"It is always easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them." -Alfred Adler
A new study ranked 121 countries based on 24 factors to determine how peaceful each nation was. Norway is the most peaceful country in the world, according to the study. Followed by New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland and Japan. Interestingly, none of the top five peaceful countries has ever been targeted by an Islamist terrorist attack.
The US is ranked as the 96th most peaceful country of 121 and is judged to have the same 'state of peace' as Yemen, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Iran; and below Libya, Egypt and China.
'Liberated' Iraq is at the bottom just below genocidal Sudan. Israel (whose long-term occupation of the West Bank and Gaza was supposed to make things so much more peaceful) and 'democratic' Russia and Nigeria filled out the bottom five.
On a related note, the BBC World Service is running a good new documentary series called Winning the Peace. As is fairly well known, winning peace is much harder than, but just as important as, winning war.
"When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."
Update: The Accra Daily Mail boasts that Ghana was ranked as the most peaceful democratic country in Africa.
9 comments:
I'll bet Theo would argue with your inclusion of Denmark. Of course, it's hard to argue when your dead.
For one thing, it's not my inclusion or my ranking. And of course, the comment might be more useful if it explained who Theo was.
C'mon.
You know, Theo Van Gogh, the filmmaker who got in the way of a bullet. This is a glaring and recent example of an Islamist attack. At this point, I don't think political boundaries really matter. I was just noting that Denmark, though not attacked as a nation formally, has had its share of Islamist problems. Remember the Death for Comics thing?
Israelis and Gaza? Gaza? Hamas is setting a fabulous example there of democracy in action. Not that Fatah is any better. Shooting the opposition in the street in front of Mom and Kids seems a little over the top. I can't see how Israel or the US could be blamed for that kind behavior.
The story of Theo Van Gogh's murder and the incredible story of Ayaan Hirsi Ali should immediately come to mind when you think of Denmark and Islamic terrorism.
Those two stories are for me both explicit examples of terrorism defined. I'm a huge admirer of Ms. Ali and her fight for her version of Islam. It would be great if you could use some of your journalist gift to help spread her story too.
As for West Bank and Gaza, there's no doubt that Hamas and Fatah have their share of the blame. But Israel chose to occupy those lands. Hence, they are legally responsible for maintaining peace and security there. If they don't like this responsibility, they're free to withdraw.
And my comment was not about the state of the Occupied Territories but commenting on how the occupation hasn't made Israel more peaceful. All the Six Day War documentaries that showed up recently on account of the 30th anniversary point out that EVEN AT THE TIME, most Israelis wanted to give the land back in exchange for peace, thus recognizing that the long term occupation was not in Israel's self-interest. Most Israelis at the time were right.
For one thing, I am aware of Ms. Ali's story and it is compelling. My failure to write about it is not a commentary on her as much as a reflection of the fact that I have other 'fish to fry' at the moment. You have your own blog and you're free to write about it. I'd be happy to link to it when you do.
As for the other stuff...
C'mon, indeed!
I'm aware of both of Mr. Van Gogh's murder and Ms. Ali's story. As such, I have no clue why you invoke Denmark in the debate, when the country you're obviously referring to is the Netherlands.
The graph may be 'fun' to look at, but it is skewed, as it says, to cite one part, that higher defense spending makes a country inherently less peaceful. It does not, for example, take into account the fact that many countries of NATO piggyback on American security in Europe. Hell, I bet the Swiss are ranked low on peace because of their extensive military preparedness, yet they haven't fought a war in centuries.
Mark,
I'm not sure I follow your example as Switzerland isn't part of NATO.
Conjecture is all fun but it's a poor substitute when the actual answer is available. The link I provided showed Switzerland as being in a 'very high' state of peace, the best ranking.
"Interestingly, none of the top five peaceful countries has ever been targeted by an Islamist terrorist attack."
Just FYI, Hitoshi Igarashi, who translated TSV into Japanese, was murdered (stabbed) at his university in Tsukuba, Japan in 1991. Also William Nygaard, the book's publisher in Norway, survived an assassination attempt in Oslo in 1993. Not the same as targeting those countries, per se, but worth mentioning just to note that even people in the supposedly safest nations are regrettably not immune from such insanity if they happen to offend the wrong people (in these cases by simply doing their jobs).
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