E.U. Suspects Russian Agenda in Migrants’ Shifting Arctic Route

Recently, Russia blocked off roads that migrants from Syria used to cross from Russia to Finland through the "Arctic route". They have manipulated refugee's routes to Europe before, and it has been suspected by the E.U. that Russia has been using the migrant crisis in Europe to make a political statement. Their exercises of power in this situation may be an assertion to the rest of Europe that Russia is not a power to be ignored, especially considering that many refugees are being displaced from their homes in the Middle East by Russian bombing runs, suggesting that Russia is intentionally stoking the flames of the migrant crisis for political motives.

For me, not only does this raise my awareness of Russia and their increasingly hostile actions, but it brings up an important issue in the refugee crisis. The only way to effectively resettle Middle Eastern migrants is for European nations to work together, rather than redirect the flow of migrants to increase tensions in Europe. These are people who need a place to live, and the UN needs to find a way to make it every nations responsibility to do whatever they can to help the situation, rather than using refugees as pawns in political schemes. I don't know how much power the UN has in making this happen, but every world power, including America, has to step up and work together to solve this issue.

Higgins, Andrew. "E.U. Suspects Russian Agenda in Migrants’ Shifting Arctic Route." The New York Times. The New York Times, 02 Apr. 2016. Web. 03 Apr. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/03/world/europe/for-migrants-into-europe-a-road-less-traveled.html?ref=world>.