A small island nation facing the threat of a coup: how would they respond? This is the story of the 1988 Coup in the Maldives and of Operation Cactus, the response that ensued.   Before I begin, let us first look into a short history of the Maldives, and how they arrived in this situation. The Maldives, or the Republic of Maldives is located off the coast of India, and is the smallest country in Asia. For centuries, the nation was ruled by ancient dynasties in its capital Malé. In 1887, the Maldives became a British protectorate, a status it maintained until gaining its independence in 1965. Two years later,…