The Swedish electorate has succumbed to the fear of overwhelming immigration. They are the last and least expected to follow the general right wing mood that is sweeping the Western World in both America and Europe.  Clearly there is abroad a fear and disquiet regarding the mass migration which is sweeping the world from the poorer regions to the wealthier ones.  Rationally, this should not be a surprise.

What exacerbates the issue is not just poverty but war, despotic and corrupt leaders, famine and disease, and of course the ease with which many people can nowadays travel. That is not to say that many who take flight do so in unimaginable hardship.

Migration is a global problem and as such should be at the top of the agenda for the security counsel and the general assembly of the U.N.. Regrettably the Security counsel is forever tied with its veto constitution which means that there is unlikely to be measurable improvement on decision making which will always be conditioned by the political divides of totalitarianism, authoritarianism, and so called democracy.

In the last analysis Messrs Putin, Xi and Trump run the world, all with competing and nationalistic ambition. It is worth noting that so far as this blogger is aware, there’s not much migration into Russia or China.  Trump who seems to be a populist simpleton is implementing draconian measures to protect the USA from the south American flood of migrants fleeing poverty and drug induced mayhem.

Putin is working hard to fan the middle eastern flames and so secure his Mediterranean base in Aleppo, whilst his axis with Iran is waging a proxy war with Saudi Arabia in Yemen fuelled by arms from the Western Alliance.

It certainly seems a complex mess, and there is an increasing imperative to improve the prospects of the African continent so that its population can acquire reasonable wealth and governance.

Africa, with its vast mineral wealth and ancient culture of learning, seems the one place that is well placed to improve its prospects whilst South America and the Middle East seem destined for prolonged chaos and thus de-stabilised populations.  The aspects of religious antagonism on the one hand, and wild drug induced dehumanisation on the other are frightening and seemingly without solution.

It is in all our interests to focus on stemming the tide of migration, not because we are afraid but because we want to share in a world that is balanced and where people can live freely and with fair material prospects.  Only then will the flood of migrants begin to slacken.