As American tourists know, much of Continental Europe has no internal borders. Under the Schengen Treaty, you can land at Rome and wander unhindered all the way to Copenhagen, just as one can from Miami to Boston. That’s because, thanks to the European Union, post-nationalist Continentals were assured by their elites that they were no longer Germans or Spaniards or Belgians but “Europeans.”
Then came Greek bailouts, a wobbling Eurozone and the “Arab Spring,” and suddenly national frontiers are re-emerging from the mists of time:
Denmark is to reintroduce controls at its EU borders with Germany and Sweden in an attempt to curb crime and illegal immigration, ahead of today’s [Thu] meeting in Brussels that will discuss the visa-free Schengen zone…
Passport-free travel across the ‘Schengen’ area, which does not include Britain or Ireland, has come under unprecedented pressure after Italy gave residence permits to more than 25,000 Arabs last month, allowing them unfettered access to the rest of the EU.
The European Commission was last week forced to propose the reintroduction of temporary passport controls as “under very exception circumstances” after a conflict between France and Italy threatened to destroy the border-free zone.
France, the most likely destination of the mainly French-speaking Tunisian immigrants, prompted the row by temporarily closing a key railway frontier with Italy and introduced tough extra checks of immigrants’ papers.
For years I’ve been saying about Eutopia that “united they’ll fall, but divided a handful might stand a chance.” In the wake of Mediterranean insolvency and mass refugees from the flowering of Arab “democracy,” Continental governments seem to be very belatedly tiptoeing toward the same conclusion. (I wrote more about the long-term picture for Europe’s “border” here.)
That's all well and good, but I want the moat and alligators. This is the best idea from Obama yet. Just imagine it.
"Juan, how deep is the water?"
"Juan? Juan?"
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHow about sharks with friggin' lasers on their heads?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI was recently in Europe and a friend I was visiting showed me a place where there used to be a border, explaining the impact of the European Union. This raised a lot of questions in my mind and evidently the Europeans are thinking the same thing.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSecond: Without borderless Europe we would have no Rochelle, Rochelle . . . so . . . ye know . . . silver lining and all . . .
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCharles Martel, call your office.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou're smack on the money, Mark. I am reminded of the old axiom that dictates "Fences make good neighbors." Indeed, fences are often the only way to make neighbors seem tolerable - as long as they stay on their side of the fence.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo they had no internal borders, when it was just white people going from one country to another. But once "those brown people" came on the scene, it was time to enforce borders?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHey Europe, can you save us the lectures about our racism and our horrible immigration laws?
I used to be an open borders kind of guy until I read something from Milton Friedman that essentially said that you can have open borders, but not a generous welfare state. After I contemplated that for a bit, I determined he was half right. I don't think you can have neither. Open borders made sense in 1928; in 2011 after 310 million people and the way the world is messed even more than it was in 1928, I think we need to control the borders even more.
Build the moat.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThere's a bit of a problem with illegal immigration down here in Oz, talk about detention centres here, overseas and the like.
I think if people come by boat and land on the mainland, get past all the crocs, stingers, spiders, snakes, intense desert heat, backpacker murderers, drop-bears and make it to civilisation, then they should be rewarded with refuge!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRE: Obama's alligator moat proposal
It is difficult to tell whether Obama's suggestion was mocking or a seriously proffered proposal, but let's assume his mere mention of it connotes his moral approval, with his political objection based only on the degree of intervention. Personally, I'm against the whole moat/alligator idea.
On implementation, logistics intervene. First of all, IT CAN'T BE A MOAT. Moats typically are circular, enclosing an area or edifice. Without a spring well, stagnant waters result. Regardless, the US/Mexican border cannot be encircled, thus it is a CANAL, not a moat, that is indicated, to run from California's Pacific coast along the US/Mexican border to Texas' Gulf coast. Since each end breaches saltwater seas, another logistical problem arises.
Just as a canal will suit our needs better than an impossible moat, the saltwater aspect indicates saltwater crocodiles will work better than alligators. Other details favor the saltwater crocodile over the alligator:
Size:
Alligators - 800lbs/14' long
Saltwater Crocs - 2200lbs/18' long
Speed:
Alligators - Short burst only
Saltwater crocs - Short and sustained speed bursts
Prey:
Alligators - prefer small game
Saltwater crocs - will take virtually anything
BONUS: Make this border canal wide enough and we can usurp the Panama Canal we built and used to own.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@jmc,
I think most of Europe's criticisms of us have more than a little bit of projection about them. They see what we our doing, imagine why they would do it, then attribute their own worst motives to us.
I don't know if it is quite fair to attribute this border closing to racism: I think there are legitimate reasons to worry about large numbers of, for example, Egyptians coming into Denmark that don't apply to Belgians, and these have nothing to do with the skin color of those nationalities. None the less, your point is well taken.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@jmc,
I may be wrong but I believe that it is the content of their character and not the color of their skin by which they are being judged.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI cracked up over that bit about the "very exceptional circumstances." Of course, that's bureaucratese for "the new permanent normal."
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@jimmy: I would agree only if they were required to land in an area that would ensure passing through all those travails. When they can land in Cairns, where the only crocs are in the zoo or the pub, it doesn't seem as formidable.
@Henry: I am not sure we want to make it big enough to allow passage of large ships - mainly because that would take too much of our own territory (logistics and all). It could be a great new thoroughfare for moving goods and such from Cali to Texas and points in-between, though.
I'm also not sure how far down we would really get saltwater. It would tend to drift fresh at some point. We might have to settle for freshwater crocs and pirhannas in those interior sections.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@jimmy: I would agree only if they were required to land in an area that would ensure passing through all those travails. When they can land in Cairns, where the only crocs are in the zoo or the pub, it doesn't seem as formidable.
@Henry: I am not sure we want to make it big enough to allow passage of large ships - mainly because that would take too much of our own territory (logistics and all). It could be a great new thoroughfare for moving goods and such from Cali to Texas and points in-between, though.
I'm also not sure how far down we would really get saltwater. It would tend to drift fresh at some point. We might have to settle for freshwater crocs and pirhannas in those interior sections.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGWB "I'm also not sure how far down we would really get saltwater. It would tend to drift fresh at some point."
I thought of that too and put a team on it. Turns out that saltwater crocs do very well in freshwater as long as they have brackish or saltwater to return to from time to time.
I have another research team looking into whether American alligators and saltwater crocs can coexist, in case we need to deploy SW crocs near the coasts and alligators in the middle section of the canal, which will go freshwater due to rain and runoff, and stands 1,000 miles from either canal terminus and saltwater source.
Um, all this research and planning is starting to run into some money. Hint. Hint.
Thanks,
Henry Hawkins
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseExecutive Director
Gulf-Pacific Obama Canal Committee
I'll put my Congresscritter on it right away, Henry.
Hmmm... since the captcha is "mouth-watering", that makes me think: should we allow hunting of these crocs and alligators? Some people think they make good eating. And, think of the fashion industry boost!
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse>"Hey Europe, can you save us the lectures about our racism and our horrible immigration laws?"
I'd be happier if the American ruling class could spare us the lectures about our racism and our horrible immigration laws.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@Henry "I have another research team looking into whether American alligators and saltwater crocs can coexist,"
Slap one of those bumper stickers on their tail and it'll be just fine. Won't it? I mean, it DOES work like that, right?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHenry, GWB, the problem with you bookworm types is that you are needlessly complicating matters. If we simply annex down to the Panama Canal we don't have to build anything and we get to our President's 57 states.
And now for my theory on Brontosauruses...
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