Aohell

Failed Nations

Full table here... 

The US is #128 out of 146 on the list. That means there are 18 nations in the world that are less failed than the US. It also means there are 127 more failed, so criticize the States all you want, they're still not anywhere near as bad off as Afghanistan, this year's #10, up from #11.

The sad part is how many of the total failures in the top ten are occupied or heavily influenced by the US. Afghanistan's a wreck at #10, and Pakistan's actually worse off at #9 - plunging there from #34 last year. That's not good for Pakistan to be in that position. Its proximity to Afghanistan and the drugs trade in the border regions can only mean worse things for those who actually want to fight heroin addiction in the world. Both states seem likely candidates to become narcocracies.

Haiti weighs in at #8. The US has been attempting to bail out Haiti since the 1920's. So far, no success with the whole nation-building thing. Even though Haiti is so close to the US, it is so far, far away in terms of being a successful democracy. Part of the problem in Haiti have been the thugs who try and take over every time the US leaves. The other part of the problem are the thugs who are put in power when the US arrives.

Speaking of thugs, Somalia's #7 on our Top Ten countdown. Somalia's its own damn fault and folks in the US are damn glad to have the US out of there every time they watch Black Hawk Down. Chad and Zimbabwe take the next two slots on the chart and then we hit a big number four...

Iraq.

Iraq outscores Zimbabwe by a bare tenth of a point on the Foreign Policy scale, but it outscores that African hellhole all the same. Zimbabwe rates somewhat higher than Iraq on "Mounting Demographic Pressures", "Uneven Economic Development Along Group Lines", and "Progressive Deterioration of Public Services". Iraq beats out Zimbabwe in a convincing way on "Legacy of Vengeance-Seeking Group Activity", "Security Apparatus as a 'State Within a State'", "Rise of Factionalized Elites", and "Intervention of Other States or External Actors". Six of one, half dozen of the other... I wouldn't want to live in either country right now.

Cote d'Ivoire beats Iraq by 0.2 points. Ouch. I know how bad that nation fared last year, and Iraq and Zimbabwe are almost that bad. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan aren't that much further ahead, either, which is the scariest thing of all. Sudan beats out Iraq by the same margin between Spain and the US, but less than the difference between #124-ranked Germany and the US.

According to this table, Iraq's about the same as Sudan. Not much difference between the two, at all, in the overall scheme of things.

Put in another perspective, North Korea is ranked #14. North friggin' Korea! When your nation is worse off than both Afghanistan and North Korea, my friend, it's time to bail out, if at all possible. Folks in Guinea, Liberia, and the Central African Republic (#11-13) can exercise their judgment on whether to cut and run or not. The swains of Nepal (#20) decided to have a revolution just recently, so maybe that's in the cards for the folks in the 19 slots above them.

Given the violence in #22 Nigeria, #23 Uzbekistan, #25 Sri Lanka, and #27 Colombia, something going completely to hell in #4 Iraq doesn't seem all that unlikely. The rest of the nations in that top ten are in deep trouble, too, but it's Iraq where the US has the most troops to get caught in the crossfire.

But when Pakistan falls apart, that's the one to get scared about. Never mind Iran building nukes. Pakistan already has them. What happens in a Pakistani civil war or if warlordism becomes the fashion there? What if a popular, yet extremist, faction gets its hands on one of those nukes, complete with its delivery system?

Let this all serve as a cautionary tale to any nation what seeks the building of empires through brute force: they are but castles made of sand on the shores of the sea of history.

Watch out.