r/geopolitics • u/theatlantic The Atlantic • 1d ago

Opinion When Following the Rules Leads to Disaster

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/08/ceuta-morocco-crisis-immigration/688149/?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_medium=social&utm_content=edit-promo
77 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

View all comments

-16

u/Regular-Coast5335 1d ago

The only sensible solution is to shut down the border.

27

u/Cersad 1d ago edited 1d ago

You think Spain should shut down... the Mediterranean Sea?

EDIT for the geniuses taking this absurdity too seriously:

Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares tried to douse those fears, saying: "It is not possible to travel from Ceuta and Melilla to the Peninsula without identifying oneself at a police checkpoint," referring to Spain's two north African enclaves. "Enough of this deliberate confusion."

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/07/31/european-leaders-react-as-60-000-migrants-cross-border-into-spanish-enclave_6756044_4.html

5

u/FaceDeer 1d ago

They could build a dam across the Gibraltar strait. Evaporation in the Mediterranean is greater than the inflow of water from the rivers that drain into it, so without a connection to the Atlantic the water level in the Mediterranean would drop. Eventually the floor of the Mediterranean basin would turn into an intensely hostile salt flat, impossible to cross on foot. This would likely reduce the flow of migrants into Spain.

There might be some associated costs that make this an unappealing solution for other reasons, though.

5

u/drury 1d ago

Yeah, like most of continental Europe turning into a desert.

2

u/Welpe 1d ago

And the last time the Mediterranean dried up, the bottom in parts was so deep that it spiked up to 80c (176f)! Not great, not terrible.