[EN] IRON CURTAINS: DIVIDING COUNNTRIES

Sergey Duz

Photo: EPA

Greece has completed a fence along its border with Turkey, similar to Israel’s concrete barrier against Palestine. Now, Iran eyes doing the same along its border with Pakistan. This made terrified experts talk about the revival of feudalism and border locking.

The 13-foot barbed-wire fence along the Greek-Turkish border is almost uncrossable.

Greece had its point in building the fence as the country became a popular entry point for migrants from Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Some 200-300 illegal asylum-seekers cross the Turkish-Greece border daily, so the government has to do something to keep them out. Greece has also toughened immigration legislation, banning birthright citizenship for children of legal migrants.

The Greek government itself is not very sure that the fence would help as it hasn’t stopped the flood of migrants seeking better life in the crisis-stricken EU.

Turkey itself is now housing some 800,000 Syrian refugees.

Analysts predict some one million people to enter the EU in the next 3-4 years. So, the border fence and a river would hardly stop a flood like this.

Things are different with Iran and Pakistan. Iran is one of the key drug trafficking routes from Asia to Europe, says Ajar Kurtov from the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies.

"Iran and Pakistan have certain political controversies and the border region is controlled by several terrorist groups. Some of them are quite hostile towards Iran so the two countries are facing the problem of terrorism not illegal migration."

No other fences built around the world (between Palestine and Israel and the US and Mexico for example) appear efficient.

Back in 1961, the Berlin Wall, a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) was built in order to keep its citizens from fleeing to the West. The wall hampered escape but was historically doomed.

Today, any iron curtain is a crude and obsolete mechanism which would never lead to desired results. Thus, instead of attempting to fence off the problems, the countries should better look how to solve them. Only then, future generations will be living in a balanced, peaceful and stable world.

Dec 24, 2012

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_12_24/Iron-Curtains-dividing-countries/