Recent discourse in many threads on dkos and elsewhere has been dominated by a marked tendency to focus exclusively on the US’s deficiences, inadequacies and responsibilities for the many ill and evils of all parts of the known-to-be-inhabited universe.

Now, I don’t believe that there is anything inherently wrong with these types of discussions. But what I want to accomplish in this thread is very simply to open up a discussion on the faults and defects of OTHER countries besides the US. I wish in this context to hear only about the inadequacies of any and all nations on earth which have no causal relationship with US domestic or foriegn policy. This is not about passing blame, apologizing for the past or present crimes of one’s countries. The goal is very simply to learn from each other, as intelligent and responsible citizens of the international community, about the various and infinite political and social failings of [b]all[/b] nations:

  1. As a learning experience for myself and others who have very limited access to accurate and reliable information about what’s going on in places like China, India, Australia, ad infintum.
  2. To counterbalance the enormous anount of complaining and sometimes excessive US-bashing which often predominates on the many dkos-related sites.

I will go ahead and provide a very short list of the defects and shortcomings of the US and then I would very much appreciate the contributions of Brits, Germans, Italians, French, Chinese and others citizens of the world along the same or very similar lines.

My criticisms of the US are these, among so many others it would probably take at least a week to formulate them all:

  1. The barbaric practice of State execution of prisoners, many of whom are subsequently proven to be innocent.
  2. The unbelievable numbers of people incarcerated and the squalidity and brutality of their conditions in such institutions. The practical adandonment of any rehabilitative approach to the treatment and the prevention of crime and the almost exclusive emphasis on punishment and retribution. The US is an extraordinarily vindictive society in which 37% of citizens declare themsleves to be in favor of the Lex Talionis and 2/3 support the death penalty.
  3. The US has the largest military apparatus in the history of the known and charted universe. It spends more on military technology, materiel and human resources than the other nine richest nations combined. Almost half of all of the world’s military spending is attributable to the US.
  4. The US illegaly and immorally invaded and occupied a third-world country (Iraq) which it had previously suffocated practically to the point of annihilation though a harsh and relentless regime of trade sanctions. Historically, through the CIA and NSA it had funded, if not outright created, the Baathist dictatorship which gassed to death millions of Kurds in the North and Shiites in the south of Iraq.
  5. The EU provides over 70% of the funding for international reconstruction projects, 50% of development assistence and 47% of all the humanitarian aid provided to the developing world. The US, the richest country on earth in terms of GDP, provides only 36% of such developement aid funding.
  6. The enormous and increasing inequality in income distriution is a moral disgrace and a social time-bomb which is associated with the increasing crime rate. The US is now classified as 24th on the list of indutrialized nations WRT this particular indicator. All but one or two of the 25 member nations of the EU can vaunt a more fair and equal distribution of wealth.
  7. There are more people living in poverty in the US than in all 16 of the nations of the European Union for which their are data avaliable.
  8. 22% of US children have standards of living below the poverty rate. The US is currently in 22nd place in childhood poverty among industrialized nations. Only Mexico rates worse.
  9. The US is rated 24th or 25th among industrialized nations on infant mortality.
  10. There are 250 million guns in circulation in the US. The murder rate is almost four times higher in the US than in Europe.
  11. The US is sadly behind most of Europe on environmental protection. It refuses to sign the Global Warming Treaty, the Treaty on Biodiversity, and the Kyoto Protocal.
  12. The US has refused to adhere to the ICC and is a systematic violater of international law.
  13. It has recently established an international system of gulags in which it holds people suspected of terrorism (often innocent) and frequently uses torture to extract information in violation of international and domestic law and all human decency.
  14. The US has fifty million or more citizens who lack health insurance.

This list is not up for analyis or discussion, it is only here as a sort of template for the sort of thing I hope to see listed for other countries besides the US.

If all goes well, I will post another diary soon asking for input on the positive aspects and developments of the various nations of the world which are represented here and on other sites.