The Economist survey: U.S. as peaceful as Iran, Venezuela, but more than Iraq

I've been subscribing to The Economist since I was a college student, but the quality of their material has been declining for years. About the only worthwhile sections left are science business, so The Husband requested that I renew the subscription. Stuff like this tempts me to cancel:

Magazine suggests U.S. as peaceful as Iran, Venezuela, but more than Iraq

The United States and Iran finished in a virtual dead heat, and way down the list, in a magazine's assessment of the peacefulness of 121 countries.

The United States placed 96th and Iran came in 97th on the global index released Wednesday by the Economist magazine.
The data were drawn from the United Nations, the World Bank, peace groups and the magazine researchers' own assessments, Williamson said.

"We are just mechanics and technicians behind the index," he said. "We are not making judgments about foreign policy."

People without judgment can't make judgements, after all.

Norway was rated as the country most at peace, followed by New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland and Japan. Iraq was in last place, with Sudan and Israel just above.

Some two-dozen indicators were used, including wars fought in the past five years, arms sales, prison populations and incidence of crime.

"The United States arguably has kept the peace since 1945, but with a high level of defense spending," Leo Abruzzese, an editorial director for the magazine's intelligence unit, said at a news conference.

That's how the US won the Cold War.

Leo works at The Economist's intelligence unit. Hmmm.

Western Europe was rated the world's most peaceful region,...

Peaceful, alright.

...although France was ranked 34th and the United Kingdom 49th.

This is what peace looks like in France.

Let's take a look at Iran and Venezuela:

Iran:


Venezuela:


Peaceful, alright.

A Jacksonian was looking at The Economist a couple of months ago.

Update: Gateway Pundit looks at the list.

Update, Friday 1 June: Taranto:

Another example of the survey's absurd bias: Israel places No. 119, ahead of only Sudan and Iraq. But of course most Israelis would like nothing more than to live in peace, as would their leaders. They are forced into frequent wars because they are surrounded by enemy states, almost all of which The Economist reckons as more "peaceful"--including Iran, which comes 22 places above Israel despite its pursuit of nuclear weapons and its president's vow to "wipe Israel off the map." Syria, at No. 77, actually places well ahead of the U.S., despite its support for terrorists in Iraq, Lebanon and Israel. The Palestinian Arabs aren't even mentioned in the survey, which covers only nations.

An embarrassing excercise, indeed.