[SllX]

A lot of Canada doesn’t have what you would call “infrastructure” until you’re well within range of the US Border. They’re also about equally insulated from foreign invasion and I think any US invasion that called for invading Canada first would be facing challenges that make invading Russia in the winter look like a pleasant stroll in the park.

Mexico is also about equally protected from foreign invasion. I guess their biggest threat would be us, and not without precedent, but they are not a threat to us. And just as Mexico is not a threat, neither are the nations south of Mexico a threat to Mexico. This was all true even in Lincoln’s time.

So, yeah, suicide it is. That includes any kind of internal fracturing.

[bshipp]

I enjoyed this comment. Our Canadian defensive strategy is to simply keep walking away from the attackers. I remain convinced here are many places in Canada that no human has yet laid eyes on.

We have forest fires in the northwest territories that span hundreds of thousands of acres and its a coin flip if they'll even send a plane up to observe them. No one cares because no one lives within 500 km of them.

If you average the number of people per square kilometer, from a statistical perspective, this country is completely empty.

[craftyguy]

canada isn't even in the top 10 countries with the smallest population density: https://wikiless.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies...

[mkl]

Being pedantic, but yes it is. (I investigated as I found your statement surprising). That table is sorted by rounded value, which means the six countries whose density rounds to 4 are in more or less random order relative to each other, and also several entries near the bottom are not actual countries. Canada is the 8th least dense actual country there, counting Western Sahara. Here are the densities based on the population and area numbers in that table (reordered):

  Mauritania: 4.272157756864267
  Botswana: 3.8729690721649486
  Libya: 3.7956278345476657
  Canada: 3.712146921230246
  Guyana: 3.6238062232228834
  Suriname: 3.5159931632279333
  *French Guiana (France): 3.387099863528623
  Iceland: 3.2690582524271843
  Australia: 3.2368791361025395
  Namibia: 2.9702730179990002
  Western Sahara [note 10]: 2.13309022556391
  Mongolia: 2.0268419989310256
  *Falkland Islands (UKOT): 0.2656699252443933
  *Svalbard and Jan Mayen (Norway): 0.04253308128544423
  *Greenland (Denmark): 0.026113459945726992

[bshipp]

50%+ of Canadians live south of the 45th parallel. However, that's only a minute fraction of Canada's land area. I've driven the road between Baie-Comeau, Quebec, and Labrador City, NL/Labrador. Seven hours at 100km/h, at least 5 hours of which the only signs of human life you see are the occasional vehicle driving in the opposite direction. Not much different if you drive around Northern Ontario, or start heading north from Edmonton or Prince George.

So yes, Canada has 37 million people and may or may not rank up there with the lowest densities in the world. But if you actually drive around Canada you'll quickly realize that the entire family is packed into one tiny closet when the rest of the house is completely empty.

[brokenmachine]

Australia's pretty similar FWIW. Everyone lives near the coastline.

[argsnd]

With a strict definition of “country” it is exactly number 10

[not2b]

Mexico did suffer invasion and occupation by the French in the 1860s. The US was busy with the Civil War and in no position to try to enforce the Monroe Doctrine (Monroe's statement saying the US would oppose any European attempt to re-establish colonies in the Western Hemisphere).

[SllX]

A fair point, but that story ends with French withdrawal and Maximillian I’s execution after a Republican victory.

You may be interested in the Revolutions podcast though which touches on these events from a couple of different perspectives, but includes an entire part dedicated to Revolution in Mexico.