The Dalai Lama clearly doesn’t know his audience. It’s not clear that despite his popularity among westerners, he ever did.

A little context.

The Dalai Lama said this in Malmo, a place that the media describes as having a “large immigrant population”, but that in practice is dominated by Muslims to the extent of having driven out much of its Jewish population.

The Dalai Lama said this week that “Europe belongs to the Europeans” and that refugees should eventually return to their native countries to rebuild them.

The Tibetan spiritual leader made the comment during a conference in Malmo, Sweden’s third-largest city, known for its large immigrant population, Agence France-Presse reported.

He noted that although Europe was “morally responsible” for helping those refugees fleeing danger in their home countries, the countries should let the immigrants know that “they ultimately should rebuild their own country” and go back.

“Receive them, help them, educate them … but ultimately they should develop their own country,” the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner added.

This wouldn’t be particularly controversial. Except that the left wants permanent citizens, not temporary refugees.