Migrant crisis: Boat people wash up on Europe's shores

Pictured below, being offloaded from the Italian coast guard vessel AMB Gregoretti is one of the hundreds of victims of what authorities are now calling "the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean".

Over the weekend, hundreds of would-be refugees were drowned lamestream media when two rickety boats operated by human traffickers capsized while trying to reach safety in Italy, Malta or Greece, in flight from the Islamic civil war (not to mention poverty) afflicting northeast Africa.

As Walt writes, foreign ministers of the European Union are gathered for an emergency meeting on the growing crisis as migrants flee the instability in Africa and the Middle East at unprecedented rates. Some are calling for a naval blockade to intercept smugglers' boats as they leave ports in Libya. Others are going so far as to call for another invasion [a re-invasion? Ed.] of Libya to restore order to the failed state left behind by the previous NATO meddling.

Premier Matteo Renzi today told an Italian radio station today he will ask his EU counterparts to confront instability in Libya more decisively than in the past, but, "At this moment to intervene with international forces on the ground is a risk that is absolutely excessive. We cannot think about sending tens of thousands of men without a strategy, on a wave of emotion."

"Sending troops without a strategy on a wave of emotion..." Wasn't that what Britain, France, Italy, Canada and the USA did the first time? Isn't that what America and its camp followers are doing in Iraq and Syria? And yet, something must be done to stop Europe from being inundated by a tidal wave of Muslim refugees. Here are some numbers, published today by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).

13,500 - Migrants rescued in just one week (10-17 April), now the burden of Italian taxpayers

1,600 - Migrants thought to have died attempting the crossing so far this year

35,000 - Migrants from North Africa landed in Europe (mainly Italy) so far this year

218,000 - Estimated to have crossed the Mediterranean (mainly to Italy) last year

3,500 - Migrants died attempting the crossing last year

What with all the commotion, hand-wringing and appeals to humanitarianism, little mention is being made of what it is that all these Africans, Arabs (and yes, south Asians) are running away from. That would be militant Islamists. Just yesterday, the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) released a new video purportedly showing the killing in Libya -- by gunshot or beheading -- of two groups of Ethiopian Christians in Libya. The jihad continues.