Failed States and the Death of Civilization

SAZ sends a sobering read from Scientific American. Every year, the Fund for Peace analyzes destabilized nations of the world and produces a list of failed states, a list that analyzes demographic pressures, economic decline, suspension of the rule of law, and intervention of other states, among other indicators. The 2008 top 20 are:

1. Somalia
2. Sudan
3. Zimbabwe
4. Chad
5. Iraq
6. D. R. Congo
7. Afghanistan
8. Cote d'Ivoire
9. Pakistan
10. Central African Republic
11. Guinea
12. Bangladesh
13. Burma
14. Haiti
15. North Korea
16. Ethiopia
17. Uganda
18. Lebanon
19. Nigeria
20. Sri Lanka

The SA article examines the role of food shortages in the potential for complete governmental collapse in failed states, leading in turn to worldwide disaster. It's well worth reading. The causes of food shortages are destruction of groundwater and topsoil and rising surface temperatures of the planet.
Of course, there is a plan to save the Earth--it's the Earth Policy Institute's Plan B, which cuts carbon emissions; stabilizes the population; eradicates poverty; and restores forests, soils, and aquifers. Given the alternative, it sounds pretty good to me.

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