The uneven progress associated with fossil fuel pipeline projects on Turtle Island has taken on international dimensions recently. Eminent domain protests and leaking piped networks now routinely are in the news. Three-dimensional terrain mapping that aids in laying out these pipeline projects ignores international borders, seeking only the most efficient routes. A new era among North American Indian border nations to restring historical confederacies and efficiently work together, may also be a timely development.

One only needs to look at the dozens of Onkwehonweh (Original People) population groups that have been bisected by the United States borders to see that language and culture can survive despite isolation. Language dialects may somewhat differ, but the traditional songs are sung in much the same way that they were before the international borders were put in place, under arms.

Although the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory is possibly the best known for the imposition of foreign borders within it, many other reservation intersections also come to mind.