[pjw] INFO: Ukraine #86 ranked world democracy

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello folks
I put together this information over the weekend but have been busy with 
other (mostly Copwatch) stuff, but it's not time sensitive.

Hearing President Biden wax warrior about "defending democracy" in 
Ukraine, I ran across the Economist's democracy index and found that 
Ukraine is actually listed as #86 of 167 countries (51st percentile) and 
as a "hybrid" between authoratarianism and democracy.

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index

The US is #26, "flawed democracy." The UK rates higher at #18.

Russia is listed as #124.

It's hard to know exactly how they define countries or rate democracies 
because the list counts the Palestinian Authority as a country (don't tell 
Israel!) at #109 but gives Israel (which doesn't let all Palestinians 
living under its rule to vote) a higher rating than the US at #23.

I also looked at some of the US' allies and the country whose invasion led 
to the "Gulf War" to defend it:

Kuwait #110
Qatar #114
United Arab Emirates #134
Saudi Arabia #152

I also looked at countries the US has bombed since 9/11.

Pakistan #104
Iraq #116
Libya #154
Yemen #154 (tied, with Libya... and also tied with Iran)
Syria #162
Afghanistan #167 (last on the list)

Somalia is not listed for some reason.

Bear in mind that some of these low rankings are the result of US 
intervention.

Just found that really interesting. And speaking of moral relativism, I 
heard a radio show online, an interview with Russian-American writer Masha 
Gessen (who identifies as nonbinary). I think they have a good analysis of 
how sanctions hurt ordinary people, but found their dismissing comparisons 
between the US/NATO war on Yugoslavia with the Russian invasion of 
Ukraine, well, another example of moral relativism. As Gessen has it, 
because the US had a humanitarian reason to bypass the United Nations and 
drop bombs on Serbia, that was OK (no matter how much depleted uranium 
they spread around, civilian infrastructure they destroyed, civilians they 
killed, presumably). So bearing that in mind here's the link if you want 
to sort out some of their analysis.

https://www.wnyc.org/story/how-russians-see-putins-war-ukraine

I'm also not promising anything here but I'm hoping I can find our fact 
sheets about the war in Yugoslavia, which pre-date our website, so I can 
post them online for historical educational reference.

Thanks
dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group