The headline reads Angela Merkel: Europe’s Conscience in the Face of a Refugee Crisis. While this is a good thing it is German business that pushed this acceptance of 800,000 Syrian refugees – they need the labor. The birthrate in Germany is so low that it’s population is expected to decrease by 20% in the next 2 or 3 decades so this is not an entirely altruistic move. The Germans need both the labor and the consumers that these refugees represent. Germany has had a labor shortage since WWII. When I lived in Munich during the late 60s and early 70s they brought in Turkish people to do some of the labor. They were never integrated into German society and lived in their own part of the city. I imagine this will be repeated with the Syrians.