I thought this article made some interesting balanced points including

"With reports that one of the terrorists in Friday’s attack on Paris had entered the EU as a refugee less than a month ago on the Greek border, its easy to put blame on Merkel for lifting border controls there. Germans on both sides of the issue are calling for her resignation. For liberal Süddeutsche newspaper commentator Heribert Prantl, Merkel has created “chaos” by permitting her government to maintain a pro and anti refugee policy at the same time. Merkel is now self-destructing like “Rumpelstiltskin,” he said.

But what exactly did she do wrong? You can’t blame the whole crisis on her. The refugees were coming anyway. She just tried to make it easier on them. Was embracing Germany’s Willkommenskultur really so wrong? Yes, in as much as it was bad policy: it created what relief experts call a “pull factor”, encouraging people to flee who might otherwise have stayed. At the same time, she provoked a “push factor” — or what Germans might call an Un-willkommenskultur — making it harder for those fleeing to find refuge. And so she has inadvertently made the situation for refugees more untenable than before. it’s also harder for them to show their hosts their ‘thank you culture’ when so many are showing anger at them."

Germany Shuts Its Open Door to Refugees | Observer

I really don't know what the alternative was - the humanitarian alternative. There is bound to be some friction, but whether it will end in "chaos" only time will tell.

On the radio the other day, someone made the point that amongst major European countries, Germany is one that has not yet been a terrorist target. Something to consider.

Not for some time anyway. Although Germany was the visiting team on Friday and they'd likely have a few thousand fans there.

At least one of the bombers tried to get in so one assumes casualties among fans was part of the plan so while not on German soil it's fair to assume they were targeted.

Merkel often attends their games too so maybe there was some hope she'd be there.

I think they were just looking for the spectacle (live, on TV). I don't think these terrorists think that much about what they are doing, so many are practically kids, and just looking for a local 'opportunity'. I think I heard one of the suicide bombers was 15?

One of my stepdaughter's work colleagues told her there were a couple of teens but as far as I can see from the guardian's detailed coverage there was one born in 87 and the rest of the attackers have been stated as 25 and up.

I think there may have been reference to ages of others not involved, maybe the "white sheep of the family" brother in Belgium who followed a different path according to his lawyer. Or maybe people have referred to ages they've seen reported but they were victims or survivors and it's been a sort of Chinese Whispers effect.

Its worth pointing out that by Germany effectively forcing open the EU's external borders with Merkel's welcome speech it allowed Migrants/Refugees/Terrorists to travel freely to any schengen state not just Germany.

Ironic comment considering their desperation to get to Germany and Shengen states making it difficult for them.

Merkel has tried everything from guilt trips to bullying other countries into accepting "quotas" of migrants to bribing African countries to take them back. She violated the Schengen agreement by opening the flood gates not only to Germany but to all other signatories of this document. Not only Germany but every other country in the EU is suffering from this huge uncontrollable influx.-Yes, she is responsible for creating such a vast number arriving in such a short time. She invited them.

Hard to say how much additional migration can be attributed to Merkel's comments. She didn't start the 2015 surge, and after four years of war, with worsening safety in Syria, pressure to resettle was building. It's not constructive to keep sniping about Merkel, this is a issue that was and is staring the EU in the face and solutions need to be found. My only complaint is that Britain is not doing enough.

And that changed last night with their big Football Match targeted
resulting in the game being cancelled......

Anotherpoint might be worth considering, if a 'war’ kicks off... Theonly logical solution to these anonymous passport-less migrants will be internment Nobodyin their right mind is going to be happy about potential terrorists walkingfreely around Europe now

True, Merkel isn't responsible for the refugee crisis.

But simply opening the borders (and encouraging more to risk their lives), letting them all walk in, and then tossing them on European streets was wholly irresponsible. All in the name of dreamy-eyed idealism - or more likely, a poorly thought-through, knee-jerk reaction to something nobody wanted to deal with, and therefore all but wholly unmanaged from the start.

It could have been managed in a far more sensible way, especially if the EU had not engaged in denial early on. But that's just the European way. It's how virtually all crises are handled. 1) ignore problem. 2) deny problem. 3) when problem gets out of control, employ not-well-thought-through emergency measures. 4) in the end, claim responsibility for anything good that came from it, blame everyone else for anything bad.

The third paragraph is good.

Do we have any support for BEer's sponsoring Syrian refugees? You know, maybe just one family to start?
We have a thread about it, let's see if we can do something about it. It may help you identify as Canadian. (it really is what we do)