Borders?

Amazingly, I did't find this on The Onion: Swiss accidentally invade Liechteinstein. And, you know, if you're going to accientally invade a neighbor, the more easy going Liechtensteiners are definitely the folks to march over rather than the more testy Germans, Italians, French, or Austrians. Of course, if your country is roughly the size of Washington, DC, and all your neighbors have standing armies, it's probably very good national policy to be easy going.

(At this moment, a Tom Lehrer lyric about the Germans is running through my head.)

But in this era of international irritability, it's certainly refreshing - and rather reassuring - to see this accidental invasion treated with less to-do than if the Swiss had cut the Liechteinsteiners off in traffic. It's more like the Swiss accidentally veered into the Liechtensteiners lane. Then the Swiss made that "oops - I'm so sorry!" gesture and the Liechtensteiners cheerfully waved that it was okay, no harm done, and everyone drove on.

And, of course, contemplating a nation the size of DC reminds me of that really cool Nick Hornby short story, Small Fish, Smaller Pond that I heard a couple of times on This American Life about a boy whose country is only a few houses, a field, and a cafe.