Western Ukraine is safe enough for elderly Americans to visit (example). Friends of friends go about their daily work there without any thoughts of becoming a war casualty. One guy, however, misses his wife and kids (elementary school age). They fled to Germany during the early days of the war, taking 100 percent of the family savings with them. Now the wife is established in the German welfare system, getting per-child payments, and has discovered how much more pleasant life can be without a husband in the house (does Germany have Tinder?). The father has sought to recover the children at least, but a German court agreed with the wife that Ukraine is not safe enough for anyone to live in (though the Ukrainian mom and teenage son whom I wrote about in April 2022 moved back long ago).
In the pre-globalized pre-welfare-state world, a live husband with a good income would become more valuable in the event of a war that killed a lot of working-age men. But in our current world, the husband, despite being a high-status professional in Ukraine, became surplus when he couldn’t compete with the German government (and German Tinder?).
Context from the BBC:
Figured they were getting the hell out of Ukraine for the same reason everyone got the hell out of Calif*: to avoid taxes. There are a few female musicians who got out before marriage.
I hope Russia wins the war!
Comrade General, Toucan Sam
You have been drafted for the Russian Air Force, we need you for bombing missions in Ukraine. You task will be to take off from Crimea, search out the evil HIMARS and destroy them.
We have the new Wunderwaffe for especially for you, a brand new GLONASS guided, gliding bomb. You should have no problem delivering this weapon since it weights only 1500 kg.
Please remember Comrade General Toucan Sam, it is not a war, it is a special military operation.
Please report to the airbase in Crimea, by 0800 for your first briefing.
If you get shot down, we will reward your family with a brand new Lada.
Pavel!!!! What a sight for sore eyes! I have missed you very much. A NOTE TO READERS: Pavel is a foreigner who has admitted to election interference. When will the menace from the north finally stop?
Fun fact: 65% of non-European immigrants in Germany since 1990 are on welfare (does Ukraine count as Europe?). The median salary after 5 years of the 33% who are employed is only €18k, with 20% of those working in “mini-jobs” paid by the govt.
source: http://archive.is/XO1oj
Anon: I asked my Dutch friend about the Dutch article that is referenced from your link. It said “Of the asylum seekers who arrived in the Netherlands between 1995 and 1999, only 35 percent had a job for more than 30 hours.” My friend’s response: “They made a rule that you needed a job in order to get a house. There was a recent case reported in Utrecht that found that all those with jobs, quit as soon as the house was allocated to them. That explains most of the 35 percent that remained.”
There was some economist’s quip that open borders and a generous welfare system cannot endure.
“It’s just obvious you can’t have free immigration and a welfare state”, Nobel laureate in economy, Milton Friedman
I’m sure that was before, and today, with so much more love, those old tropes can be overcome
No woman is free unless someone else is paying for her reproductive decisions, and the less dependent she is, the more free.