Rate YOUR Country!

[Inverse Skies]

I agree with everything except the military. Despite its small size and short-comings, we are still a regional power worth at least a 5. I read an article for my Geopolitical studies that said thanks to our collection of F-111s (the fastest plane in the service of any western military capable of carrying a quarter of the bomb tonnage of a B-52 as well as nuclear weapons) gives us better conventional power projection capabilities than China. That's gotta be worth something.

I seem to remember reading somewhere the F-111 was outdated and quite an old service craft which they're were slowly replacing, but I can't remember quite clearly now. Do you know how old that article was?

 

[LongAndShort]

I agree with everything except the military. Despite its small size and short-comings, we are still a regional power worth at least a 5. I read an article for my Geopolitical studies that said thanks to our collection of F-111s (the fastest plane in the service of any western military capable of carrying a quarter of the bomb tonnage of a B-52 as well as nuclear weapons) gives us better conventional power projection capabilities than China. That's gotta be worth something.

I seem to remember reading somewhere the F-111 was outdated and quite an old service craft which they're were slowly replacing, but I can't remember quite clearly now. Do you know how old that article was?

It was probably a recent article. The issue with many of such articles was that they were written by companies such as Lockheed Martin who were trying to get us to retire our F-111s for Super Hornets (a vastly inferior plane). The fact of the matter is that we have enough parts in storage to continue our squadrons indefinitely, the air force loves them, they get upgraded regularly and it is probably the most powerful non-stealth plane in the world. The fact also remains that they are retiring the F-111 in 2012-2015 because that bastard Brendan Nelson (the reason I stopped supporting the Liberals) made a deal with Lockheed Martin, and Australia will indeed be the weaker because of it.

 

[irishdelinquent]

Huzzah, let the Canadian Invasion continue!

Healthcare: 8. We have free healthcare. Unfortunately, our doctors are being lured down south with higher profits, so we have long wait times. But still, free health care. US, give Obama's proposal a chance...it's not socialism!

Education: 6. Our public schools have lower standards than they used to, but I have still seen some quality students turned out. I wish I lived in a place where college tuition is free, though...

Public Safety: 8. I feel highly safe in my country. I live in a low-crime area of a small town, and I honestly don't even lock my door when I go to bed. Also, I'm not afraid of international dangers, because everyone loves Canada (or just feels indifferent to us).

Military: 6. I hate all this crap about Canada has no military. Just because our fleet of submarines is smaller than that contained within a mall in Alberta, and just because we buy reject helicopters, and just because our soldiers have nothing better to do than shovel snow...in jungle camoflage, doesn't mean that.....okay, so our military is more like a 4.

Economy: 5. Our unemployment rate is on the rise, but our dollar is improving. Most of the financial hardships we are enduring now is due to our reliance on the United States, and their current financial defecit.

Foreign Policies: 8. Again, I can't think of many people with a negative opinion of Canada as a whole. Also, we let in boatloads of immigrants, and actually ensure that they have something to offer the country (i.e. won't end up homeless in a month). Also, our peacekeeping forces are amongst the best.

Social Securities: 7. We have a fairly good system in place (at least I haven't had a problem with it yet).

Freedom and Rights: 9. Our Charter of Rights and Freedoms is very all-encompassing, and I don't feel restricted from doing things like speaking my mind.

Government: 4. Our government is currently led by a robot. And the other political parties are calling for an unnecessary election during a recession to try and create a coalition government. They are all tools, to be honest.

Wow, only 59 out of a possible 80 points...that's still almost 75%. But, as I have said before, I LOVE this country, and wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

 

[Inverse Skies]

It was probably a recent article. The issue with many of such articles was that they were written by companies such as Lockheed Martin who were trying to get us to retire our F-111s for Super Hornets (a vastly inferior plane). The fact of the matter is that we have enough parts in storage to continue our squadrons indefinitely, the air force loves them, they get upgraded regularly and it is probably the most powerful non-stealth plane in the world. The fact also remains that they are retiring the F-111 in 2012-2015 because that bastard Brendan Nelson (the reason I stopped supporting the Liberals) made a deal with Lockheed Martin, and Australia will indeed be the weaker because of it.

Luckily I don't think our military needs to be very strong, I can't see us getting involved in a major war anytime soon. I do recall reading something about the F-111's being retired in the paper but didn't know Nelson was behind it (did he used to be defence minister for the Howard government? I can't remember now). He's retired now anyway.

 

[Skeleon]

Name: Germany

Health Care: 7. Some flaws, of course, but generally a great system. I pity the Americans.
Education: 4, 8 before they introduced tuition fees.
Public Safety: 7, I feel very safe. Might be because I live in a rather small city though.
Military: Uhm... 3? We got the technology but not the numbers.
Economy: I'll give it a 5.5, right in the middle, we're strong in exports but our domestic market ain't that great.
Foreign Policies: 8, strong in Europe and a more vocal opponent of senseless wars.
Social Securities: 7, there's a good safety net but sometimes people still fall through the cracks.
Freedoms & Rights: 6, we're mostly free but there are some limits. Generally the way I think it's best, so I might've given an 8. However, every now and then a small court does something stupid (like outlawing antifa-symbols because they feature the swastika) and our supreme court has to overrule them. This overly PC and frankly dumb behaviour is the reason for the point-deduction.
Government: 2. I don't like the FDP, but they've been in office for only a short while. I'd have given our former government (CDU and SPD coalition) a 5 or a 6.

 

[LongAndShort]

Luckily I don't think our military needs to be very strong, I can't see us getting involved in a major war anytime soon. I do recall reading something about the F-111's being retired in the paper but didn't know Nelson was behind it (did he used to be defence minister for the Howard government? I can't remember now). He's retired now anyway.

Yeah but it wasn't just the F-111s, Howard and Nelson sold out many areas of the defence force, in order to push forward the free-trade agreement with the USA, which ended up putting us at an economic disadvantage (which we've thankfully managed to recover from by shifting interests towards Asia). There's no excuse for diminishing a nations defence force.

Yeah there may be no major wars in the future, but there were a lot of experts who didn't think that Britain would go to war with Germany in both the first world war and second world war, or that Germany would go to war with Russia in the second. You never know what's gonna happen in the future and its better to be prepared. Besides, with a stronger military, we might get a bit more respect from our neighbours.

 

[Inverse Skies]

Yeah but it wasn't just the F-111s, Howard and Nelson sold out many areas of the defence force, in order to push forward the free-trade agreement with the USA, which ended up putting us at an economic disadvantage (which we've thankfully managed to recover from by shifting interests towards Asia). There's no excuse for diminishing a nations defence force.

Yeah there may be no major wars in the future, but there were a lot of experts who didn't think that Britain would go to war with Germany in both the first world war and second world war, or that Germany would go to war with Russia in the second. You never know what's gonna happen in the future and its better to be prepared. Besides, with a stronger military, we might get a bit more respect from our neighbours.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that no two democracies have ever gone to war with each other, but I can't remember if that is factual or not. If it is it speaks volumes for how unlikely the chance of a war is in the future, but you never know I guess.

 

[Flos]

Health Care - 5. Oh, the stories that can be told. My parents are still in debt over health care bills that were acquired when my mother was pregnant with me and the aftermath in which I was ill.
Education - 5. We're doing terrible in science and math, but as far as creativity and English is going, America's pretty spot on.
Public Safety - 6. Dirty cops, bad planning, corruption. Every nation has its problems.
Military - 7. I have a problem with our military. We build up our soldiers to think they're invincible (as told by a family friend who's former special ops). Then they get shot and die and PEOPLE WONDER WHY.
Economy - 4. loljobs
Foreign Policies - 32l4jklfasjklfjalsfdjakljfkldsajl WHAT ARE YOU DOING? ...but it's getting better. We're talking with Russia, you know.
Social Securities - 7
Freedoms & Rights - 7. We've been steadily losing them as of late, especially certain minorities and their lack of right to marry. But, hey, at least we don't have a heathen Internet show where you can spy on people all day and report crimes.
Government - 7. Any government that hasn't instigated a draft in thirty years is a good government.

Grass is always greener, am I right?

Name: Germany

Military: Uhm... 3? We got the technology but not the numbers.

I was under the impression that Germany was not allowed to have an army.

 

[ReincarnatedFTP]

I was under the impression that Germany was not allowed to have an army.

You're thinking of Japan.

 

[Skeleon]

I was under the impression that Germany was not allowed to have an army.

Uhm, no?
I think the Allies forbade Germany to have one for a short while after World War 2 but that's long since changed.

 

[Flos]

I was under the impression that Germany was not allowed to have an army.

Uhm, no?
I think the Allies forbade Germany to have one for a short while after World War 2 but that's long since changed.

Well, it went like this. WWI happened and Germany was simply left alone to it's own devices while having to pay unfair reparations. Then WWII happened and the Allies, to my knowledge, invaded and split Germany up amongst themselves and occupied Germany for the majority of the Cold War. But you know this, anyway.

That's quite odd that you'd be allowed to keep an army, considering how well it went the first time. Probably a result of the Cold War, I reckon.

Japan's still not allowed to have an army, though they're allowed to have giant robots.

 

[Skeleon]

Well, it went like this. WWI happened and Germany was simply left alone to it's own devices while having to pay unfair reparations. Then WWII happened and the Allies, to my knowledge, invaded and split Germany up amongst themselves and occupied Germany for the majority of the Cold War. But you know this, anyway.

That's quite odd that you'd be allowed to keep an army, considering how well it went the first time. Probably a result of the Cold War, I reckon.

All that has been reversed over the last 50 years or so.
West Germany was reunited and made into a democracy pretty quickly because the Americans knew they could use it as a boarder marker between the Western and Eastern blocks (with Communism literally next door). And after the Cold War, Germany has been fully reunited, about two decades ago. It's a democratic state and has one of the strongest economies in the world.
If Germany were still divided into 4 (or 2) parts, then, yeah, maybe we wouldn't have an army. But we've (at least West Germany) long since been a sovereign democracy.

 

[LongAndShort]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that no two democracies have ever gone to war with each other, but I can't remember if that is factual or not. If it is it speaks volumes for how unlikely the chance of a war is in the future, but you never know I guess.

The idea that no two democracies have ever gone to war is a peculiar misconception brought on, simply, by Historians claiming that at least one of the democracies in the fight were not actual democracies, when in fact they were. This goes back to wars between the British and Dutch in the 17th century, or even the Romans and Greeks a couple of thousand of years ago.

Besides, there's plenty of dictatorships which may or may not need to be squashed in the not to distant future (such as North Korea or Burma) and countries which might end up in trouble (such as in Pakistan which has always had problems with militant extremists). I don't think war is as far away as everyone seems to think.

 

[Inverse Skies]

The idea that no two democracies have ever gone to war is a peculiar misconception brought on, simply, by Historians claiming that at least one of the democracies in the fight were not actual democracies, when in fact they were. This goes back to wars between the British and Dutch in the 17th century, or even the Romans and Greeks a couple of thousand of years ago.

Besides, there's plenty of dictatorships which may or may not need to be squashed in the not to distant future (such as North Korea or Burma) and countries which might end up in trouble (such as in Pakistan which has always had problems with militant extremists). I don't think war is as far away as everyone seems to think.

Hmmm. I guess I'm an optimist when it comes to these sorts of things, because I just can't see a large scale military conflict happening again in our time. I hope I'm right, because being wrong with something like that would be horrible.