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Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Bhutan beats Australia

Australia has been beaten into 27th place on the Global Peace Index by Bhutan. I find this result somewhat upsetting - those smug Bhutanese better not come near me, if they know what's good for them.

This index looks like a useful guide to countries you could easily invade if you had a mind to.

5 comments:

stackja1945 said...

Do we not get any points for helping NZ, Japan and Germany with their peaceful ways.

Anonymous said...

Germany and Japan really are the big improvers aren't they.

Penguin said...

These world ranking rackets always provide these groupthink tanks with another opportunity to give the great satan another subtle kick don't they.

Romania's find standing will diminish if it's greatest export gift to Europe, namely filthy gypsies, is ever forcibly repatriated. As the newly installed right wing government in Italy is hopefully considering.

As for plucky Denmark, I suspect that the coming years may find them slipping in the standings as well. For all the right reasons though. My hat is off to them.

Col. Milquetoast said...

This index looks like a useful guide to countries you could easily invade if you had a mind to.

Quite accurate. from the methodology:

Nine (of 24) of the indicators are related to a country's military build-up - reflecting the assertion that the level of militarization and access to weapons is directly linked to how at peace a country feels internationally....

Military expenditure as a percentage of GDP
Number of armed services personnel per 100,000 people
Volume of transfers (imports) of major conventional weapons per 100,000 people
Volume of transfers (exports) of major conventional weapons per 100,000 people - weapon imports I can see as a peace indicator but exports? I guess if you start with the premise that weapons=bad.
UN Deployments 2007-08 (percentage of total armed forces) - so smurf helmeted "Peace Keeping" counts against peace?
Non-UN Deployments 2007-08 (percentage of total armed forces)
Aggregate number of heavy weapons per 100,000 people
Ease of access to small arms and light weapons -because the world would be filled with more peace if people can't defend themselves from thugs with machetes
Military capability/sophistication - because groups with machetes and AK-47s killing people is more conducive to peace than using cruise missles?


Curiously, military spending is tends to correlate with peace (see Military spending map and the war & death map) link

Boy on a bike said...

I love how Israel is ranked lower than Zimbabwe, Congo, Haiti, Pakistan, South Africa and PNG, .

But I know which country I feel is the safest to visit, and it's the one that's got the blue star thingy on the flag.