Stopping the wave of asylum seekers means fixing Libya

Picture Maracana, Rio de Janeiro’s flagship stadium, which paid host to this year’s World Cup final. One of the largest stadiums in the world, it has a capacity of almost 79,000.

Now picture the same stadium filled almost to the brim with people in ragged clothes, covered by the marks of war, hardship and famine.

They are the asylum seekers, refugees and otherwise illegal migrants that have so far been saved at sea by Italy’s Mare Nostrum operation in the waters of the Mediterra...