The World's Most Dangerous Borders

Thirteen places you don't want to be stuck at.

BY PHILIP WALKER | JUNE 24, 2011

VENEZUELA AND COLOMBIA

Length: 1,275 miles

Why it's so dangerous: Hundreds of leftist rebels leaving Venezuela and re-entering Colombia.

Background: A year ago, diplomatic relations were severed after then Colombian President Álvaro Uribe brought a complaint against Venezuela before the Organization of American States. Uribe accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez of supporting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) in their 47-year campaign to overthrow the Colombian state.

Today: Relations could not be more different from a year ago. One of the first acts of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who took office in August 2010, was to make up with Chávez. This improvement in ties has resulted in big changes on the ground for left-wing rebels -- long hidden on the Venezuelan side, beyond the reach of the Colombian security forces -- who are increasingly being confronted by Venezuela. As a result, approximately 200 guerrilla fighters have crossed the border back into Colombia, leading to a rise in violence along Colombia's Arauca border region. The border is now considered one of the most dangerous areas in Colombia, as the FARC have blown up oil and gas pipelines and attacked railways and Colombian security forces.

In March, the Colombian army intercepted a truck with rebel supplies from Venezuela. According to the military, the vehicle was carrying 1.5 tons of explosives, 16,000 feet of detonation cord, 17 rifles, 42,000 bullets, and almost 200 uniforms, all bound for the estimated 500 FARC rebels in Arauca. Despite the rise in violence, Colombian officials and residents along the border have welcomed the fact that Venezuela is taking action against the rebels. "There is still much to do, but our relations with the Venezuelan police are improving and there is real cooperation," Col. William Guevara, the chief of police in Arauca, said last week.

EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images

 

Philip Walker is an editorial researcher at Foreign Policy.

SJQP2100

1:14 AM ET

June 26, 2011

Dangerous borders

I am deeply concerned about the safety, or lack thereof, on the U.S.-Mexico border. My wife is from Mexico and plans to travel there with the children soon; I am worried about their safety. She is well aware of the potential danger around the border and has promised to take all necessary precautions, such as not traveling at night, and not exposing high profile items, such as her HDcamcorder, but since she is from there she is not as concerned as I am. I can only hope that she indeed follows through with being extremely careful in her travels.

 

KMC2K9

5:06 AM ET

June 26, 2011

The Indian border has to be

The Indian border has to be one of the worst as my uncle is on the Rajhastan/Punjab border as an Indian BSF soldier he has killed many insurgents/traffickers trying to cross the border illegaly from Pakistan, the last builldup was after the parliment attacks I dont understand why Pakistan thinks they have a chance against India? The weapons, Soldiers and Technology as well as the economy is much better then Pakistan's so any war will be one sided. China would not interfer in the war as the danger of it esculating into a full out war which would harm both countries very badly.

I advise that all citizens in Pakistan invest in education and there economy and a freindly relationship with India will help instead of wasting money on arms when that money could be used on helping your people most important thing is having jobs for example morrisons jobs like here in the UK for a small country we invest in education and the economy giving us a bigger GDP which can be then used to invest a small percentage on our armed forces introducing new technolgies and standards.

Great Post Foreign Policy!

 

ALEXANDER JAMES

1:30 PM ET

June 26, 2011

India has More Problems Than I Realized

Wow India having issues it seems on all borders. Their disputes with Pakistan and long running rivalry are well known. This "India's new Berlin Wall with Bangladesh" now with Bengladesh.

It's like their besieged on all sides. There's some crazy realestate marketing and spin doctoring going on out there in the news media and propaganda from governments themselves.

Weird how none of these things normally end up on the nightly news.

 

KING SOLOMON

3:44 PM ET

June 26, 2011

Bloody Hell

Bloody Hell; as expected the muddled thinking of the American writer is obvious and he conveniently forgets the most dangerous and the root of practically all the battles of the past 60+ years stretching from North Africa through Arabia, Iran, Afganistand and Pakistan - and this border is the 1948 Armistice Line between Jew Israel and Muslim Palestine.

Have you forgotten the meandering Apartheid Wall around Gaza of Palestine or the meandering Apartheid wall through Palestinian homes and villages, all manned by Jew thugs with guns?

How is it possible to forget The Great Jew Apartheid Wall Payed By American Tax Payers in the heart of Palestine?

Aurangzeb Khan
lalqila.wordpress.com

 

FSILBER

2:55 AM ET

June 29, 2011

Oh,

How terrible that Israel's wall is making it harder for suicide bombers to infiltrate. Maybe if Palestinians had not abused the relatively open borders that prevailed after 1967 they might not be suffering so.

 

TEASER38

8:37 PM ET

June 26, 2011

"El Paso most dangerous border town"

What a lousy link to some small market Fox News local station. El Paso actually has some of the lowest crime of any large US city. Here's a link to a local ABC affiliate: http://www.kvia.com/news/25870470/detail.html

The violence in Mexico is horrible, but the US side of the boarder is about as safe as anywhere in the US.

 

NORTHERNHARRIER

11:08 AM ET

June 27, 2011

Inaccurate Criticism of Ariticle

King Solomon, your distortions of the truth are hypocritical, in light of your criticism of the article. You said, among other things...

"...root of practically all the battles of the past 60+ years stretching from North Africa through Arabia, Iran, Afganistand and Pakistan - and this border is the 1948 Armistice Line between Jew Israel and Muslim Palestine.

Have you forgotten the meandering Apartheid Wall around Gaza of Palestine or the meandering Apartheid wall through Palestinian homes and villages, all manned by Jew thugs with guns?" (etc)

You can't honestly prove that "practically all of the battles" of the past 60+ years from North Africa through all of the other countries you listed have been due to the border lines drawn in 1948 in Israel-Palestine. Your claim is nonsense. I'm no Zionist, but it is also important to remember that in 1948 the Zionists accepted the U.N.-proposed borders of the proposed two states, even though it would leave their territories cut-off from other Israeli territories and very vulerable to attack by the surrounding Palestinian and Arab armies. It was the Palestinians who rejected the proposed two-state solution then, and the surrounding Arab countries who went to war, resulting in the borders that developed in the armistice.

Moreover, there are "thugs with guns," as you call them, both in Israel and in the Palestinian Territories, and all of them are responsible for the violence that has claimed so many lives. Blaming just the Jews, and the U.S., for the suffering of all of the parties involved is not honest, as the hatred and bigotry between Arabs and Jews in that part of the world existed long before the U.S. became a financial supporter of Israel. Most Zionists who obtained land before 1948 acquired the land by purchase from the lawful owners, after all, which led to massive protests by Palestinian Arabs who felt they should have a right to prevent Jews moving to Palestine.

In any case, criticism of Israel is certainly appropriate, but I note tthat I don't see you voicing any outrage about the Jewish populations of Arab and Persian lands who have been systematically cleansed from those lands, most often violently.

 

GIRISHBHANDARY

2:00 PM ET

June 27, 2011

Mercy me !

"Bangladesh .... is often at the mercy of Hindu-nationalist politics in India."

What kind of silly, ill-informed statement is this by Walker ?
No "Hindu nationalist party" has not been in power in India for several years now. And in any case how can the politics of India leave Bangladesh at its mercy ?

Please choose your prose carefully, Walker - not every statement has to be laced with dramatic effects. Go to a library and re-read the history of the Asian subcontinent.

 

KING SOLOMON

9:21 PM ET

June 27, 2011

@ Northern Harrier

Let's count the ways the Jew Mafia has caused crimes against humanity over and over again:

1947 - 1948 Genocide and Expulsion of Palestinians from Palestine when foreign illegal alien Jew started invading and attacking the unarmed Palestinians for the express reason to steal their homes, land and property.

1956 Invasion of Egypt when foreign illegal alien Jew colluded with France and Britain to try to steal Suez Canal from Egypt.

1958 Protocole de Sèvres when the immoral foreign Jew started a nuclear arms race in the heart of Arabia with serious consequence in the thinking of all the Muslim rulers in Arabia and further afield.

1967 Invasion, Occupation and Illegal Annexation of entire Palestine when the foreign illegal Jew attacked unarmed Palestinians in Palestinians once again with the express purpose of stealing Palestinian land and water to feed the beastly state of Israel. This Occupation and Illegal Annexation of Palestine is still continuing after 44 years paid for my the bloody American Tax Payers sans common sense or any sense of morality.

1974 Arab Israeli War...

1982 Invasion and Occupation of Lebanon, by the foreign Jew, that lasted 20 years till the foreign Jew was kicked out.

1993 onwards, Shimon Peres and Jew IDF started heating up the conflict between India's illegal occupation of Kashmir and Pakistan by advising, supporting and providing specific military aid to Hindoo racists like LK Advani, even advising to alter the demographic composition of Kashmir valley by settling Hindoo there, just like Jew settlers in Palestine. Advani, fondly quoted from Netanyahu's book on terrorism, given to him by the author. Israeli counter-insurgency experts now regularly visit Kashmir.

1997 onwards, Project for the New American Century (PNAC) where Jew Neocons started beating drums of wars, openly and publicly, for the destruction of or near destruction of seven Muslim countries by American gun toting soldier-thugs ad nauseam.

Further Countless attacks on Lebanon, Palestine (Cast Lead Genocide) for the last two decades.

Sept 11 revenge attack on America was the direct consequence of all these Jew machinations that have stretched back not only the past 60 plus years but actually go back almost a 100 years when Herzl started the racist Zionist campaign and started settling foreign Jews from Germany, America, Russia, Poland and Ukraine etc in Palestine by hook or by crook.

Look what happened to the White settlers in South Africa or neighbouring countries, the committed a lot of war crimes, and "bought" a lot of land, but in the end they were treated like pariah rabid dogs and now most have migrated to Europe or America. The same fate awaits the equally pariah Jew.

Aurangzeb Khan,

lalqila.wordpress.com

 

COCHISE

12:36 PM ET

June 28, 2011

Another border that could easily have made the list...

Eritrea/Ethiopia. While we are at it Eritrea/Sudan. Both are highly insecure, and the Eritrea/Ethiopia border is fully militarized.

 

CHANGS

6:06 PM ET

June 30, 2011

Korean Border

What makes the border between S. Korea and N. Korea so dangerous is that you have a madman as a ruler who nearing the end of his life span.

If he ever decides he must conquer S. Korea before he dies he has the military might to cause a tremendous amount of death and destruction in S. Korea before he could be brought down.

And it is difficult to tell if China would become involved if he did decide to launch an attack to unite the two Korea's and bring S. Korea under his control.

Edward Chang Seward

 

DAIVA66

2:29 AM ET

July 1, 2011

Have you forgotten the

Have you forgotten the meandering Apartheid Wall around Gaza of Palestine or the meandering Apartheid wall through Palestinian homes and villages, all manned by Jew thugs with guns?
Create free blog
How is it possible to forget The Great Jew Apartheid Wall Payed By American Tax Payers in the heart of Palestine?

 

TAVARES

12:04 AM ET

July 19, 2011

Look what happened to the

Look what happened to the White settlers in South Africa or neighboring countries, the committed a lot of war Tavares crimes, and "bought" a lot of land, but in the end they were treated like pariah rabid dogs and now most have migrated to Europe or America.

 

AUKPERSPECTIVE

9:26 PM ET

July 21, 2011

Where not to book a holiday

I do like the way FP mixes in serious stuff with more fun stuff.
Booking a holiday? 13 places (actually 26) not to go. Great pics too. Love it .

 

MEDA169

8:07 AM ET

July 23, 2011

The World's Most Dangerous Borders

Thirteen places you don't want to be stuck at. Look what happened to the White settlers in South Africa or neighboring countries, the committed a lot of war Tavares crimes, and "bought" a lot of land, but in the end they were treated like pariah rabid dogs and now most have migrated to Europe or America. ranking Let's count the ways the Jew Mafia has caused crimes against humanity over and over again: 1947 - 1948 Genocide and Expulsion of Palestinians from Palestine when foreign illegal alien Jew started invading and attacking the unarmed Palestinians for the express reason to steal their homes, land and property. 1956 Invasion of Egypt when foreign illegal alien Jew colluded with France and Britain to tr.