The World from 264,000 Feet

I have been reading more with curiosity, rather than any degree of alarm, about the apparent Nicaraguan "invasion" of Costa Rica.  What is actually  occurring is, in my humble opinion, a bit less than described by recent inflammatory rhetoric by Costa Rica's Presidenta, Laura Chinchilla.  She claims that Costa Rica has been invaded, pure and simple, and the world better take notice.  But a few rag-tag troops having been spotted traipsing around a finca (or farm) on Isla Calerero, located on the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, in the extreme Northeast corner of the country, doesn't seem to arise to the level of invasion.  Nicaragua has control of the Rio San Juan that serves as the boundary line between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.  There have long been disputes between fisherman and residents along both sides of the border.  Nicaragua claims that the soldiers are doing the work of warding off the narcos.  Chinchilla calls that BS.  But really, why would Nicaragua "invade" Costa Rica and line itself against the U.S.?  Not that Daniel Ortega is any fan of "America."  But Nicaragua has in recent years tried in vain to catch up to its southern neighbor in terms of tourism and foreign investment, both of which will largely come from North America.  Invading Costa Rica I don't believe is the proper way to encourage either of these benefits that a peaceful Nicaragua could potentially grow to enjoy. All this tough talk could potentially escalate into something no one wants to see.  But the whole affair has me thinking about the "border" thing.  What are borders anyway?  You certainly can't detect them from space.  From up there it all looks fairly contiguous.  These arbitrary man-made constructs sure do seem to wreak a lot of havoc upon ourselves.  An "open-border" policy....hmmmm....sounds a bit idealistic, doesn't it?  I wonder if it could really work?  I believe this whole idea of national pride seems all too often to pit "us against them" and that can lead to some seriously nasty consequences.  Maybe Laura Chinchilla should just chill out a bit on this one.  Possibly a meeting with Daniel and an understanding of exactly what Nicaragua hopes to gain from these deployments is a better way to handle it than screaming "invasion" at the top of her lungs.