The U.S., a nervous fence-sitter in the Dutch-Indonesian dispute, last week found its perch painfully uncomfortable. By trying to avoid offending anybody, it offended everybody.

The U.S., a nervous fence-sitter in the Dutch-Indonesian dispute over Netherlands New Guinea, last week found its perch painfully uncomfortable. By trying to avoid offending anybody, it offended everybody.

The U.S. troubles began with a quiet Dutch trooplift to West New Guinea aboard KLM commercial flights. As long as the…