[Omah]

Originally Posted by Jesus.H.Christ

There are procedures in place that allow states the opportunity to secede. It's not straightforward, but there is a path at least.

"You really are missing the point spectacularly."

Guam is listed as one of sixteen Non-Self-Governing Territories* by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United Nations. The island's capital is Hagåtña (formerly Agaña). Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands.

The Chamorros, Guam's indigenous people, first populated the island approximately 4,000 years ago. The island has a long history of European colonialism, beginning with its discovery by Ferdinand Magellan during a Spanish expedition on March 6, 1521. The first colony was established in 1668 by Spain with the arrival of settlers including Padre San Vitores, a Catholic missionary. For more than two centuries Guam was an important stopover for the Spanish Manila Galleons that crossed the Pacific annually. The island was controlled by Spain until 1898, when it was surrendered to the United States during the Spanish-American War and later formally ceded as part of the Treaty of Paris.

*

The United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories is a list of countries that, according to the United Nations, are colonized. The list was initially prepared in 1946 pursuant to Chapter XI of the United Nations Charter, and has been updated by the General Assembly on recommendation of the Special Committee on Decolonization and its predecessors.

in 1960, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 1514 (XV), promulgating the "Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples", which declared that all remaining non-self-governing territories and trust territories were entitled to self-determination and independence.

Guam is on the UN anti-colonial list, as are the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar, so why doesn't the US give up "colonial" Guam?

Surely Guam doesn't "belong to a country" 6000 "miles away" and Hawaii doesn't "belong to a country" 3000 "miles away".