no empire, is so independent as to be immune
from the tides of world politics; is that 'free
from all responsibility' so as to be absolutely free.
To be that free requires the independent state
to have no borders with any country
that it has to consider to be it's neighbour.
Borders mean neighbours, which means limited co-dependence
rather than infinite independence; borders have to be mutually policed.
But countries that think of themselves as independent tend to be
police states anyway, where the remit of the authorities
extends without regard, and with impunity, not just over it's neighbours
but to policing its citizens into a compliancy so dulling it kills
the idea of citizenship from within as much as the police state
empties out the idea than other countries might actually exist.
