[dumdumdumdum]

> Throughout history, countries around the world have taken other territories as their own. How many of them have ever been courteous enough to allow referendums to break off again? It is that courtesy that is remarkable, simply taking territory is normal.

Usually neighboring states, which were peer competitors. And even then it's always been seen as an aberration and not the norm. Modern European imperialism was unique in it's global scope and barbarity. Offering a token referendum after you've wiped out the natives or destroyed a society's cultural, economic, religious nature is not the noble gesture you think it is.

[lupusreal]

The moral difference between conquering your neighbor's territory and going around the world to conquer territory is insignificant. In either case you are taking by force land which other people consider their own; how far your technology permitted you to travel doesn't make you any less or more of a scoundrel.