On May 28, 1987, a young German named Matthias Rust was able to land his Cessna plane inside the Soviet Union, in Moscow's Red Square. Rust was only 19. He flew from Finland to Moscow and was several times tracked by Soviet radar -- yet, he was never engaged, and remarkably, was not shot-down. He landed and a surprised crowd of curious onlookers greeted him; he was then quickly arrested, given a trial, and sentenced to four years in a Soviet prison (he served just over one full year).
The incident was damaging to the reputation of the Soviet Military -- they had claimed their defenses were unable to be penetrated. Two years later would see the collapse of the Berlin Wall, dividing West and East Germany, and in 1991 "Soviet" Russia would follow.

St. Maarten, April 29, 2009.
The island is beautiful! We've seen Nassau, St. Thomas, and now St. Maarten... and this is my favorite. This island was
"discovered" by Columbus in 1493, who "claimed" it for Spain. It was the Dutch who took real interest (Spain had its sights set on bigger pieces of land -- Puerto Rico) and by the 1630's it would be Dutch-occupied. The French, too, wanted the island, and it was jointly-occupied through the later 1600's when a Treaty was made. The island today is divided by the "Dutch" side and the "French" side. Both sides of the island provide for tourist shopping and exploring havens.