and, to clarify a point that is underlying my critique, but that i haven't made in this space, or at all for a while: what is driving the refugee push is not left-wing. it's noblesse oblige; it's the white man's burden. it's charity. it's faith through works. all of this is not described using terms like liberalism, socialism or even progressivism but encapsulated perfectly in the term toryism.

let's go back to the basic human nature question. if you believe that human nature is fixed, which is the condition that defines conservatism, then you would look at these wars in the middle east as an unending quagmire. you may acknowledge the role of imperialism in the abstract, but you would deny it the defining role. you would instead argue that war is endemic to the region, it will never end and you just have to get people out - because "human nature". all of the things about charity and nobless oblige would then follow from the inherent superiority of western culture, and the obligation to do something to help the lesser peoples.

but, all of this thinking is foreign to leftists. to begin with, leftists believe in self-determination as a corollary of the flexibility of human nature. it then follows that leftists reject the concept of charity in favour of wealth redistribution, because we demand self-determination. this insistence on the human condition as malleable also implies an inherent concept of revolutionary insurrection, or at the least reformism if the situation is already not so bad.

the end result is that while conservatives will support resettlement programs, liberals and socialists will actually support arming the refugees and telling them to take control of their own fate. it's a fundamental difference between the left and the right.

now, the situation on the ground is a mess, and you can't take the media narrative at face value. but, the reality stands. the leftist approach to syria is to support the insurrection; insisting on resettling refugees as a kind of benevolent charity is inherently right-wing.

what the contemporary right, personified by trump, is doing is just irresponsible. and, we can see that neither liberals nor conservatives support it. rather, his base is described by this apolitical nihilism...

my own view is that some aid should flow into the region, particularly for children caught in the mess. but, at the end of the day, the syrian people are going to have to win the fight and that's what the foreign policy should be centered around.