POSIBLEMENTE UNO DE LOS INDICADORES más objetivos de que la situación en Iraq y Afganistán está bastante lejos del caos que tantos se empeñan en presentar, y que es sistemáticamente silenciado por los cronistas, es la de los refugiados o, mejor dicho, la falta de ellos. No sólo no se ha producido, ni siquiera en los momentos de mayor violencia, ese éxodo masivo, esa catástrofe humanitaria que los agoreros predecían (¿no deberían disculparse por sus "mentiras de la guerra", como piden a los demás?), sino que se está produciendo un retorno masivo de exiliados:

But perhaps the most telling sign is what you could call the "refugee indicator" of success. Last week, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, reported that the number of refugees worldwide had dropped to its lowest level in a decade, falling by 18 per cent to just over 17 million.

From the first quarter of last year to the first quarter this year, there was a 25 per cent drop in the number of people seeking political asylum in the developed nations, The Boston Globe reported. That's mostly because people are now less likely to flee Afghanistan and Iraq.

The UNHCR also found 81 per cent fewer Iraqis claimed asylum this year than last year, and is now preparing for the return of more than half a million Iraqis. "Nearly 5 million people ... over the past few years have been able to either go home or to find a new place to rebuild their lives," Lubbers told the BBC. "For them, these dry statistics reflect a special reality: the end of long years in exile and the start of a new life with renewed hope for the future."

More than half a million people also returned to Afghanistan last year, something Lubbers said was "phenomenal [and] underscores the benefits of sustained international attention". International attention as in wiping out the Taliban, and removing Saddam.

Refugees have registered their approval by voting with their feet. But there must be a conspiracy theory to explain it away.

(via Norman 'The Professor' Geras)