In military terms, a demilitarized zone (DMZ) is an area, usually the frontier or boundary between two or more military powers (or alliances), where military activity is not permitted, usually by peace treaty, armistice, or other bilateral or multilateral agreement. Often the demilitarized zone lies upon a line of control and forms a de-facto international border.

Several demilitarized zones have also unintentionally become wildlife preserves, as they cause the land which they sit on to be too dangerous for construction and less exposed to human disturbance or hunting. See Korean Demilitarized Zone, Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone, Ben Hai River, Hien Luong Bridge

Generally, "demilitarized" means converted to non-military use or purpose, returned to a demilitarized field. In such meaning the term is often used in former Soviet republics both in Western and local (transliterated) languages.

Although many demilitarized zones are also neutral territory, since neither side is allowed to control it even for non combat administration, there are cases where a zone remains demilitarized after an agreement awarding full control to one state, which relinquished the normal right to establish any military forces or installations there.

It is also possible for powers to agree on the demilitarization of a zone without formally settling their still conflicting territorial claims, implying these are only to be pursued by peaceful means (such as diplomatic dialogue or an international court), or even frozen.

Current demilitarized (mostly neutral) zones

Africa

Between northern Morocco and the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla lies a demilitarized zone. Morocco has never recognized Ceuta and Melilla as part of Spain.

See: Ceuta border fence and Melilla border fence.

Antarctica

Article 1 of the main Antarctic Treaty forbids military activity in Antarctica, though military personnel and equipment may use the landmass for peaceful purposes.

Asia

The Korean Demilitarized Zone separates North Korea and South Korea. It was created as part of the Korean Armistice Agreement between North Korean, People's Republic of China, and United Nations Command forces in 1953 ending the Korean War.

Kuwait-Iraq barrier

The Sinai Peninsula. The Camp David Accords set a limit to the amount of forces Egypt could place in the Sinai Peninsula. Different zones of the peninsula are demilitarized to different degrees, especially within 20-40 kilometers from Israel. Israel also agreed to limit its forces 3 kilometers from the Egyptian border.

UNDOF Zone between Golan Heights and Syria

Europe

The Cypriot demilitarized zone separates the self-proclaimed and internationally unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus from the Republic of Cyprus. It was created by the United Nations in 1974 after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.

Åland (Ahvenanmaa in Finnish) is an autonomous island region on the coast of Finland (in the Gulf of Bothnia). It was made a demilitarized zone in 1856 following the Crimean War. The demilitarized status was later confirmed in 1921 by the League of Nations, after the Åland crisis from 1920 to 1922.

Transnistria - tri-lateral peacekeeping mission. The buffer zone is created roughly outlining the Dnister River that lies between Moldova and the autonomous territory of Transnistria. Since 1999, the Russian Federation has failed to remove its military presence from the region.

A 5 km wide DMZ or GSZ (Ground Safety Zone) under the Military Technical Agreement exists between Serbia and Kosovo following the Kosovo War.

Svalbard: The Spitsbergen Treaty of 9 February 1920 recognized Norwegian sovereignty (so it is ''not'' a neutral territory), ending the territorial claims of all other signatories, and designated the area as demilitarized.

Famous former demilitarized zones

A neutral territory was established between the British territory of Gibraltar and Spain after the end of the 1727 siege. A strip of land 600 toises (around 1.2 km) long, being more than 2 cannon shots distance between the British guns and the Spanish guns was called "the neutral ground" and shown as such on older maps. In 1908 the British constructed a fence in a portion claimed to be the British half of the neutral territory. Spain does not recognize that the UK has any right to sovereignty over the isthmus, including the border. (see Disputed status of the isthmus between Gibraltar and Spain) and asserts it is Spanish soil. Although both the United Kingdom and Spain are part of the European Union the border is now a ''de facto'' international frontier with customs and immigration checks. As Spain does not formally recognise it as 'a frontier' it refers to it as 'a fence'. Whatever its name, the crossing remains relevant, as Gibraltar opted out of the European Union Customs Union and is not part of the Schengen area. It is open 24 hours a day with customs duties payable on certain goods entering Spain or Gibraltar.

The German Rhineland was made a demilitarized zone after World War I by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. Rhineland was re-occupied and re-militarized in 1936 by Nazi Germany in violation of international treaties.

Saudi-Iraqi neutral zone, originally established in 1922 but disbanded officially since 1991.

Saudi-Kuwaiti neutral zone, originally established in 1922 but was disbanded by mutual agreement since 1970.

Israel and Egypt: Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, a DMZ, the El Auja Zone was created by the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and Egypt.

Israel and Jordan, following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War:

*The Israeli enclave and Jordanian area on Mt. Scopus was designated as a DMZ.

*The area around the Latrun salient.

Israel and Syria: Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, 3 DMZs were created by the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and Syria.

China: Japanese forces conquered Manchuria between September 1931 and February 1932, when they proclaimed the region to be the state of Manchukuo. In May 1933, the Tanggu Truce between China and Japan was concluded, which established a demilitarized zone between Manchukuo and China proper.

Vietnam: The demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam was established in April 1954 as a result of the Geneva Conference ending the war between the Viet Minh and the French. The DMZ in Vietnam lay at the 17th parallel north. In reality, the DMZ extended about a mile on either side of the Ben Hai River and west to east from the Lao border to the South China Sea.

Norway and Sweden established a demilitarized zone of one kilometre on each side of the border after the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905. The zone was disbanded by mutual agreement in 1993.

See also

Ben Hai River

Combat zone

Foreign relations of North Korea

Green zone

Hien Luong Bridge

Korean Demilitarized Zone

Nicosia, Cyprus

No-fly zone

Rhineland

UNIKOM

Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone

References

External links

Category:Military terminology

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name	Morgan Webb
birth date	October 05, 1978
occupation	Television presenter, producer
spouse	Rob Reid }}

Morgan Ailis Webb (born October 5, 1978) is a co-host and senior segment producer of the G4 show ''X-Play'', and host of the show ''G4 Underground''. She was previously the host of the podcast ''WebbAlert'' and a monthly columnist for the United States edition of ''FHM'', where she contributed a monthly video game column entitled "Tips From The Gaming Goddess".

Career

Webb attended UC Berkeley from 1996 to 2000. She developed computer skills in her free time there, and after graduating from college, worked for a dot-com company as a website administrator. After the company went under during the dot-com bubble burst of 2000, her friend Catherine Schwartz got her hired at TechTV in 2001, and Morgan became employed as the associate producer and web researcher for ''The Screen Savers''. Throughout 2002 and 2003, she also regularly co-hosted TechTV's ''Call For Help'' with Chris Pirillo. In April 2003, Webb left ''The Screen Savers'' to co-host ''X-Play'' with Adam Sessler.

Webb is one of only six TechTV personalities, including Adam Sessler, Sarah Lane, Chi-Lan Lieu, Kevin Rose, and Brendan Moran, to survive the massive layoffs resulting from the May 2004 merger of G4 and TechTV. Since G4's later change in format, only Sessler and Webb remain with the network. Their show, which is still called ''X-Play'', aired its 500th episode in early 2007, and its 1000th episode on February 1, 2010. and currently broadcasts three new episodes per week.

In August 2005, Webb became a contributing game columnist for ''FHM'', alongside her regular hosting duties on ''X-Play''. Her monthly column was titled "Tips From The Gaming Goddess". Readers were encouraged to email Morgan their video game-related inquiries; she would then answer one question each month. In February 2007, Webb wrote her final column for the magazine that discontinued its U.S. publication in March. She also hosted the short lived ''Free Stuff'' on G4 until it was canceled in June 2007.

From August 2, 2007 to January 25, 2009, Webb had a daily [Mon - Fri] video blogging initiative called ''WebbAlert''. These videos were 5–6 minutes in length and consisted of a recap of popular technology news of the day. On occasion, Webb departed from the regular news format in favor of an episode on one particular topic of interest. Examples included a recap of the annual TED Conference, a viral video special showcasing "future 'Darwin Award' winners", and tech-centric "Holiday Buyer's Guides". In January 2009, Webb suspended ''WebbAlert'' indefinitely due to issues with maintaining it on a daily basis concurrently with her hosting duties on ''X-Play''.

On February 25, 2009, G4 announced that Webb would be the host of their new show, ''G4 Underground''. A weekly series that profiles a wide range of people and topics that are of interest to the "internet generation," it premiered March 29, 2009 at 9PM ET.

Personal life

Webb was born on October 5, 1978 in Toronto Canada. As an infant and small child, Webb appeared in advertisements for Gerber baby food, Kenner Toys, and most famously, an ad for McDonald's, where she recited the ingredients of the Big Mac to a game of Pat-a-cake. Though Webb's parents refused to let her watch television as a child, she made up for it by playing video games. She began with an Atari, primarily the game ''Combat'', but as technology progressed, ''The Legend of Zelda'' and ''Phantasy Star'' became two of her favorite games.

After Webb graduated from high school, she left home to attend UC Berkeley. There she earned a bachelor's degree in rhetoric (with a minor in Italian) in 2000.

On August 19, 2006, Webb married Rob Reid in a service at City Hall in San Francisco, California. Reid founded the music website ''Listen.com'', and was involved in the creation of the RealNetworks music service Rhapsody (which was based on Reid's ''Listen'').

Media appearances

Throughout 2004 and beyond, Webb was featured in numerous issues of print publications. ''Maxim'' magazine spotlighted her in their July 2004 issue. ''FHM'' featured a five-page article in their November 2004 issue, and also had her listed in three consecutive years for their annual ''The 100 Sexiest Women In The World'' article: #73 in 2005, #62 in 2006, and #51 in 2007. Other magazines have featured her as well, voted "Hottest Woman of the Year" in RTD's 2006 Top 10 countdown and in an article in the Fall 2006 Edition of ''Colleges.com U Magazine''.

In April 2004, Webb, along with fellow TechTV personalities Sarah Lane, Laura Swisher, Catherine Schwartz, and Melanie Kim, were included in the "TechTV's Sexiest Techie" poll sponsored by ''Playboy'' magazine. TechTV viewers could vote for their favorite girl via the ''Playboy'' website, and the winner of the poll would be offered a nude photo spread in a future issue of ''Playboy''. Webb won the poll but she immediately refused, despite being "very flattered" by the photo shoot offer, citing her own personal reasons and her parents' objection to the idea.

Webb has appeared in the music video "Strange New Element" from the band Low Water. She makes her appearance near the end of the video alongside other fellow TechTV personalities, including Catherine Schwartz, Sarah Lane, Laura Swisher, Chi-Lan Lieu, and Sumi Das. In addition to appearing in Low Water's music video, Morgan is featured in the artwork of the band's album, ''Hard Words In A Speakeasy''. She additionally provided her own vocals for "X-Play: The Musical", which aired in February 2007. She is a frequent guest on various talk shows, including ''The Tyra Banks Show'' (in February 2008), ''Chelsea Lately'' (in early 2009), and ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' (on April 15, 2009). She is also a frequent guest-host on G4's ''Attack of the Show!''. On June 17, 2009 Webb appeared on KCRW Radio, as part of the station's ''Guest DJ Project''.

On June 21, 2008 Webb along with her ''X-Play'' co-host Adam Sessler, participated in the 50th Annual ''Hollywood Stars Celebrity Softball'' game at Dodger Stadium. The five-inning charity exhibition saw Webb and Sessler competing on opposing teams, with Morgan playing in outer left field and making one appearance at bat. She was retired after she hit a pop-fly to first base. Despite this, Morgan's white team defeated Sessler's blue team by a score of 5 to 2.

References

External links

Morgan Webb's Official Myspace Page

Strange New Element at youtube.com

Morgan Webb's X-Play Bio

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:People from Toronto Category:TechTV Category:X-Play Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:Video game critics