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The Worst Countries in the World.(Brief Article)
We live in fortunate times. At first glance our age would seem to be characterized by an inexorable, if not unbroken, march toward ever greater freedom and prosperity. More people live in free or liberalizing societies than ever before. More parents can reasonably expect their children to live better lives than they have. More kids can read. More women can work. More countries believe they have a stake in an expanding economic pie.
Yet some nations remain stubbornly out of step with this triumphal global advance. We tend to dismiss them as basket cases--places like Sierra Leone and Afghanistan, Somalia and North Korea. Their problems are so dire, their lots so abysmal, that they seem almost freakish-- failed states with little or no relation to the rest of us. These lands penetrate our consciousness only through some astounding statistic-- say, the fact that nearly three out of four people in Mali subsist on less than $1 a day--or when some particularly gruesome disaster strikes. Only then do we ask, mostly rhetorically, what can they do to save themselves, and what can the world do to help?
We--and they--need to get serious. In an increasingly interconnected world, many of the problems that plague the earth's worst-off countries threaten us all. Wars, AIDS and other epidemics easily flow--like capital and human beings--across international borders. Even these nations' fundamental woes are simply grotesque forms of the challenges that face all societies to-day. The gap between rich and poor, which has spawned a kidnapping cottage industry in Colombia, is widening in the United States as well. The plight of women in Afghanistan mirrors their struggle in so many countries, from Saudi Arabia to Sudan. Those farmers in Madagascar who raze their own teeming forests in order to grow crops are acting out a debate between development and environmental preservation that is taking place in most every country on earth.
These nations are not lost causes. The weight of history often makes their problems seem insoluble. Africa--not surprisingly, the most represented continent in our list--labors under the legacy of slavery and colonialism, economic backwardness, brutal geography and an unforgiving climate. Indonesia seems doomed to instability because of its artificiality as a nation, pasted together as it is out of dozens of ethnicities and thousands of islands. Yet here and elsewhere much current misery can be traced to specific, identifiable culprits-- oppressive leaders, mainly, but also corrupt businessmen, apathetic or irresponsible citizens, fiscal mismanagement.
And that, ...
- North Korea accuses US of inciting "civil war" in Iraq.
- Newspaper article from: BBC Monitoring International Reports March 21, 2006 700+ words
...on a daily average, reminiscent of a civil war. The unceasing clashes among nationalities...have created the imminent danger of a civil war that would engulf Iraq, to say nothing...intensified violence among factions leads to a civil war in Iraq, it will spread like a strong...
- Rice Presses Asian Allies to Enforce North Korea Sanctions; Amber Alert Issued...
- News wire article from: The America's Intelligence Wire October 1, 2006 700+ words
...re welcome, Heidi. HARRIS: The North Korea threat. Here's what we know. This...the United Nations sanctions against North Korea and its defiant nuclear test. Her visit...concerns. We're told activity suggests North Korea could be preparing for a second nuclear...
- Rice Presses Asian Allies to Enforce North Korea Sanctions; Amber Alert Issued...
- News wire article from: The America's Intelligence Wire October 1, 2006 700+ words
(From CNN News) (BUSINESS HEADLINES) HARRIS: Election day now less than three weeks away. This morning, we are going outside the Washington beltway to talk politics in the heartland. Senior political analyst Bill Schneider looks at middle class issues facing middle America. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
- EDITORIAL: Diplomacy pays off: North Korea nuclear disarmament talks might...
- Newspaper article from: Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY) February 18, 2007 700+ words
...talks with autocratic North Korea may be no more satisfying...than the results of the civil war in anarchic Iraq. But...s announcement that North Korea has agreed to end its...impoverished and isolated North Korea must continue its compliance...
- Summer floods may lead to winter starvation, political collapse in North...
- Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service Tofani, Loretta December 4, 1995 700+ words
...There could be civil war, or thousands...the south.'' North Korea is the world...nominal head of North Korea is Kim Jong Il...and even that civil war is possible. In...divided within North Korea as to whether it...
- United States/North Korea: U.S. commander urges N. Korea to return to talks to...
- News wire article from: Thai Press Reports February 10, 2009 700+ words
...both an all-out attack from North Korea and instability in North Korea," he said, "instability...and all the way up to major civil war and potential loose nuclear...unusual military movements in North Korea in recent days. About 28...
- Powell set to discuss North Korea, Taiwan with Chinese leaders.
- News wire article from: The America's Intelligence Wire October 25, 2004 700+ words
...he issued a call for North Korea to return to nuclear...strong comments came after North Korea accused the United States...and China split amid civil war in 1949 and Beijing has...event of an attack. North Korea dominated Powell's...
- US commander urges North Korea to return to six-way talks.
- Newspaper article from: BBC Monitoring International Reports February 9, 2009 700+ words
...both an all-out attack from North Korea and instability in North Korea," he said, adding that...and all the way up to major civil war and potential loose nuclear...unusual military movements in North Korea recently. About 28,500 U...
- Bush offers compromise to resume talks with North Korea.(Chicago Tribune)
- News wire article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service Kemper, Bob Neikirk, William October 20, 2003 700+ words
...President Bush, whose handling of North Korea has aggravated Washington's South...s nuclear weapons program. On a day North Korea fueled tensions by test-firing a missile...to discuss Bush's proposal to give North Korea some of the security assurances it seeks...
- Bush offers compromise to resume talks with North Korea.
- Newspaper article from: Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL) October 20, 2003 700+ words
...President Bush, whose handling of North Korea has aggravated Washington's South...s nuclear weapons program. On a day North Korea fueled tensions by test-firing a missile...to discuss Bush's proposal to give North Korea some of the security assurances it seeks...
Source: HighBeam Research, The Worst Countries in the World.(Brief Article)