[Mike12]

Again, that makes no sense.

As far as the goofy poll goes, my take is simple. Is there one I could go to without there being serious risk, or imminent danger. The answer is simple, and singular, Israel is a lot more civilised than the rest, as long as you're not Palestinian..

So you qualified yourself twice. Now everywhere on the list you got through a guard to a crazytown. They should have a politic-syndrome, Pakistan is an ally of America everything's all arranged. When I stayed in Pakistan at the Starbucks for the Americans in Pakistan... blah blah blah.... How do you know Israel? Now again, I'm going to eastern Russia where no one lives anyway except 10 survivors on the "Alone" show, which is a fun show, and a I get a log cabin and a song, and nobody gets too close and I pay my taxes.

[Truth To Power]

greatest economic miracle in the history of the world.

Indisputably.

Nixon shook hands with Mao in '72 so that means that trading with China and that means economy works that means hooray economic miracle, what...

No. Lots of stagnant, poverty-stricken $#!+-holes -- like India -- have had trade with the USA, but not experienced China's miracle. China's economy didn't improve until Deng dismantled Mao's socialist Cultural Revolution $#!+-show and replaced it with Hong-Kong-style geoism.

Or then what, you'd have had no opinion right?

Wrong.

Man with tank crosswalking? Besides... tianamen square. Tank Man, a protester who tried to stop Chinese tanks moving through Tiananmen Square.

No idea what you think your point is. China achieved an economic miracle with geoism despite being a political tyranny. So?

Thats literally what you're saying.

Nope.

I bet a cheap product got worked through a sweatshop at minimal cost and had a price mark up that got counted BIG.

Huh?

[Mike12]

Indisputably.

No. Lots of stagnant, poverty-stricken $#!+-holes -- like India -- have had trade with the USA, but not experienced China's miracle. China's economy didn't improve until Deng dismantled Mao's socialist Cultural Revolution $#!+-show and replaced it with Hong-Kong-style geoism.

Wrong.

No idea what you think your point is. China achieved an economic miracle with geoism despite being a political tyranny. So?

Nope.

Huh?

100% planned economy is a miracle whenever a suit decides it is for a little while. did you read about all the ghost towns. of course thats possible and of course thats logical. the president built himself a ghost city. The president builds whatever. "the economic value of land, natural resources, and opportunities should be shared equally by all members of society. "? Geoism*
Well thats not the point, how will you feel when the power company decides where to build the roads and the amenities and the shopping and whats cool. lightning symbol i'm danger.

[Truth To Power]

100% planned economy is a miracle whenever a suit decides it is for a little while.

China's economy is not 100% planned, not even close. And the fact that China's people enjoy far greater material prosperity than 40 years ago -- or ever in its history -- is not a decision by some suit. It's an indisputable fact.

did you read about all the ghost towns. of course thats possible and of course thats logical. the president built himself a ghost city. The president builds whatever.

I did stipulate that China's miracle was achieved despite its heritage of Marxist-socialist tyranny, poverty, stagnation, inefficiency and corruption. I can see China has made some very serious mistakes -- especially over-subsidizing landholding, not justly compensating people for removal of their liberty to use land, and adopting the debt-money system of finance capitalism -- for which it is paying and will pay a steep price.

"the economic value of land, natural resources, and opportunities should be shared equally by all members of society. "? Geoism*

Close enough to an accurate definition. Of course China is not a democracy, and so does not actually implement this ideal, not even close. Hong Kong did better, but still didn't get very close to the ideal.

Well thats not the point,

Yeah, it is.

how will you feel when the power company decides where to build the roads and the amenities and the shopping and whats cool. lightning symbol i'm danger.

The power company is not the community, and in a democracy, does not exercise such authority.

[Mike12]

China's economy is not 100% planned, not even close. And the fact that China's people enjoy far greater material prosperity than 40 years ago -- or ever in its history -- is not a decision by some suit. It's an indisputable fact.

I did stipulate that China's miracle was achieved despite its heritage of Marxist-socialist tyranny, poverty, stagnation, inefficiency and corruption. I can see China has made some very serious mistakes -- especially over-subsidizing landholding, not justly compensating people for removal of their liberty to use land, and adopting the debt-money system of finance capitalism -- for which it is paying and will pay a steep price.

Close enough to an accurate definition. Of course China is not a democracy, and so does not actually implement this ideal, not even close. Hong Kong did better, but still didn't get very close to the ideal.

Yeah, it is.

The power company is not the community, and in a democracy, does not exercise such authority.

So Nixon shook their hand in '72. Like the Greek story of King Midas. or the Greek story of Jesus. Or the Greek story of Europa. or the Greek story of Athena knowledge is smart. Asian (n.)
late 14c., "inhabitant of Asia (Minor)," from Latin Asianus (adjective and noun, "belonging to the province of Asia;" "an inhabitant of Asia"), from Greek Asianos "Asiatic," from Asia

[Mike12]

Its Scotland Merida and Asia Mulan I guess (when's Korea?)

[Patrickov]

Of course Israel. They care for their own people.

I am also sympathetic to Iran but wrong camp is wrong camp.

Cannot say I have high opinion for the rest, although I like North Korean music.

[Skynet]

Saudi-Arabia, MBS is brutal but moderne. He will create a new and better Dubai, Noem.

[Wels]

I picked Russia. Its a boring capitalist democracy. [...]

Russia ceased to be a "democracy" long ago. Those who want democracy are either silent (so they are not being imprisoned) or dead.
And some russians do not want democracy anyway, ask Antunov

edit: Some sh!tty choices. I picked Israel. Not for the landscape. I would not really want to live in this region anywhere, and no one would let anyone of us anyway.
Hard to decide even taking into account all other places on earth. Apart from natural living conditions set by the environment, too much nationalist natives everywhere, let alone learning all those languages.

[Dimetrodon]

I hate all of them as they’re all terrible, but I think Iran is the best as they were willing to sign a deal with the U.S., which shows some desire for peace. A deal we unfortunately pulled out of.

That being said, Iran is still pretty regressive on social issues.

Israel seems to want to get us into a war, Saudi Arabia is worse than Iran, and North Korea needs no introduction. Russia started a brutal war with Ukraine and has China’s support.

[Drlee]

For me there were two choices. China and Israel. Playing the game honestly and not just trying to be edgy, I came up with two answers.

If you want to know where I would most like to live as an old man, I suppose I would choose Israel. Good health care. Reasonable respect for the elderly. China is still hard on old people WRT covid.

That said. If I were a young or middle aged person I would (and did) select China. Although the US won't admit it, we already won the societal "war" with China. It probably has a "freer" economy than we do now, reasonable health care for those who can pay and not likely to get invaded. Also I find it exciting. I imagine that there is a sense of enthusiasm in the young people for the future they may have. It executes people far too much. It censors far too much. But frankly the US could do with some judicious censorship right now. And though we execute a lot of folks we have also privatized that function by making sure every unlicensed fool has a gun. I mean we have until recently a president whose entire story is a misinformation campaign. Chinese people are attractive. Very intelligent. (One of the highest IQ averages in the world. Israel is in the dumb ass taken as a whole.) And my money would go a very long way in China.

[Mike12]

coun·try
[ˈkəntrē]
NOUN
a nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory:
I swear its exactly why I've hated everyone on the whole thread when I voted Russia and a log cabin and siberia.... last week....
You people are like, you like Chinese people with their Government they went for, you don't understand the vocabulary. Its going to be that Inception scene in a Dream where you get found out and partisans turn on you, every country there.

[Crantag]

I went with China. I lived in China for two years and it's a cool place in my estimation.

[Unthinking Majority]

Israel, despite its flaws, is the lesser threat to myself, so they win.

[JohnRawls]

If a war starts with one of them:
1) NK is gulag and death by starvation.
2) SA and Iran has a high chance of beheading by radicals through propaganda.
3) China will send you to a reeducation camp but you will be fine.
4) Russia probably will follow you with fsb but nothing else happens.
5) Israel you get drafted or forced to defend the country but also win the war.

Russia and Israel choices seem best but Russia has too much other baggage so Israel it is.

[Tainari88]

Ah, I did. But the "Other" option defeats the purpose of the poll, to be frank. It's about trying to see positives in countries you have knee-jerk negative reactions about. @Negotiator got the idea, while @late and @Rancid are being boring.

If I had to pick a non-China option from the poll, for example, my instinct would be Iran or Israel. Iran is semi-democratic but I don't like the idea of a theocratic oligarchy having a veto over everything. The regime tends to be rational in a way I can't say about North Korea or Russia, and less repulsive than the Saudis. They're caught on the wrong side of a geopolitical struggle, but I can't really blame them for it. Even a secular democracy in Iran would be a bogeyman of the West and its proxies in the region simply because it would have replaced the Shah and not been as loyal a stooge. I think if the US-led West could drop its pride, negotiate in good faith, and sever its relationship with Israel, Iran would probably be the next-best partner in the region, morally and ideologically. Barring that, I hope the EU steps forward and starts looking for non-US partnerships with Iran and China.

Israel is also fine, if, like Iran, captured by a conservative political oligarchy and a militant religious minority. And, unlike Iran, if you ignore the apartheid settler colonialism ongoing in Palestine. But generally fine and progressive. I dislike the tendancy among Western leftists to ignore that the Islamic fundamentalist reaction to Israel, which I understand, would also mean a step backward for most women and sexual minorities in the region should the infitada ever succeed. Sure, there are some progressive and left-wing actors within the Hamas-led coalition, but I expect they'd meet a fate similar that the left-wing and progressive allies of the Iranian ayatollah met once the Shah was out of the picture.

I would break it down in continents. The country I would not mind living in the Asian continent would be Singapore, the Phillipines, Vietnam or Malaysia.

The countries I would not mind living in for the rest of my life in Latin America? Chile, Argentina, Peru and Colombia. I do not include Mexico because I love living here now and would consider one of the others in my list as a secondary choice.

In Africa, I would go for Kenya, Madagascar, Zanzibar, Senegal or Cape Verde.

In Oceania I would like to visit New Zealand and might live there. Also some little islands like Fiji as well.

In Europe? Portugal for sure, and Italy, Spain and Croatia.

I think that is an accurate list.

[ingliz]

To live? Russia because I've got family there.

[Fasces]

Ingliz life as a former KGB agent is confirmed. Left behind when the Iron Curtain fell, eh?

[AFAIK]

I chose China because of its ability and determination to place the state above capital.

It's interesting that many people interpreted the poll as if it were posted on a travel forum.

[Verv]

I would like to emphasize that it is inappropriate to look down too much at any of these countries because, while outcasts, they are doing some pretty pioneering stuff... I am not saying it is always ethical, but you don't get on this list unless you are sticking to your guns and coming to the world stage from a different angle.

There's really something to be said about that.

I voted for Iran... Yes, of course, the government is problematic and has its share of hypocritical kleptocrats. But these guys are trying to do Islam from a principled perspective in their own tradition, and they even have a lot of analysis about modernity... Another important thing: they never back down on their stances on geopolitics and stay active, risking a lot in the process, and even making gains.

Controversial choice, sure, but what is life without a little controversy..?