The NL. won a quick, clean-cut victory in Asia. The Western powers responded confused. Independence was failing in more places and Indonesia could also follow that pattern.

About the year 1560, the people living near Jogjakarta in Java found a strange creature on the beach. It looked like a man, except that it was white. They chained it to a big square stone outside of town where all could watch and laugh at its antics. They called…