epstein case

Jeffrey Epstein, who reportedly died in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York in August 2019 while awaiting trial, has become the subject of extensive questioning regarding the circumstances of his death. The official conclusion that he committed suicide has faced widespread criticism and been surrounded by mysterious circumstances.

In July, the Department of Justice and FBI released a joint report claiming that there is no longer any “client list” of Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators, and that there is also no evidence that he was murdered. The report also established that no further charges are expected in the case.

Criticism of Bondi’s handling

Hasan’s statements come as Attorney General Pam Bondi faces growing criticism for her previous claims about Epstein material. In February, Bondi admitted in a Fox News interview that she had a “client list” on her desk that she would review. Later, she claimed that the government had “tens of thousands” of Epstein-related videos in its possession involving sex with children.

These statements directly contradict a recently presented report from the Department of Justice and FBI, which now conversely claims that no such client list exists at all, and that all available investigative material has already been accounted for.

Internal conflicts at the FBI

Tensions have also reached the FBI’s leadership. According to Fox News, a heated discussion arose between FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Attorney General Pam Bondi at the White House on Wednesday regarding the handling of Epstein files.

Both Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel had previously, before taking their current positions, questioned the official version of Epstein’s death. Since taking their posts, however, they have publicly maintained that Epstein took his own life.

When President Trump was asked about the Epstein case during a government meeting this week, he said irritably: “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?” and called the deceased financier “a creep”.

Source behind the leak

O’Keefe Media Group was founded by James O’Keefe after he left Project Veritas in 2023. The FBI and the US Department of Justice have reportedly been contacted by O’Keefe Media Group regarding Hasan's statements, but have not yet commented on the leak.

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