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Comment by dybber | Hacker News Reader

The Danish and Swedish part is never gonna happen at least. Blocking off the Baltic sea doesn’t make any sense, and in Denmark we don’t need this for most of the stretch of the west coast of Jutland.

I guess blocking the sea access to Hamburg is also a no thanks for Germany.

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Would it be technically legal? If the waters are under danish control, what could germany or the baltic countries do? Obviously, it won't actually ever happen, but waterway sovereignty is interesting

(A kind of similar situation is the nile dam in Ethiopia, with the fallout it led to with Egypt)

That would be a big "maybe" with at least as many interpretations as there are countries around the baltic sea. International law isn't as cut-and-dried as the usual laws within states that people are used to. Lots of international laws are more like traditions that got written down, where any major shift in circumstances (like a war, crisis, revolution, ...) will lead to a more convenient (for some) reinterpretation. Enforcement of international law usually happens through wars, so there is the additional complication of asking: "is it worth a war to uphold 'the law'". No real judicial and enforcement system exists, only certain kinds of arbitration courts. No international police to uphold anything. Only maybe the UN asking some states to send troops, if you really annoy the world and have no friends in the security council vetoing it.

The dam would have to be in German waters (German Bight, furthest point outwards is Heligoland) or far out in the North Sea (Edit: not in international waters, we're all close here, there aren't any between the continent and the UK). Denmark could in theory cut off the Baltic countries, but for international shipping, they'll often take the Kiel canal that cuts through Northern Germany between the Baltic Sea and the Elbe river (close to the mouth where it flows into the North Sea) because they're often delivering to Germany or transfer the load in Germany or the Netherlands to bigger ships that'll take it where ever it needs to go (and the canal route is considerably shorter).

Ever heard of the Panama Channel? Seen the size of the ships going through its locks there?

Yeah goes for most ports of countries around the Baltic Sea.

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