[moltke]

The West has more than paid back the people of those nations with the amount we've given them via social programs (immigrants and the races that were formerly slaves are the largest consumers of these by quite a margin) and foreign aid (without which many of those nations would probably cease to exist.)

[taquacin]

Presupposing the "west" has already made reparations with money to the affected peoples via social programs and foreign is a very elitist point of view. No money could replace all the gold and silver stolen from the America's under Spanish rule. The gold was used as religious decoration. It culturally meant something; you can't just presume you can pay it off; it's non-fungible. Can money account for all the indigenous languages and cultures that have been lost because of colonialism?

In the 70s, the Ford administration and Henry Kissinger cobbled together $50,000,000.00 to go to Argentina. This "foreign aid" was given to dictator Jorge Rafael Videla to disappear communists and dissidents all over the country on the behest of the U.S.

Has "the West" truly paid their dues, or do they have even more blood on their hands?