::::Both of you are amply demonstrating why I made the comment I did above... you guys are veering off into tangential, almost irrelevant, discussions and never getting at the real issue. TFD: are you actually arguing that Puerto Rico is not part of the United States? Virginia, are you actually arguing that definitions pulled out of court decisions, or versions of international law define the topic? 

 ::::I honestly don't have a dog in this fight... so please take my comments for what they are. This discussion is going nowhere fast. If you want real resolution, back away from these insane arguments on minutiae. I can't imagine any other outside editor finds them compelling, on either side. Isn't, and this is the most important part, the goal here to make the best article for the reader possible? And if that means saying the U.S. is ..... and/or encompasses ... , isn't that ideal? I mean no offense here, and please take this within the spirit of which this entire discussion has been... but I think on this issue you guys are losing sight of the real issue, and getting entrenched. 

 ::::It's not helpful, it's not going anywhere, and it's not relevant to the situation. The legal arguments make me cringe. It's missing the point. Let's talk about how best to make this helpful to the reader, and if there are places where a simple explanation wouldn't make it clear, let's talk about those. But can we please stop going around in circles?