Earlier this week, news reports carried the tragic story of 64 Somali-Ethiopian would-be immigrants who drowned off the coast of Yemen. A UAE paper also reported the story of two teenage Ethiopian boys who were found near starvation in a shipping container in Dubai. The 14- and 15-year-old boys had each paid US$1000, which they saved over five years, to make the trip to Germany; some of their friends had made the journey earlier in a similar condition and are now making a good living there. The boys ran out of food and water in the first day of the trip and had to resort to drinking each other’s urine to survive.

Under normal circumstances, this could be seen as a human tragedy of immense proportions. But since such stories and other even gloomier ones have become daily occurrences, they fail to make headlines – let alone invoke shock and invite empathy.

As one report put it, the seas separating Europe from Africa are being turned into a mass grave of the “unidentified immigrant”: hundreds and thousands of men, women and children perish in an attempt to find a better life abroad.

But instead of looking into the roots of the problem and forging out a common strategy to find a solution, European leaders are panicking and inclining more and more to turning Europe into a fortress. One might remind the Europeans of their scramble for Africa and their 1884 Berlin Conference, during which they divided Africa among various European powers. When Europe today complains about illegal African immigration, they should remember that they robbed a whole continent of everything of value for more than eighty years before they handed over the empty bowl to Africa’s native citizens.

Europe has been trying to refill the empty bowl since the majority of African nations gained their independence in the 1960s, but it seems the African masses have realized that filling the empty bowl with Europe’s kitchen leftovers have only satiated the appetite of the African ruling elite, while the majority of Africans slept on empty stomachs. The tribal wars and unending conflicts in Africa are therefore only about people fighting over these handouts. But with the population explosion and subsequent dwindling of resources, the young Africans began to look to Europe for survival and hope – which is how the rush toward Europe for food started.

The solution to this myriad problem, in my opinion, is not to turn Europe into a fortress but to revolutionize the current concept of aid to Africa. It is clear that the current trend not only places an economic and social burden on Europe, but also deprives Africa of its effective workforce, particularly as a UNESCO report notes that the majority of those who risk their lives on the high seas are in their prime between the ages of 17 and 30 and are predominantly high school graduates.

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**Editor's Note: This piece was written in response to a question asking panelists to choose the best of six proposals on how to move forward on climate change. Read More Panelist Views**

In the face of the resounding chorus for action against global warming, it may be tantamount to self-immolation to say anything negative against the campaign to fight climage change. One may not even dare to raise his voice for fear of becoming a victim to inquisiton by the brigades of climate change cheerleaders.

Despite that, I must risk refusing to follow the herd on the motives and long-term objectives of the global warming campaign. I am not a scientist to disprove the findings of eminent scholars in the field, and indeed that is not my point at all. Instead, my concern is the timing and fervor with which developed nations, particularly European countries, push the agenda of climate change. (Please refer to my previous piece)

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The Question: The producers of the movie "The Kite Runner" had to evacuate three boy actors from Afghanistan because they were involved in a scene portraying homosexual rape. Who's at fault here: the movie producers who exposed the boys to danger, or the Afghan culture that threatens them?

It was an unwise decision by the movie producers to take the boy actors back to Afghanistan. At the very least, it shows that they misread Afghan culture, tribal hostility and the country’s political situation.

This is a country where children engaging in a kite competition can easily ignite tribal feuds. If one believes the situation of the Hazaras as demonstrated in The Kite Runner, it is dangerous for a Hazara and a Pashtun to share the same space – let alone become friends. The Taliban’s mass killings of the Hazaras in 2001 were just a hint of the Sunni Taliban’s resentment toward the minority Shiite Hazaras.

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The Question: After Benazir Bhutto's assassination on Thursday, what's next for Pakistan?

Benazir Bhutto was Pakistan’s strongest voice against terrorism and military dictatorship in Pakistan. After her assassination, the country’s fate has been thrown into the unknown.

A look at Benazir’s latest statements gave us a glimpse of just how much of a threat she was to the extremists. She didn’t mince words in stating loudly and clearly her intention of cleansing Pakistan of Islamic extremists and terrorists.

Ann Curry of The Today Show wondered aloud why Bhutto was risking her life by returning to Pakistan. She told the former Prime Minister, “You're a mother of three. You could be living in London fine. You don't have to do this.”

Benazir replied, “Look into the eyes of the people who came to receive me at the airport, the joy, the happiness, the singing, the dancing, before the terrorists struck. They were celebrating my return because they want hope. If I don't come back, the 160 million people of Pakistan won't have hope of a future free from terrorism, a future in which there will be democracy.”

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