Is The Wall a pipe dream?

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Shakuhachi

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If it is built, will it be effective? I see in the news today that airfare from Mexico to Canad is like $300 and the border up there is even more permeable.
 
I don’t think a wall can really keep people out. What I think walls have done from ancient history on is slow invaders down and tend to channel their movements toward easier places to get through. I don’t think they stop movement. They regulate it so the defending foot soldiers can more easily deal with them.

Right now the big invasion is from Central America. Whether huge numbers can fly to Canada and come across that border is, I think, pretty questionable. For one thing, I don’t think Canada is in the business of transporting illegal immigrants from Central America to the U.S. the way Mexico is.
 
Historically walls have had mixed results. Hadrian’s Wall was partially successful. The Great Wall of China did not prevent Mongolian incursions, and certainly didn’t stop the Manchus. They’re certainly rather good at employing a lot of workers and might be viewed as a symbol of strength, but even the Stasi couldn’t stop people from getting over the Berlin Wall.
 
Fukuoaka in Honshu, Japan also suffered from Mongol incursions.

They built a series of defensive walls near the coast and were able to repel further incursions,
 
Israel has built a wall that is extremely effective.

Someone even posted a picture of it somewhere here on CAF.
 
MonteRCMS said:
Israel has built a wall that is extremely effective.

Someone even posted a picture of it somewhere here on CAF.
Click to expand...
Of interest, I saw the calculations and a wall along our southern border would cost less per capita than the Israeli wall.
 
A coastal defense system is a different thing entirely. There’s already a partial barrier, the water itself. Mountain passes also serve a similar function. But overland walls are a lot trickier and the benefits a lot less clear. Offa’s Dyke probably kept the Welsh at bay, but what really worked was the inherent disunity of the Welsh themselves.
 
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