Exhibit 1: Guinea. A State Department spokesman had this to day about the outrage du jour by the dictator du jour: “We demand the immediate release of opposition leaders and a return to civilian rule as soon as possible. The United States will continue to monitor the extralegal actions of the military and government as well as work with its international partners . . . to support a peaceful transition in Guinea.” Why? What are we doing “demanding” anything? There is probably no place in the world less relevant to vital American interests, or to geopolitics in general, than Guinea, so how about we ignore it altogether and let the people there make their own way in the world.

Exhibit 2: American Samoa: The tsunami’s impact is terrible and I’m happy to send disaster assistance. But why is there still an “American Samoa”? We gave independence to most of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (except for the Northern Marianas), giving them aid in exchange for no Chinese naval bases. American Samoa may prefer to remain a colony (like the Marianas and Puerto Rico do, clinging for dear life to their gravy train), but it’s not their decision, and we need to get out of the colony business.