Europe's shattered illusion

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is not Mother Theresa. Merkel is a politician. It's possible the impression was made that Germany, because of its past, would open its gates to the hundreds of thousands of refugees.

But this weekend Germany did the exact opposite. The train traffic from Austria was discontinued, border inspections were renewed. The chancellor, after being heaped with praise "from Wellington to Washington," has done a complete turnabout. She has no choice.

Germany, for all intents and purposes, has suspended the Schengen Agreement. By doing so, Germany is admitting it is concerned about losing control over the movement of refugees. Either way, it appears the Syrian refugee craze has ended far sooner than we thought it would. Similar to other situations in recent years (peace talks, the "Arab Spring"), the reality is stronger than the euphoria. The stories of Germans in Munich and other cities going out of their way to help refugees will likely be relegated to the inside pages, if they are printed at all. Merkel (one of the better statesmen of our time), lasted a mere two weeks as the continent's immigration and integration czar.

Just two weeks ago, Merkel smiled at us from the front pages of newspapers around the globe. Articles with headlines such as "Thank you, Merkel," were more commonplace than weather forecasts, after she agreed to open Germany's doors to the Syrian refugees. Without question, the news of the 71 bodies found in a refrigeration truck in Austria last month and the photograph of the Kurdish toddler lying lifeless on a Turkish beach played a large part. For a while, that is.

A U-turn

On Sunday, Merkel decided to make a U-turn. Germany realized the number of refugees was only growing. There is no end in sight for the war in Syria, and perhaps someone explained to the chancellor that there is a limit to the German people's willingness to absorb refugees from the Middle East. Germany also understood that it cannot solve the refugee problem alone. Nor does it want to. Incidentally, many refugees are leaving Turkey for Germany. They are not exactly seeking asylum. Merkel has understood this as well.

No unity in the union

The refugee crisis in Europe, which is tearing the Schengen Agreement of 1985 to shreds, is the direct result of geopolitical events that transpired in 2011 -- primarily in Syria and Libya -- which Europe did not understand or did not prepare itself to cope with. In Libya, the war and the killing of Moammar Ghaddafi only served to fragment a country that was never known in the first place for a stellar centralized government. In Syria, meanwhile, beyond the threat posed by Islamic State, 150 different terrorist groups are eating away at the Assad regime. Syria and Libya, truth be told, are only countries on paper at the U.N. General Assembly.

Both of these countries have become exporters of terror, instability and refugees. Since the beginning of 2015, around half a million refugees have arrived at Europe's gates, compared to 280,000 in all of 2014. In August alone, 156,000 new refugees entered Europe, according to figures provided by Frontex, the EU agency dealing with the matter.

Beyond this, we need to note the role being played -- or not played -- by Turkey and its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan, who until rather recently was a shining example of political Islam and the father figure to the Arab Spring movement rising to topple dictators, is not really making an effort on the refugees' behalf. Turkey is not trying to help them and is not blocking their path to Europe. Perhaps, by sending hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees to Europe's borders, Erdogan is paying the EU back for refusing to accept Muslim Turkey as a member. The impotence of the Arab states on this matter has already been discussed here ad nauseam.

All of these factors are a threat to Europe. The refugee crisis presents a problem for the whole European idea. Syria and Libya have disintegrated and threaten to take European unity down with them. We are now living in an era of shattered illusions. The EU was just another one.

The end of innocence

Following the difficult euro currency crisis (remember the financial disaster in Greece-), Europe is now seeing another important cornerstone -- integration and open borders -- in jeopardy. Following Germany, Austria and Slovakia -- Holland, Poland, Belgium and France are also considering instituting border controls. Can anyone say domino effect-

It was naive to think that in the name of humanism Europe would solve its worst refugee crisis since World War II. Europe is not unified in the solution, but it is united in the desire to solve the refugee problem before it reaches its gates. However, the problem of the war in Syria needs to be solved for this to happen. But what is Syria-

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