Claims on Facebook Claim: China’s most infamous traitor, General Wu Sangui; the guy who opened the gates of the Great Wall and allowed the Manchu hordes to invade China. Why would someone compare that with Merkel in Germany accepting a million or so refugees? While rhetorically powerful for anti-immigration commentators, the comparison collapses under historical scrutiny: Intent and Motivation: General Wu Sangui acted out of military desperation and personal vengeance to defeat domestic rebels, knowing he was allying with an invading military force. Merkel acted out of humanitarian duty to address a massive humanitarian crisis during the Syrian civil war. Nature of the Influx: Wu Sangui let in a highly organized, hostile military army intent on conquest and regime change. Merkel accepted disarmed, displaced civilian refugees seeking asylum under international law. The Outcome: Wu’s actions immediately led to the...
“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other civilizations were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.” —Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilisation and the Remaking of the World Order, 1996, p. 51