of the "good" that is happening in the world. Number 2 was ridiculous. The world is healthier because 2 million babies in poorer countries now live to be 5? Wow, 5, that's just great. Cause 5 years into existence is so wondrously long. What of their living conditions? Even if they live to be 100, if they live in a shack and make barely enough to survive, is that really "healthy"? No. It's a joke.

And number 5. So, the world is more peaceful. OK. But using U.S. REPORTED violent crime statistics to somehow prove that? First of all, that's what is reported. Who knows how many murders, rapes, etc., etc., go completely unreported. 9/11 happened this decade, Darfur happened this decade, the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't see how the world is more peaceful at all. Yeah, sure, WW3 hasn't happened (yet?), but there is still plenty of death to go around.

And number 3. How can you be so sure of this? The statistics you cite come from the World Bank, but are their measurements accurate? Should their measurement of poverty been adjusted? And statistics can be misleading. According to a study I read a few years ago (which may or may not be correct/accurate), the proportion of malnourished in Africa has decreased... but their absolute numbers has increased. How can the world be so much richer? Maybe for the countries that were already rich.

And in number 6, it's a joke that you used to cliché rationale that "democracies really do fight less". The U.S. has invaded two countries in this decade alone. During Kennedy, we had the Bay of Pigs fiasco. In the 19th century, we bossed around South America like it was a second-class citizen. France: During the 18th and 19th centuries, the French were some of the most brutal colonizers of Africa. And let's not forget the issues they had in Southeast Asia. Britain was also a brutal colonizer, and used drug smuggling to instigate the Opium Wars in China. Oh, and let's not forget how the United States, Britain, and France, all 3 democratic countries, took part in the Eight-Nation Alliance to end the anti-colonial Boxer Rebellion by invading and occupying Beijing. So, no, democracies do not fight less, at all. Yes, democracies will tend to fight those who are not democracies, but if the whole world is democratic, then nobody is democratic, and they the fighting will continue regardless. It's like saying white on white or black on black crime should happen less than interracial crime simply because the black or white criminal has loyalty to their "brothers", when the opposite is actually true.

I really hate unwarranted optimism. It makes people simply ignore problems.

*hugs*

I think the point is that they live till 5 whereas before they would have died almost straight away - perhaps it could have been worded better

Steve

We are really so blessed. Aren't we not? It depends what you mean by blessing... nesiojamu kompiuteriu remontas

Freedom and democracy aren't spreading. The Freedom House and the Economist's Intelligence Unit, who measure the degree to which civil liberties are respected and electoral democracy thrives in different countries, have already noticed that for the last five years civil liberties have been eroded - and this is not only in maligned countries in the developing world, such as Belarus, Zimbabwe and Venezuela, but also in developed ones such as France and Italy. The way the police and the state have handled popular protests shows that the West, too, may be experiencing a "freedom recession" - a process that has already begun and has in fact been met with mostly indifference by Western populations. Americans, for example, are mostly at ease with the Patriot Act; they cheer at the assassination of US citizens who are *suspected* of being terrorists and punished even before their guilt is established by traditionally democratic (judicial) means. This is what fear does to a population - it has always led people into embracing government authority, in the perception that dissent weakens national union and makes the country vulnerable to external challenges. This fear is a feeling that governments are only too willingly to exploit for their own purposes. In Israel, likewise, fear and resentment at isolation and hostility from other countries, has already led to popular support for an ultra-nationalist/ultra-orthodox alliance that is leading that country into theocratic rule. Just recently we've seen ultra-orthodox Jews attempting to forbid ads picturing women from being shown in Jerusalem - and the ultra-orthodox are only growing larger and more powerful in that country.

Liberal optmists are wrong when they assume that the trends that have been taking place for the last 60 years will still be there in the future - that history invariably leads to 'progress'. Is this even true? There have been thriving democracies in the distant past - democracies that at some point were destroyed either because of internal imbalances or due to defeat at the hands of external forces. Athens, for example, reached great power before being defeated by authoritarian Sparta, and engulfed by also undemocratic empires in later history. In modern Europe, too, liberal democracies briefly gave way to authoritarian parties (the Nazis and the Fascists) who exploited national humiliation and economic despair during the Great Depression to lead populations into embracing tough, ultra-nationalistic regimes.

As we can see history is no guarantee of 'progress' - periods of 'progress' may be interrupted or definitely suspended. History is not a straight path that will lead to more progress the more one advances. History is not determined by external forces that always lead to more progress; it is instead determined by internal forces that may or may not lead to liberal progress. The great wealth we have experienced for the last 60 years has undoubtedly enabled democracy in certain parts of the world. Full employment and increasing incomes have led to a greater degree of social harmony - for in such a context people have less of a motivation to follow criminal careers or embrace radical ideologies that threaten established order. Thus governments aren't forced to keep high degrees of regulation over the populace, and democracy can follow suit without being met with much of a challenge.

Can we guarantee that things will continue to be like that? that we'll still as wealthy and as free for the years to come as we're now? The global economy has been in bad shape for 3 years at least already. And as said, the democratic recession has begun even earlier. This hegemonic cycle - the US hegemonic cycle - appears to be ending, and it may be replaced either by a multipolar order or a Chinese hegemonic cycle. Either way, this means that the West, having lost its economic prominence, will also lose its cultural prominence. Losing its economic prowess will also mean that other countries will be more at ease with ignoring what the West defines as 'just' or 'good'. This would mean the end of the trend towards global democratization. And of course, democracy can be challenged in the West itself, as the wealth that led to previous stability is stagnating or decreasing. As a result, people are increasingly defying governments (and the private instituions that support them). And let us make no mistake: governments, even Western governments, may be tempted to respond to that challenge by turning more authoritarian. This, combined with the fear of external threats (terrorism, for example), may spell the end of democratic rule, even in the West.

We should all be more thankful for our freedom, where we can do whatever we like. although the world is not as free as it probably was. But we are free, therefore we are blessed. denver dui attorney

and we should be thankful for our freedom..

We should also be happy about mortgages and the fact that the market is coming back which is actually quite exciting..

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I read for example recently that AIDS infections rates have droped recently for the first time. Also the world is more peacefull, with the exception of the Iraq war and the war in Darfur there were few massive conflicts in the last decade (in comparision to earlyer decades). Miniclip, Starfall, Funbrain, Miniclip. This fear is a feeling that governments are only too willingly to exploit for their own purposes. In Israel, likewise, fear and resentment at isolation and hostility from other countries, has already led to popular support for an ultra-nationalist/ultra-orthodox alliance that is leading that country into theocratic rule.