Stay on Your Side of the Fence

There is a reason for fences. For one they enable the separation of individual properties. On the other, they indicate ownership over specific properties. It seems to me that the international community could use fences these days. They would solve a number of ongoing problems and they would contribute to the avoidance of conflict. Fences are not only separators, they are talking symbols of silent communication. Imagine a space that is without a fence. Now imagine the same space with a fence. Doesn't it fell like the mere existence of the fence is as if talking to you? Is it not like it is telling you to stay away? By contrast, isn't the absence of one almost inviting you to trespass? Fences are a great invention after all. Whoever thought they are just a mix of different materials used for a limited purpose is doing them unjust. 

Now the more relevant question is how do I fence an entire country? How do I create a fence around the country that does the speaking that its Governmental representatives fail to do? To convey the "stay away" message to anyone who disrespects the concept of sovereignty and freedom? I guess that next to the fence, I should probably also put-up a sign saying "dog inside"? Because it seems that respect without the means to enforce it isn't working at all. And once you need to enforce respect then you dilute its very existence in the first place. It is a contradiction in terms. Too much kindness ends-up becoming a weakness. And nurturing the expectation that people -in their abstract reference- will understand, is also hoping against hope. So what is there left to do? Shall we once more abide by the dogma that if you want peace you need to prepare for war? Sounds like another contradiction in terms if you ask me. So, what is the right recipe? Is it giving-in to your presumptuous neighbours who want it all at the cost of reducing yourself? Is it succumbing to the ever-growing threat of being wiped-out from the face of the earth through alienation of your population? Or is it by simply resigning to the greatness of dictatorship paranoia?

There is no doubt that our bargaining chips are very little. As there is no doubt that we have lost our magic touch and are unable to charm anyone these days. We are looked upon like the uncomfortable relative, simply because we insist on the application of justice. Almost naively so.  After two centuries of modern existence as an independent State it looks as if our captains still believe today that our independence was the result of applied justice and not the outcome of forceful fights and bloodshed. Charm in the language of politics comes in the form of offerings. And we have got nothing to offer to anyone nor are we in the "promise or threat making" business. And that is exactly the reason that renders us unattractive. We cannot promote the fiction of "Democracy" in suppressed regions of the world, as we do not have the means to enforce it (i.e. the resolve to military initiative), nor do we have the skill of persuasion. Isolated in our regional insignificance we have become the executors of decisions made for us without us. Dry of good ideas, and with no imagination we are simply by-standers hoping for a sunny day and a fence donor. As far as the dogs are concerned, I am afraid that is a function that one cannot outsource. You are either born with the quality or you are not. Having said that, I do rest my case for today.