Who claims Russia aggressor and why?

British experts again named Russia one of the most aggressive countries in the world: it is put on 131st place out of the list of 140 countries. It goes without saying, top 20 most peaceful countries are European. Among them is SS Estonia.

Photo: Who claims Russia aggressor and why?

This research was headed by an Australian businessman and philanthropist Steve Killelia. The authors of this research put Russia and America on the bottom side of the 140-country list. The USA is on 97^th place, behind Rwanda, Syria and Mongolia. Russia is on 131^st place, along with Nigeria, North Korea, Lebanon and Israel. Such low US position can be explained by the high level of defense expenses and military activity. Besides, America is the country with the biggest number of convicts. China is on 67^th place.

Index ‘Global world’ is formed on base of 24 standards of ‘peacefulness’. Among them are friendly relations with neighbors, weapon sales and foreign forces distribution. Information about criminality level, number of convicts in jail and the perspective of terrorist attacks in the country is also taken into consideration.

The research says that the number of domestic conflicts in Russia decreased, but the relations with neighbors were ranked as tough. In addition, researchers found out that Russians mistrust each other.

The best results have EU countries. 16 out of 20 top peaceful countries are European democracies. The world needs some countries for an example. This can not be the USA – or the visibility of objectivity is lost. Neither did they decide to put in top 20 Great Britain, probably, because of too fruitful collaboration with Washington. But the rest of Europe is a perfect role model. The top 20 however, didn’t contain Cyprus, Greece and France. Maybe it’s a kind of punishment for behaving freely with EU. The researches, however, explained it in a different way – these countries’ low rating can be explained by high level of militarization.

The first place went to Iceland, which was marked as a country with domestic stability and one of the lowest levels in the number of convicts. Somali, Iran and Afghanistan were ranked less peaceful. Iraq takes the last place the second year in a row. The situation in this country remains tense since 2003, when the US troops interfered. Since that more than 5 million people became refugees.

At the same time the list revealed progress and regress among different countries. For instance, Indonesia, India and Angola made a big progress. Since last year Angola went up for 13 points. Five years after the war in that country is over, its politics becomes more stable. This year Angola is to hold elections – for the first time in 15 years. The biggest drop in list was in Kenya, which was seized with violence after presidential elections in December.

Such pressure on public opinion constantly flows from various ‘serious’ and ‘scientific’ researches, no matter how they are called and who they are formed by. In December 2007 a research company Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the branch of a powerful magazine The Economist put Russia on 118^th place out of 121 possible. It was explained by Russia’s aggressiveness and weapon export and the number of police members per 100 thousand people. At the same time, Norway, that has territorial /// towards Russia, was marked No 1 in the list of most peaceful countries.

A vivid sign of objectiveness and impartiality of this rating can be the fact that the most peaceful ex-USSR country became Estonia. It seems that SS-men are either not counted, or appreciated among the British, especially after the Royal Family member put on a Nazi gown for a night out.

Even Iran that became the reason for America placing its BMD systems in Europe, was placed on 97^th place. This rating is certainly subjective, but at the same time it perfectly characterizes the attitude towards Russia.

If possible, the rating creators would place Russia on the last place – their dislike of Russia is too high. Many years ago Russian Emperor Alexander III said; ‘Russia has just 2 friends – its army and fleet’. Unfortunately, these words are up-to –date till now.

Translated by Lena Ksandinova