Map of Freedom

If you take a look on The Freedom House Map of Freedom 2009 (for 2008) and compare different parts of the world you will see that freedom has shrunk compared to 2007. Interesting is to look on parts of the world as fields and you will realize that freedom differs from region to region.

North America (Mostly free)

Most countries in North America can be considered free with one exception: Cuba. The countries Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Haiti can be considered partly free.

South America (Mostly free)

Most countries South America can be considered free. Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay are considered partly free.

Europe (Mostly free)

In Europe most countries are considered free. Russia, Belarus, Transnistria (De Facto state in Moldova), Azerbaijan and Serbia are considered not free. Bosnia, Turkey, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Moldova, Abkhazia and South Ossetia (De Facto states in Georgia), Georgia, Armenia, and Nagorno Karabakh (De Facto state in Armenia/Azerbaijan) are considered partly free.

Africa (Mostly not free)

Most countries in Africa are considered not free. Mali, Ghana, Cape Verde, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Mauritius and São Tomé and Príncipe are however considered free. Morocco, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Gabon, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Djibouti, Somaliland (De Facto state in Somalia), Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar and Mozambique are considered partly free.

Asia (Mostly not free)

Most countries in Asia are considered not free with some shining exceptions: Israel, India, Mongolia, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Indonesia are considered free. Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Quatar, Yemen, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Kashmir (India and Pakistan), Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong (China), Phillipines and East Timor are considered partly free.

Oceania (Mostly free)

Most countries are considered free and no is considered not free. How ever some countries are considered partly free: Papa New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Tonga.


Lets hope for a better and freer 2009!

Index of economic freedom 2008

Here is the top ten freest economies in the world 2008 (accordning to The Heritage Foundation)

1 - Hong Kong
2 - Singapore
3 - Australia
4 - Ireland
5 - New Zeeland
6 - United States
7 - Canada
8 - Denmark
9 - Switzerland
10 - United Kingdom

Notable is that two countries from the Press Freedom Index (Read last post) also is on the top ten freest economies: Denmark and Canada.

Here is the top ten countries with least economic freedom:

179 - North Korea (also worst in the Press Freedom Index)
178 - Zimbabwe (open for business?)
177 - Cuba (also among the top ten countries with least press freedom)
176 - Burma (also)
175 - Eritrea (also)
174 - Venezuela (Hugo Chavez is probably not the most trustworthy business partner in the world)
173 - Democratic Republic of Congo (...)
172 - Comoros
171 - Libya (as well on the press freedom list of shame)
170 - São Tomé and Prìncipe (Isn't a Tax Paradise synonymous with economic freedom? Evidently not!)

Notable on this Index is some Europen countries with limited economic freedom: E.g. #76 Italy (see: Press Freedom Index), #81 Greece and #146 Russia (left far behind Syria, Djibouti and Nepal).

Also note that Afghanistan, Iraq, Lichtenstein and Sudan is missing in this index.

Media Freedom Index 2008

The Media Freedom Index of 2008 leaves us with no real surprices.

Best ten in the class is (According to Reporters without borders):

1 - Finland
2 - Iceland
3 - Norway
4 - Netherlands
5 - Canada
6 - Ireland
7 - Germany
8 - Portugal
9 - Sweden
10 - Denmark

People in the north seems to love the freedom of expression more than people in the south.
Or does it have something to do with regulations? Maybe there is some lessons to learn from the Scandinavians?

Worst ten in class is:

139 - North Korea (as allways)
138 - China (no real surprise either)
137 - Burma (yawn)
136 - Turmenistan (...)
135 - Bhutan (For a country with a happiness index.. hmm.. interesting)
134 - Cuba (yeah.. well)
133 - Laos (i start to see an south east Asian trend here)
132 - Eritrea (let Dawit Isaak free)
131 - Vietnam (What did I say about south east Asia?)
130 - Iraq (After "Mission accomplished"?)
129 - Libya (I can't imagine Muammar Khaddafi embracing the press freedom)

Notable is also that some "western" nations lands quite low in this index: E.g. United Kingdom (#22), Austria (#27), Japan (#28), Spain (#29) and Italy (#40[!]).

Migrationsverket och yttrandefriheten?

Bloggaren Lennart Eriksson har sparkats från sin tjänst som enhetschef på Migrationsverket trots en dom från Tingsrätten. Verket vill försöka köpa honom fri genom att erbjuda 32 månadslöner men Lennart Eriksson vägrar att ta emot pengarna. Det var då verket störde sig på Erikssons ställningstagande för Israel i Mellanösternkonflikten som de beslutade att han måste gå. Lennart Eriksson har arbetat på Migrationsverket sedan 1980-talet. Han har inte skrivit om sin arbetsplats i bloggen eller skrivit på bloggen från arbtsplatsen. Yttrandefriheten är inskriven i den svenska grundlagen. Jag hoppas att Migrationsverkets chefer känner till vår grundlag och de rättigheter samt skyldigheter som däri är inskrivna. Annars finns det all anledning att känna oro. Det spelar ingen roll på vilken sida man står i Israel-Palestinafrågan eller om man står på någon sida alls. Alla svenska medborgare med en gnutta kurage borde hur som helst stå på de demokratiska värdenas sida. Eller som Voltaire så kärnfullt uttryckte det: "Jag delar inte din åsikt men är beredd att dö för din rätt att uttrycka den".

Ge Lennart Eriksson ert stöd. Gå in på http://lennarteriksson.se/blog och visa er solidaritet med en medbloggare. Börjar vi tumma på yttrandefriheten så dröjer det nämligen inte länge innan våra andra fri- och rättigheter också ryker.