Every year Transparency International compiles a list of the most corrupt countries in the world. They rank 178 countries on a scale of 10 to 0, with ten being the least corrupt and zero the most corrupt.
Coming in at the bottom of the league table for 2010, with a score of 1.1, is ... the envelope please ... Somalia! Tied for second-worst are Myanmar ("Burma" to the old Asia hands) and ... wait for it ... Afghanistan!
Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore topped the list as the countries with the most virtuous public sectors. China is No. 78, the USA No. 22, Britain No. 20 and Canada No. 6. Canada's ranking improved from No. 8 last year, presumably because the White Elephant Inquiry [Oliphant enquiry, surely! ed.] couldn't pin anything on former PM Brain Baloney.
OK, we all know most of those Third World countries are more corrupt than are we westerners. If you entertain any doubt, click here to see the corruption map. Note how the colours get deeper as you go south and west. So what?!
I'll tell you what. Ask your congressman or MP which countries receive the largest chunk of your country's foreign aid. If you're a Canadian taxpayer, you will be less than pleased, I would think, to know that Afghanistan -- specifically the régime of Mohammed Karzai -- is the Number 1 recipient of the largesse of the régime of "Call me Steve" Harper.
Canada has earmarked nearly $2 billion for "development assistance" to Afghanistan, blithely ignoring concerns about corruption which have been expressed for years and years. Just last week, Krazai admitted that his government receives millions of dollars in cold hard cash from ... wait for it ... Iran!
But wait a minute. The krazai guy is our friend, right? And Iran is our enemy, right? Why would our friend be taking money from our enemy? Turning the question around, why would we be giving billions of dollars to someone who is also in the pay of our enemies?
Doesn't make sense, does it... But then, the whole concept of pouring money down Third World ratholes doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Maybe Hellery Clinton or Lawrence "Loose" Cannon can explain it to me.
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