As we reported earlier today, European officials have essentially put an expiration date on the EU as we know it. It’s 10 days from now.
That’s when a team from Brussels will convene a summit with Turkey to discuss a coordinated response to the refugee crisis that threatens to plunge the bloc into “anarchy” (to quote Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg's foreign minister). As the weather starts to improve, Europe fears even more asylum seekers will attempt to make the journey, straining Schengen to the breaking point.
Compounding the crisis is the increasingly negative perception Europeans have of refugees. As we wrote recently, Europe was remarkably resilient in the wake of the Paris attacks as people seemed to view the tragedy more as a symbol of why migrants are fleeing the Mid-East than as an omen of what they’d be exporting to Western Europe.
The goodwill faded however, following a series of alleged sexual assaults early last month and before you knew it, reports were coming in from all over the bloc that seemed to suggest quite a few male refugees had a penchant for rape. Needless to say, most officials were quick to contend that one (or two, or 50) bad apples shouldn’t be allowed to spoil the whole bushel, but others, like far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders (who called for Arab "testosterone bombs" to locked in asylum centers) weren’t so forgiving.
The death of a 22-year-old Swedish asylum center worker at the hands of a Somali migrant and the rape of a 10-year-old boy by an Iraqi refugee who blamed the act on a "sexual emergency," haven't helped.
(22-year-old Alexandra Mezher was stabbed to death by a 15-year-old migrant at an asylum center)
European officials have proven completely inept when it comes to tackling the problem. Germany and Austria, for instance, attempted to create integration programs designed to teach asylum seekers about European societal norms. The classes touch on everything from how not to enter rooms with closed doors without knocking to where it is and isn't acceptable to urinate.
Some countries have also dreamed up some amusing cartoons that illustrate what's acceptable behavior both in everyday life and at the swimming pool, where refugees have a particularly hard time understanding how to behave.
Belgium also offers courses in proper behavior but apparently, they aren't especially effective. We say that because as RT reports, "a 16-year-old Afghan refugee, who had recently taken a course on how to behave towards women, has been charged with raping a female employee at a refugee shelter in Belgium."
The attack took place in Menan, near the French border where the child has been staying for five months.
Two weeks before the incident took place, the boy apparently attended a class on how men should treat women in polite society. The class was taught by Red Cross Flanders.
“When a minor comes to Belgium and when a minor comes to a center of the Red Cross Flanders, we teach them two things: first thing is sexual education… sometimes we are talking about children who are 14, 15, 16 years old. Without parents, they do not know anything,” a spokeswoman for Red Cross told RT.
“We also have to explain what the normal ways of treating women here in Flanders [are]," she added.
Now, we're not sure what "the normal ways of treating women in Flanders" are, but we're reasonably certain they don't involve taking caterers into the basement and raping them which is apparently what this young man did. "He already had an eye on her for quite some time, when he followed her into the basement," the Red Cross explained. " The victim worked for a catering company that cooks for the center.
We're reminded of what Markus Wallner, the head of Austria’s western Vorarlberg region said about the chances that integration courses will ultimately be successful: "Let’s not delude ourselves."
Tom Van Grieken, leader of the Belgian anti-immigrant party Vlaams Belang, isn't "deluded." Here's what he had to say about the incident: “People who need a course on how to treat women should not be there in the first place.”