I find it strange too that his given name is ‘Serge’ as author of his (excellent) book “The Sword of the Prophet” and ‘Srdja’ in other bylines.

He uses the Latin alphabet, doesn’t he?
The name would be utterly indecipherable to me in Cyrillic.
As for the article, think Camp of Saints. We are supposed to feel sorry for the illegal immigrants? What’s next, federally funded water stations in the desert long the Mexican merican border? Oh waait, we already do that!

Mr Trifkovic (ironically) comments: “If ‘Europe’ should feel guilty that people who have no right to come to its shores are risking their lives trying to do so illegally etc.”

I wonder what kind of “right” Mr Trifkovic has in mind. Of course, legally speaking, illegal immigrants have no right to immigrate to a state which denies them access to its territory. But in terms of morality - don’t people living in really appalling, or even unimiaginable to us, conditions have a (moral) right to escape from place where they live ? And do we - living in comfortable places like USA or Europe - have a _moral_ right to prevent people endangered by poverty and starvation from escaping from hellish places they live ? Is our right to conserve our cultural heritage is more important (in moral terms) than their right to physical survival and survival of their children ? What is a (or the) Christian answer to these questions ? Is it: “Sorry - we are lucky, they are not” ?

These are difficult questions and you seem to think that even to raise them means that one betrays his “cultural identity”.

Ironic European, does a person have a moral right to take care of his own children better than he does the neighbor’s children? Does he have the right to deny the homeless person on the street entrance to his home? Does he have the right to eat while others starve?

There is a more altruistic moral argument, however. Right now, developed nations act as a temporary release valve for third world populations expanding beyond what their resources allow. This cannot continue indefinitely and merely prolongs the day of reckoning. To avoid famine, war, and mass epidemics, the third world must either develop or get its population under control. Emigration allows both of the options to be put off indefinitely, with tremendous long-term negative consequences for the countries involved.

The altruism of immigration advocates is nothing of the kind. It fosters a third world dependence on emigration to conceal social problems.

I don’t quite see the logic of Mr. Auster’s equating the spelling and decoding of Dr. Trifkovitch’s family name with the assimilation of illegal Somalis. I wonder if it was necessary to train Dr. Trifkovitch in the proper usage of indoor plumbing when he immigrated here as is being done now as part of the assimilation process of legal Somali immigrants to the United States?

I assume “Ironic European” is being ironic in what he says, which spares me the trouble of replying to him.

Thrasymachus raises an excellent point about the outflow of immigrants being used as a temporary release valve. I would add that it is also being used to enable the continuance of various third world despotisms and kleptocracies - many of whom were installed or supported by naive liberals in the west. The Mexican ruling elite, who control the entire economy of that nation, are more than happy to send masses of uneducated, unskilled peasants to ‘El Norte.’ That way they will never have to deal with the political or economic consequences of their utter corruption and mismanagement.

It seems that I was incorrect regarding my assertion that we (the US) already provides water stations for illegals on our southern border.
This action is carried out by a group calling itself “Hmane Borders” http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/oldnews/2003/03084.htm

However, the US government is being sued for $42 million over the deaths of 14 criminal aliens who pershed illegal crossing a desert. One of the goals of the lawsuit (other than an attempt of legalized theft from actual Americans) is to have the Office of Homeland Security set up such stations.
http://www.steinreport.com/archives/2003_05_08.html

Of course Larry - spare your precious time. Ignore important questions rather than try to think about them. Try hard to pretend that you have no doubts at all about the truth of your convictions.

Gosh, it looks as though “Ironic European” has discovered my secret. I’m a person who ignores important questions rather than try to think about them. I’m a person who pretends to have no doubts at all about the truth of my convictions. Yep, that’s me alright.

The simple truth (which an ironic fellow like IE is probably unable to accept) is that I didn’t respond to IE for exactly the reason I gave. Someone who enters a discussion with the attitudinizing pen name “Ironic European” has already announced that (1) he is some kind of postmodernist who does not believe in truth or at best has some troubled or tortured relationship with the idea of truth; and (2) he is superior to the non-ironic people he is condescending to have a discussion with. And I don’t waste my time playing games with such types.

So it’s very simple. If IE wants to me to converse with him, he needs to adopt a pseudonym which at least does not shove in our faces the notion that he does not occupy the same universe of discourse as the rest of us.