The headline alone is worth the price of admission, which is good because (not surprisingly) there ain’t much of a story. Apparently some Swiss soldiers wandered across the unmarked border, realized their mistake and wandered back home. They were noticed by some locals, who were about as concerned as we would be if some Iowans accidently strayed north into Minnesota.
All that said, though, it does say a lot about the value of peace and calm in the world. Everywhere there’s a “hot” border, you run the risk of an honest mistake like this turning into a tragedy. Borders like this, however, can function (in at least some capacity) without being a source of panic and stupidity. After decades of separation and division (no accidentally drifting across the Berlin Wall without consequences), much of Europe’s borders are now about as exciting as that between Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Several friends of mine accidently hiked from Italy into Switzerland while at a conference at Lake Como a few years back, and no one gave a damn. This is almost certainly a Good Thing.
All of which makes it particularly sad that the U.S. is seriously tightening up the border with Canada, and seems to be clinically insane when it comes to our border with Mexico. Yeah, let’s build a wall along thousands of miles of desert border, and then patrol the hell out of it. Cement contractors and security firms must love it, cause lord knows it doesn’t benefit anyone else.
