Last night I was at a talk given by Ambassador Cellucci who was visiting Queen's. One of the inane questions from the crowd was "Why does the US violate the Treaty of Westphalia?"
Er, possibly because Westphalia was proclaimed 24 October 1648 and the Declaration of Independence was accepted on 4 July 1776, and so barring time travel there's no way that the US could have been a signatory. England wasn't involved so no inheritance-of-obligation claim is possible. The governments who signed the treaty no longer exist, the continent not being known for the duration of its institutions. And, of course, the treaty has since been ignored in its particulars by the descendants of all the players, so even IF the US had been a signatory AND the treaty was still in formal effect, there'd be about as good a case for de facto abrogation as I've ever seen.
Long story short: God forbid that either facts or reason stand in the way of Yank-bashing by allegedly educated young Canadians.
Cellucci acquitted himself quite well.
DSM, that sounds like a question from a first-year political science student who'd just learned what the Treaty of Westphalia is, and had to study it for an upcoming midterm.
As they say, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing...