Among peaceful nations: We're the number one! ...err, uh, make that number 96 !!!

On several ranking of nation states previously quoted on this blog -- environmental quality, strength of public education, health of democracy, etc. -- the good old U.S.A. has been significantly down in the ratings recently. Hence, I looked eagerly at a new study, "The Global Peace Index" prepared by the Vision of Humanity organization, a joint project of the Economist magazine and the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney, Australia. The study polled "an international panel of peace experts from Peace Institutes and Think Tanks" and rated the world's nations on several categories: measures of ongoing domestic and international conflict; measures of societal safety and security; measures of militarisation, etc.

The United States came in at number 96, just behind Yemen but a notch better than Iran. Will this study get much attention here? Probably not. Americans know that "We're Number One" in every way, including in our role the world's best hope for enduring peace.