Passion and prejudice govern the world; only under the name of reason. And bigotry may be roughly defined as the anger of men who have no opinions.

Todays extreme Islamophobia is a passing fad. At various times in history, western cultures have been fearful of one race of people or another. Judaism, communism, homosexuality, and competing aspects of Christianity have each inspired fear and reprisals. All these phobias look silly and trite in retrospect. Today's stereotyping of a vast and varied religion as a zombie-like infection is not a trend which will last.

Some countries have already moved past this. Canada for one. I've lived there most of my life. It's multiculturalism does work. Some of its cities are among the most cosmopolitan in the world. People move there to enjoy freedom of religion and culture without being forced into a melting pot.

Calgary, Alberta, due to it's location in the Canada's west, sees fewer immigrants than some of the major cities. It does not contain very many visible minorities or even non-Christians. The city has been long considered to be one of the last bastions of Canadian redneckedness. This week, electors there voted in a visible minority Muslim mayor. Race and faith didn't seem to play into the selection process. A national paper discusses the election here: http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/race+doesn+matter+Calgary...
Only in Canada you say? The rest of the world may soon embrace the notion that variations of skin colour and faith may not be so important as was once thought. The time, I believe, are a-changing.

“Look at what’s happened in Germany’s neighbours, in the Netherlands, in Sweden, in Denmark, in all these countries, right-wing protest parties have sprung up, making it really difficult to form a stable government. That’s exactly what we want to prevent.”.......What is your definition of a stable government? Why have right-wing parties sprung-up? You brought about the vast problems of immigrants because you thought they would be come good citizens and respect your culture. They care nothing about you are your culture nor do they respect your humanistic belief system. Don't you see and understand that their religious beliefs are first and foremost with them and they will subugate you as soon as they have the majority. India is a perfect example of how they take control by their religious majority. They split India into Pakistan and East Pakistan and now they want to take Kashmir because they have flooded it with people of their religious belief. Go to the UK and look how they are taking over and want to sets of laws. One for the non-Muslims and Sharia law. Ms. Merkel don't blame the people for going to the right. You and your kind didn't pay attention during your history classes and now history is repeating itself.

In the US, all this hoo ha is called "political correctness". It, meaning "diversity", doesn't work here either. All multiculturalism has done is creat division and unrest in our every man for himself society.

Merkel is right to point out that Germany invited migrants after the Second World War - the majority of the 8 million or so immigrants in Germany were LEGAL and did not force themselves through, preferring to enter legally. Crucially, her speech did not include one word about the contribution migrants made to the post war economic miracle through their labour and hard work, nor did she point out the multitude of success stories among Germany's newcomers, or the discrimation or prejudice they faced.

All in all, her speech was stale, intolerance, largely disconnected from reality, and ultimately designed to pander to xenophobia. She may have distanced herself from the far right's vitriol, but it certainly did not go far enough.

"Remember...when in Rome..."......Vera, I hope not! We don't want to ever do what the Romans have done to those who were not Roman citizens. Do you think Wilders and Julius Caeser have anything any common when it comes to the immigrants?

Multiculturalism was NEVER going to work.

As a Canadian I'll say: and multiculturalism isn't working in Canada either. Immigrants need to integrate into whichever country's society they chose to live. Immigrants must not expect their chosen country to adapt to them, rather the immigrant must adapt to the country. Many a politician seeks political favours by promising all kinds of things to the immigrant. Remember...when in Rome...

For all the difficulties the Germans are facing with immigration policies, they are still approaching ideas within the framework and laws of their own constition. Geert is only telling people one-dimensional logical ideas to just deport a million or so people en masse and all will be well. The Germans on the other hand, do as part of their Basic Law, have an Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which prevents populists such as Geert, from manipulating public opinion and laws from such illusory nonsense.Germany is caught in a two-fold problem. First, German citizenship has been associated with blood ties to family lineage to the country. Secondly, in the age to the EU, one is "European" and also the citizen of one's country, giving a multiple identity to immigrants to adopt to, aside from language adaptation. The German challenge is to creatively meet an at least workable solution with expectations of perfection, but at least an arrangement which will bring people closer to the main stream of German society.