@ goofle not sure if that's sarcasm but i'll take the endorsement either way
another somewhat interesting thing to me is that it's often pointed out by conservatives that it seems to only be western countries which are expected to put aside nationalist sentiments and embrace multiculturalism. with perhaps a few exceptions such as hong kong, israel, etc.. which interestingly enough got that way due to the legacy of western colonialism. but look at a country like japan.... which is relatively rich, modern, and democratic. yet extremely and openly nationalist and xenophobic, and yet catches very little flack from the international community for being so.
when you point this out to many liberals they will say things like the west got so rich through a legacy of colonialism so they sort of owe it to the rest of the world. or you hear things like american and european interventions in the middle east led to the current situation, so we owe it for example to the syrian people to take on this burden because our foreign policy contributed to their suffering.
yet i return to the question of why not saudi arabia? why not qatar? for the shia refugees... why not iran? these countries have openly waged proxy wars throughout the islamic world, including in iraq and syria. they are just as responsible as the west, if not more so. and once again, they share many cultural and religious similarities with the people in question. but nobody seems to expect the saudis to open their borders to these people. perhaps it is because us westerners are more forward thinking than the saudis. or perhaps it is because the saudis have more direct experience dealing with the ethnic tensions in the middle east and they know better than we do the hazards involved.
iraq is a perfect example of a "country" that isn't really a country because it comprises of at least 3 ethnic sects which don't particularly like each other. and so when we eliminated the current authoritarian dictatorship that was holding that country together through sheer fear and intimidation, we predictably get the current situation with ISIS, the kurds, and the shia led govt in the south, all 3 of which are mutually hostile to one another. this alone should be proof enough of the importance of cultural solidarity.
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