Aeropolitical Development Amid Geopolitical Tension

The sky is the limit usually refers to freedom with no reference to a ceiling and a limit . It’s a phrase that allows one to deeply think out of the box when it comes to listing future goals. But with politics, change is an option that shall always be considered. The sky is the limit is no longer the goal, rather it’s a an additional option of concealing the facts into a new narrative space that is less likely to make a difference. 

Geopolitical tension is an extremely complicated matter that can easily become a reality of implementing war and violence. It’s an introduction and the first step towards the context of warfare. But now there’s a new element of tension, an element that is being tested and used to create a new kind of apprehension and limitation through the use of airspace internal structure and borderline.

The past months marked a new transition in warfare and the induction of a new dimension of tension that made accessibility  more difficult and less convenient. With  airspace control, countries are setting a new foundation of rules and laws to regulate. Despite the current political situation on land, airspace control is the new governance system through legal jurisdictions set by the rule and power of law. Politics and political tension was not a factor in this, but as geopolitical forces are increasingly becoming more polarized on lands, world powers are shifting and setting their power and control over the sky by limiting access to resources and even domestic flights. In simplicity, the sky is not a free space anymore,  and there is a limit to where one can go and how.

Taking the recent geological and geopolitical events, physical borderline regulations are not as solid as they used to be. Not only are they losing their essence in application and enforcement, but they are also being exposed to a greater risk of legal-political interference and corruption. That said, the limited scope of borderlines have been largely absent and the shift to the skylines are being reserved and implemented as  the new limit force.

The geographical boundaries of the conflict between two close proximity countries such as the United States and  Venezuela began through the act of prevention and intervention as a state of control with the aim of a long-term acquisition of territory.  An increased military activity and presence of U.S. troops in the region near Venezuela was the first step to limit  access by sea, which led to a controlled zone of operations that would eventually lead into a full opted militarized process.

The region was under siege, that even included the aerospace borderlines that have been affected. Amid the attacks on Venezuela, by sea and land, President Trump ordered the closing of airspace borders and warned pilots and airline staff about the risk that might occur if they decide to near the controlled  militarized zone. The aforesaid has a great effect on limiting the country’s ability to operate smoothly. It’s a political move to distance the country from cooperating with other states, as regards to economic development that Venezuela heavily depends on. Not only that, but it’s a way to enforce authority and subjection by controlling all of the mobile accessible routes of imports and exports.

The same scenario is being applied on with Russia and Ukraine, where land invasion and border crossings are not seen to be enough. Which led to a different route of a strategic warfare, and it’s no other than airspace limitations that have led to major changes on the geopolitical landscape and frontier forces too. The change of combat use and creating new capabilities to limit easy and smooth access is based on enforcing one’s authority with an aim of a long-term subjugation and full domination. All of the U.S. , Venezuela, Russia and Ukraine share the same political interest and context that made land invasion not enough.

But what does it mean for regional and involved countries? 

All of the involved parties are expected to welcome major shifts and transitions that will come with endless challenges to stabilize, and they are predicted to be as follows. 

• Long-term airspace closure, which will lead to the creation of a new space station for aircrafts. That can also lead to a new phase of the creation of new legislations to protect the sovereignty of a state’s airspace from hostile competition and enforcement

• Economic loses, which are expected due to the limitations of access to imports and exports. Especially when some dependent states are tied with major world powers

• Air traffic, which will be caused due to the limited availability of bases and spaces to land, and the presence of multiple carriers who are rerouting at the same time, using the same line of tension.

• New phase of warfare through limited airspace zones, which is a probability to be considered especially when land invasions  are not as quick and effective to deliver and tick the planned aims ahead.

Once airspace war takes off, the possibility of preventing and stopping it, is a dream that might never come true. For the sky is a free zone of endless space,  which makes it easy to contradict and draw one’s limits and borders without taking any kind of legitimate consent. And that will eventually lead to an endless legal conflict that will extend into an actual war that will turn the once free zone, into a new battlefield.