I got my facts straight about Maluku and Acheh: 1949. "There must be a score or so of countries the size of walnuts that appear and disappear on a regular basis"?? Where, somewhere deep in the Amazon? If what you now assert were true someone could name them. The borders of the world are all mapped. There are no secret, uncharted territories of the globe where countries rise and fall unnoticed. And "we" didn't take over North and South America. Our long dead predecesors did. Of course what happened then is inexcusable as seen through our more advanced lens of hindsight, but putting those things back is impossible. They made Manifest Destiny happen. To guilt those living today for their actions plays right into the hands of the "blame America first" faction. Besides, two wrongs don't make a right. Are Americans supposed to accept a crime commited today simply because people centuries ago got away with it? I (and Buddha32) have been discussing what is happening in our lifetime, in our global environment, during our watch. An armed invasion of a neighboring country is not something that happens "on a regular basis."