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Friday, January 11, 2019 11:17:26 PM
When Is a Border Just a Border? Almost Never
"5 reasons why Trump's wall will only ever be a fantasy"
A migrant atop a border fence near Tijuana, Mexico, last month. His attempt to cross over with his family failed. Mauricio Lima for The New York Times
By Megan Specia and Eric Nagourney
Jan. 9, 2019
Countries rise and fall over borders — and how they are guarded. Wars are fought, lives upended. Then again, sometimes it’s more a matter of trash not being collected in national parks, and politicians issuing dueling news releases.
The federal government shutdown sparked by President Trump’s demand for funding a wall on the Mexican border is nearing the three-week mark, and offers a reminder that borders are not just lines of demarcation: Often, they are potent symbols of the politics playing out around them.
A look at some of the most-guarded borders in the world, and some that are notably less so.
President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, right, and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meeting in 2018. Pool photo by Korea Summit Press
North Korea and South Korea
Many know it simply by its latitude: the 38th Parallel.
The border between North Korea and South Korea has been one of the most contentious in the world for decades.
The Korean War halted in 1953 with an armistice — but a formal peace treaty was never signed. As part of the armistice, the American-led United Nations Command and the Communist generals of North Korea and China agreed to create a two-and-a-half-mile-wide buffer zone that divides the Korean Peninsula to keep the warring armies apart.
Known as the DMZ, the buffer zone was supposed to be “demilitarized,” but soon became a heavily fortified frontier riddled with land mines and surrounded by fences and guard posts.
Then last year, South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, took a symbolic step. Hand in hand, they crossed over the demarcation line, signifying what many hoped was the start of a new era.
The two leaders’ summit meeting itself offered little in the way of a concrete plan for peace .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/27/world/asia/north-korea-south-border.html?module=inline , but the theater of the crossing resonated globally. Still, while a formal peace agreement may finally be in sight, the border remains heavily fortified.
The separation barrier surrounding the Shuafat camp in East Jerusalem. Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
Israel and the West Bank
Israel’s boundary with the occupied West Bank was once a largely invisible one.
But Israel began building a physical barrier in 2002, at the height of a Palestinian suicide bombing campaign. Mostly departing from the pre-1967 armistice line, the barrier became increasingly political as its architects looped it around settlements and areas that Israel wished to keep under any future peace deal. (Palestinians want the territory, along with Gaza, for a future independent state.)
In 2004, a nonbinding ruling from the International Court of Justice said construction of Israel’s wall across the line .. https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/international/middleeast/world-court-says-israeli-barrier-violates.html?module=inline .. should be dismantled. Palestinians have dismissed Israel’s security arguments, saying the barrier is a “racist separation” or “apartheid” wall.
Thousands of Palestinian workers apply for permits and enter Israel every day. Thousands more sneak across without authorization, but they are generally accepted as part of the local economy.
Syrian migrants crossing into Hungary at the border with Serbia in 2015. Bernadett Szabo/Reuters
Hungary and Serbia
In 2015, Europe grappled with enormous migration flows from the Middle East and Northern Africa, on a scale unprecedented in modern history.
Many of the people arriving at its doorstep were seeking asylum, and they received an uneven welcome on the Continent. Some nations offered a haven. Others sealed their borders.
In some places, like Hungary, the call for a border wall became a rally cry of a rising populist movement.
Hungary fortified a border fence .. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/world/europe/hungary-orban-populism-migrants-border-european-union.html?module=inline .. along its southern border with Serbia to keep out migrants and asylum seekers. The flow of people into the country came to a near halt — and the far right reaped political rewards.
Many migrants never had any intention of settling in Hungary; it was simply a way station. Their real goal was reaching more prosperous European nations, and so some simply found different routes.
A man looking out over the landscape from a viewing point on Cuilcagh mountain. The border runs along the top of the mountain. Andrew Testa for The New York Times
Britain and Ireland
The border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland was heavily militarized for decades as a partisan conflict over British control over the North.
But in the years since the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement was signed, the border virtually disappeared .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/world/europe/northern-ireland-brexit-border.html?module=inline . For decades, both Britain and Ireland have been members of the European Union and its common marketplace, allowing for the free movement of people and goods between the two nations.
In many places, towns straddle the border and country roads weave back and forth from the Republic to the North, with the only indication of an international border crossing being speed-limit signs changing from kilometers to miles.
But with Britain’s decision to withdraw from the European Union, the border that stretches across the island of Ireland is set to become the only land border between Europe and Britain.
No one wants a return to the old days, but the largely invisible boundary has once again become a point of contention .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/business/ireland-border-brexit.html?module=inline , with the ability to maintain a soft border a sticking point in British negotiations to withdraw from the bloc.
In a still from video, migrants climbing the border from Morocco to Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, last year.CreditReuters
Morocco and Spain
A small stretch of Europe’s southern border actually touches Morocco, making the tiny territory accessible by land rather than by sea. Increasingly, it has become a place where migrants attempt to enter Europe, as other routes have become more perilous.
The Spanish enclave is known as Ceuta, and visitors there can’t fail to note a 20-foot-high barbed wire fence that stretches for four miles. The area is also patrolled by some 1,100 Spanish federal police officers and the Guardia Civil, a paramilitary police force.
But despite all the security measures, young men can often be seen trying to scale the fence .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/world/africa/ceuta-morocco-spain-migration-crisis.html?module=inline , either alone or in groups.
One migration expert has compared attempts to stop migration from Africa into Europe with a fence to “the little Dutch boy who saves his country by putting his finger in a leaking dike .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/world/africa/ceuta-morocco-spain-migration-crisis.html?module=inline .”
A red carpet was laid out to welcome Eritreans before the border reopening ceremony last year. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Eritrea and Ethiopia
A brutal war over their border left Ethiopia and Eritrea in a two-decade-long standoff, often described as a “state of war.” The two nations cut economic, trade and diplomatic ties, and sealed the border, heavily militarizing it.
But in September, the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea reopened crossing points .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/11/world/africa/ethiopia-eritrea-border-opens.html?module=inline .. on the border. The move cleared the way for trade to resume between the nations, and the countries’ leaders signed a formal declaration of peace .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/09/world/africa/ethiopia-eritrea-war.html?module=inline .
The reopening coincided with the Ethiopian New Year, adding to the festive atmosphere as families that had been separated for years flooded across.
The Haskell Free Library sits on the line between Vermont and Quebec. Yoon Byun for The New York Times
Canada and the United States
The number of illegal border crossings into the United States are on the rise .. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/national-illegal-border-crossing-us-from-canada-1.4863636 — from Canada.
You might not know it from the rhetoric focused on America’s southern border, but border protection agents at the north are plenty busy. Much of the 5,525-mile border is open, and in some places towns — or even individual buildings .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/12/us/canada-usa-border.html?module=inline — straddle both sides.
On the border between Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vt., there is a paucity of tire spikes and imposing fences.
There is, however, a row of flower pots marking the dividing line between the nations outside the Haskell Free Library, which serves both countries. In recent months, the library has even become a place for Iranian families separated by President Trump’s travel ban to have brief reunions .. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-ban-insight/separated-by-travel-ban-iranian-families-reunite-at-border-library-idUSKCN1NX1P2 .
Isabel Kershner contributed reporting.
Megan Specia is a story editor on the International Desk, specializing in digital storytelling and breaking news. @meganspecia .. https://twitter.com/meganspecia
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/09/world/americas/borders-worldwide.html?module=inline
See also:
HAHAHAHA! Gofundme for the wall will be completely refunded to donors
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146055225
U.S. House passes bill to reopen some agencies shut down in wall fight
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146045727
Unfortunately he doesn't care about the many Americans who are murdered in mass shootings in schools, concerts, movie theatres, etc etc etc
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146038140
New lawsuit against unpaid work during shutdown includes border patrol officers
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146028152
Trump could take billions from disaster areas to fund wall
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146028133
The Shutdown Isn't Really About the Wall. It's About Trump's Future
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146008444
A WALL CAN'T SOLVE AMERICA'S ADDICTION TO UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRATION
For more than 70 years, undocumented immigrants have shaped the U.S. economy.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146003634
Adam Smith: Bipartisan support to block Trump using military to build wall
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146000077
Trump's suicide wouldn't even bother me a little. He is willing to close the government to fulfill half of his campaign lie, mexican funding of a wall,
so it is his fucking problem, and his downfall. now the republicans have to figure out how to stop his tantrum and make government open again.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=145993599
19 things Donald Trump knows better than anyone else, according to Donald Trump
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=126981924
76 Experts Urge Donald Trump to Keep Iran Deal
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=126553097
Gaza Crossing Reflects Israel-Hamas Unreality
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=105878184
How Living in the Bible Belt Destroyed My Faith
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=125194541
"5 reasons why Trump's wall will only ever be a fantasy"
A migrant atop a border fence near Tijuana, Mexico, last month. His attempt to cross over with his family failed. Mauricio Lima for The New York Times
By Megan Specia and Eric Nagourney
Jan. 9, 2019
Countries rise and fall over borders — and how they are guarded. Wars are fought, lives upended. Then again, sometimes it’s more a matter of trash not being collected in national parks, and politicians issuing dueling news releases.
The federal government shutdown sparked by President Trump’s demand for funding a wall on the Mexican border is nearing the three-week mark, and offers a reminder that borders are not just lines of demarcation: Often, they are potent symbols of the politics playing out around them.
A look at some of the most-guarded borders in the world, and some that are notably less so.
President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, right, and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meeting in 2018. Pool photo by Korea Summit Press
North Korea and South Korea
Many know it simply by its latitude: the 38th Parallel.
The border between North Korea and South Korea has been one of the most contentious in the world for decades.
The Korean War halted in 1953 with an armistice — but a formal peace treaty was never signed. As part of the armistice, the American-led United Nations Command and the Communist generals of North Korea and China agreed to create a two-and-a-half-mile-wide buffer zone that divides the Korean Peninsula to keep the warring armies apart.
Known as the DMZ, the buffer zone was supposed to be “demilitarized,” but soon became a heavily fortified frontier riddled with land mines and surrounded by fences and guard posts.
Then last year, South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, took a symbolic step. Hand in hand, they crossed over the demarcation line, signifying what many hoped was the start of a new era.
The two leaders’ summit meeting itself offered little in the way of a concrete plan for peace .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/27/world/asia/north-korea-south-border.html?module=inline , but the theater of the crossing resonated globally. Still, while a formal peace agreement may finally be in sight, the border remains heavily fortified.
The separation barrier surrounding the Shuafat camp in East Jerusalem. Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
Israel and the West Bank
Israel’s boundary with the occupied West Bank was once a largely invisible one.
But Israel began building a physical barrier in 2002, at the height of a Palestinian suicide bombing campaign. Mostly departing from the pre-1967 armistice line, the barrier became increasingly political as its architects looped it around settlements and areas that Israel wished to keep under any future peace deal. (Palestinians want the territory, along with Gaza, for a future independent state.)
In 2004, a nonbinding ruling from the International Court of Justice said construction of Israel’s wall across the line .. https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/international/middleeast/world-court-says-israeli-barrier-violates.html?module=inline .. should be dismantled. Palestinians have dismissed Israel’s security arguments, saying the barrier is a “racist separation” or “apartheid” wall.
Thousands of Palestinian workers apply for permits and enter Israel every day. Thousands more sneak across without authorization, but they are generally accepted as part of the local economy.
Syrian migrants crossing into Hungary at the border with Serbia in 2015. Bernadett Szabo/Reuters
Hungary and Serbia
In 2015, Europe grappled with enormous migration flows from the Middle East and Northern Africa, on a scale unprecedented in modern history.
Many of the people arriving at its doorstep were seeking asylum, and they received an uneven welcome on the Continent. Some nations offered a haven. Others sealed their borders.
In some places, like Hungary, the call for a border wall became a rally cry of a rising populist movement.
Hungary fortified a border fence .. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/world/europe/hungary-orban-populism-migrants-border-european-union.html?module=inline .. along its southern border with Serbia to keep out migrants and asylum seekers. The flow of people into the country came to a near halt — and the far right reaped political rewards.
Many migrants never had any intention of settling in Hungary; it was simply a way station. Their real goal was reaching more prosperous European nations, and so some simply found different routes.
A man looking out over the landscape from a viewing point on Cuilcagh mountain. The border runs along the top of the mountain. Andrew Testa for The New York Times
Britain and Ireland
The border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland was heavily militarized for decades as a partisan conflict over British control over the North.
But in the years since the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement was signed, the border virtually disappeared .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/world/europe/northern-ireland-brexit-border.html?module=inline . For decades, both Britain and Ireland have been members of the European Union and its common marketplace, allowing for the free movement of people and goods between the two nations.
In many places, towns straddle the border and country roads weave back and forth from the Republic to the North, with the only indication of an international border crossing being speed-limit signs changing from kilometers to miles.
But with Britain’s decision to withdraw from the European Union, the border that stretches across the island of Ireland is set to become the only land border between Europe and Britain.
No one wants a return to the old days, but the largely invisible boundary has once again become a point of contention .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/business/ireland-border-brexit.html?module=inline , with the ability to maintain a soft border a sticking point in British negotiations to withdraw from the bloc.
In a still from video, migrants climbing the border from Morocco to Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, last year.CreditReuters
Morocco and Spain
A small stretch of Europe’s southern border actually touches Morocco, making the tiny territory accessible by land rather than by sea. Increasingly, it has become a place where migrants attempt to enter Europe, as other routes have become more perilous.
The Spanish enclave is known as Ceuta, and visitors there can’t fail to note a 20-foot-high barbed wire fence that stretches for four miles. The area is also patrolled by some 1,100 Spanish federal police officers and the Guardia Civil, a paramilitary police force.
But despite all the security measures, young men can often be seen trying to scale the fence .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/world/africa/ceuta-morocco-spain-migration-crisis.html?module=inline , either alone or in groups.
One migration expert has compared attempts to stop migration from Africa into Europe with a fence to “the little Dutch boy who saves his country by putting his finger in a leaking dike .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/world/africa/ceuta-morocco-spain-migration-crisis.html?module=inline .”
A red carpet was laid out to welcome Eritreans before the border reopening ceremony last year. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Eritrea and Ethiopia
A brutal war over their border left Ethiopia and Eritrea in a two-decade-long standoff, often described as a “state of war.” The two nations cut economic, trade and diplomatic ties, and sealed the border, heavily militarizing it.
But in September, the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea reopened crossing points .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/11/world/africa/ethiopia-eritrea-border-opens.html?module=inline .. on the border. The move cleared the way for trade to resume between the nations, and the countries’ leaders signed a formal declaration of peace .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/09/world/africa/ethiopia-eritrea-war.html?module=inline .
The reopening coincided with the Ethiopian New Year, adding to the festive atmosphere as families that had been separated for years flooded across.
The Haskell Free Library sits on the line between Vermont and Quebec. Yoon Byun for The New York Times
Canada and the United States
The number of illegal border crossings into the United States are on the rise .. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/national-illegal-border-crossing-us-from-canada-1.4863636 — from Canada.
You might not know it from the rhetoric focused on America’s southern border, but border protection agents at the north are plenty busy. Much of the 5,525-mile border is open, and in some places towns — or even individual buildings .. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/12/us/canada-usa-border.html?module=inline — straddle both sides.
On the border between Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vt., there is a paucity of tire spikes and imposing fences.
There is, however, a row of flower pots marking the dividing line between the nations outside the Haskell Free Library, which serves both countries. In recent months, the library has even become a place for Iranian families separated by President Trump’s travel ban to have brief reunions .. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-ban-insight/separated-by-travel-ban-iranian-families-reunite-at-border-library-idUSKCN1NX1P2 .
Isabel Kershner contributed reporting.
Megan Specia is a story editor on the International Desk, specializing in digital storytelling and breaking news. @meganspecia .. https://twitter.com/meganspecia
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/09/world/americas/borders-worldwide.html?module=inline
See also:
HAHAHAHA! Gofundme for the wall will be completely refunded to donors
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146055225
U.S. House passes bill to reopen some agencies shut down in wall fight
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146045727
Unfortunately he doesn't care about the many Americans who are murdered in mass shootings in schools, concerts, movie theatres, etc etc etc
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146038140
New lawsuit against unpaid work during shutdown includes border patrol officers
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146028152
Trump could take billions from disaster areas to fund wall
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146028133
The Shutdown Isn't Really About the Wall. It's About Trump's Future
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146008444
A WALL CAN'T SOLVE AMERICA'S ADDICTION TO UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRATION
For more than 70 years, undocumented immigrants have shaped the U.S. economy.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146003634
Adam Smith: Bipartisan support to block Trump using military to build wall
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146000077
Trump's suicide wouldn't even bother me a little. He is willing to close the government to fulfill half of his campaign lie, mexican funding of a wall,
so it is his fucking problem, and his downfall. now the republicans have to figure out how to stop his tantrum and make government open again.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=145993599
19 things Donald Trump knows better than anyone else, according to Donald Trump
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=126981924
76 Experts Urge Donald Trump to Keep Iran Deal
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=126553097
Gaza Crossing Reflects Israel-Hamas Unreality
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=105878184
How Living in the Bible Belt Destroyed My Faith
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=125194541
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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