And every so often come rumblings of another war, as has happened this month when Eritrea banned the UN from overflying its territory, drawing accusations from Ethiopia that it was shifting troops to the border.The UN Security Council was due to discuss the crisis on October 27th.
Bulgaria, a NATO member state that was part of the Kremlin-dominated Warsaw Pact during the Cold War, on Tuesday confirmed that it had barred Russian military aircraft from overflying its territory due to concern that the planes could be carrying weapons or troops.
British Airways said it was not overflying Ukraine.
Since October, the armed forces have been overflying the zone, patrolling its edges, and restricting access to the area by foreigners.
"I predict that Londoners will be scathing in their condemnation of today's announcement, when confronted with the inevitability of the blighting influence of Heathrow - the risks, noise and environmental impact of overflying London - and its inability to cope with predicted growth.
But its narrative of liberation, its stories of an omnipotent God like a helicopter gunship, smiting Israel's enemies down with plagues, its angel of death overflying Jewish homes but striking the households of the oppressors, its injunction to remember the fate of the enslaved - all these are indelibly political.
In practice, Americans want to know whether Japan would shoot down missiles overflying Japan: current constitutional interpretations seem to forbid it.
The Federal Aviation Administration's area map advises pilots to "avoid overflying" the statue because of "heavy concentration of air tour operations," but it is nonetheless a popular route.
"The strike may also affect flights overflying France and we expect some flight delays and possible further cancellations," it says.
On Monday India ended its five-month-old ban on commercial Pakistani aircraft overflying Indian territory and withdrew naval vessels from Pakistan's coast.
