5 ms·

Ask HN: Which country is going in the right direction recently?

Are there any countries that HNers think have been making all the right moves as of late and growing?

juanani 4y ago
incomingpain 4y ago
My country is very clearly not. Myriad of human rights are right now being violated. Protesting the government is basically illegal. Personally as an 'elite' or 'laptop class' I'm not the one targeted generally speaking but eventually they come for you. So I have been looking at where I would go. Caribbean islands certainly have an appeal, but those aside. Same with any countries which im not welcome like the middle east. Low tax rates and low government debt in lithuania is appealing but 15% inflation? Ouch. Also how about your neighbours building nuclear bombs? Basically the same problem for estonia and such. Lots to like with several of these countries but their neighbour(s) are a bit nutbar. Czech republic is looking interesting. Good unemployment, good gdp, low government debt, good inflation, good taxes. Probably a disaster population decline issue incoming. Prusa3d is there. Language is probably a problem. Sudetenland a problem still? Probably far enough away from Russia. Certainly curious. Switzerland, italy, and germany are probably much of the same as well with good situation. That balanced budget amendment is such a huge value, but you have to sit on a cushion during tax season. Otherwise they seem like good destinations. The problem though, language. I suck with language. Australia has a ton going right. I love so much of Aussie culture; language isnt a barrier for me. Family live in the perth area. I would love to meet ajahn brahm. I absolutely abhor their terrible driving laws and mostly eliminate the idea of moving there because of that alone. Then covid happened and omg human right violations that strike fear in anyone. Sure it's mostly east coast big cities and not perth. Flipside, I could own a holden ute maloo... in slipstream blue. Ya but the reason to leave my current country is human rights violations... not going to be moving to australia where they have human rights violations.
- EEBio 4y ago
  Czech republic is a solid choice, but beware there has been a massive Russian propaganda/disinformation campaign going on for decades (not as strong as in Donetsk, but recently growing rapidly). There is also a sizeable opposition against this disinformation pandemic. A couple of years ago a Russian sabotage got an ammunition house exploded and that was when people started talking more about Russians agents in Europe. Sudetenland, on the other hand, I have never heard to be a big problem post WWII and Velvet Revolution. Language will definitely be a problem, even in Prague.
  - incomingpain 4y ago
    >Czech republic is a solid choice, but beware there has been a massive Russian propaganda/disinformation campaign going on for decades (not as strong as in Donetsk, but recently growing rapidly). Russia is Canada's neighbour. Russia has operatives here as well. >Language will definitely be a problem, even in Prague. Like I tried learning french and non j'etais merde. Cant imagine how much effort would be needed to learn a slavic language from scratch. This might be one of the key factors. If my government doesn't start returning our rights and freedom, it's being compared against the main of moving across the globe to a new country and integrating.
    - EEBio 4y ago
      >Russia is Canada's neighbour. Russia has operatives here as well. I am not very familiar with Russian operations in Canada, but my guess would be they are different from those in the post-Soviet countries. I did not give Donetsk as an example randomly. Russia would like take over post-Soviet countries again. Although they would like to avoid armed conflict if possible (for a good reason, as they apparently suck at it), so they influence politicians and journalists and instill anti-Western and sometimes pro-Russian propaganda. There are multiple politicians in Czech republic that have been serving Putin in this way for a long time. > If my government doesn't start returning our rights and freedom I first thought you were from Russia or China. On the grand scheme of things, Canada is a very free country. You will not find much more freedom elsewhere, and if so, then it's going to cost you freedom in another way.
aww_dang 4y ago
There are places which on paper look entirely dysfunctional. Institutions are highly corrupt and development metrics will never happen. The silver lining isn't national level institutions making the right move. It is the defacto live and let live atmosphere created when the state cannot get involved in the minutiae of your daily life.
logicalmonster 4y ago
I find this to be a fascinating question that can be answered in about 1,000 different ways depending on what you subjectively value. I just think it's really hard to objectively answer this because the biggest power-plays when it comes to national health and power on the global stage may involve things like oil pipelines and energy politics that most people understand very little about and other extremely complicated things like demographics that have a big impact on how the culture evolves. The long-term and second-order effects of so many geopolitical moves can't really be obvious to most people until far later, and what's often popular and celebrated on the Internet can often be a short-term oriented win that doesn't create a lasting system or long-term prosperity. Ironically, I think it's sometimes the case that those countries that seem to be doing the worst in the short-term might be the closest to achieving some of the biggest conceivable long-term wins.
bjourne 4y ago
Bolivia, Peru.
readonthegoapp 4y ago
I would tell you, but I don't want to give the US Government any ideas.

Are there any countries that HNers think have been making all the right moves as of late and growing?

My country is very clearly not. Myriad of human rights are right now being violated. Protesting the government is basically illegal. Personally as an 'elite' or 'laptop class' I'm not the one targeted generally speaking but eventually they come for you. So I have been looking at where I would go. Caribbean islands certainly have an appeal, but those aside. Same with any countries which im not welcome like the middle east. Low tax rates and low government debt in lithuania is appealing but 15% inflation? Ouch. Also how about your neighbours building nuclear bombs? Basically the same problem for estonia and such. Lots to like with several of these countries but their neighbour(s) are a bit nutbar. Czech republic is looking interesting. Good unemployment, good gdp, low government debt, good inflation, good taxes. Probably a disaster population decline issue incoming. Prusa3d is there. Language is probably a problem. Sudetenland a problem still? Probably far enough away from Russia. Certainly curious. Switzerland, italy, and germany are probably much of the same as well with good situation. That balanced budget amendment is such a huge value, but you have to sit on a cushion during tax season. Otherwise they seem like good destinations. The problem though, language. I suck with language. Australia has a ton going right. I love so much of Aussie culture; language isnt a barrier for me. Family live in the perth area. I would love to meet ajahn brahm. I absolutely abhor their terrible driving laws and mostly eliminate the idea of moving there because of that alone. Then covid happened and omg human right violations that strike fear in anyone. Sure it's mostly east coast big cities and not perth. Flipside, I could own a holden ute maloo... in slipstream blue. Ya but the reason to leave my current country is human rights violations... not going to be moving to australia where they have human rights violations.

EEBio 4y ago
Czech republic is a solid choice, but beware there has been a massive Russian propaganda/disinformation campaign going on for decades (not as strong as in Donetsk, but recently growing rapidly). There is also a sizeable opposition against this disinformation pandemic. A couple of years ago a Russian sabotage got an ammunition house exploded and that was when people started talking more about Russians agents in Europe. Sudetenland, on the other hand, I have never heard to be a big problem post WWII and Velvet Revolution. Language will definitely be a problem, even in Prague.
- incomingpain 4y ago
  >Czech republic is a solid choice, but beware there has been a massive Russian propaganda/disinformation campaign going on for decades (not as strong as in Donetsk, but recently growing rapidly). Russia is Canada's neighbour. Russia has operatives here as well. >Language will definitely be a problem, even in Prague. Like I tried learning french and non j'etais merde. Cant imagine how much effort would be needed to learn a slavic language from scratch. This might be one of the key factors. If my government doesn't start returning our rights and freedom, it's being compared against the main of moving across the globe to a new country and integrating.
  - EEBio 4y ago
    >Russia is Canada's neighbour. Russia has operatives here as well. I am not very familiar with Russian operations in Canada, but my guess would be they are different from those in the post-Soviet countries. I did not give Donetsk as an example randomly. Russia would like take over post-Soviet countries again. Although they would like to avoid armed conflict if possible (for a good reason, as they apparently suck at it), so they influence politicians and journalists and instill anti-Western and sometimes pro-Russian propaganda. There are multiple politicians in Czech republic that have been serving Putin in this way for a long time. > If my government doesn't start returning our rights and freedom I first thought you were from Russia or China. On the grand scheme of things, Canada is a very free country. You will not find much more freedom elsewhere, and if so, then it's going to cost you freedom in another way.

aww_dang 4y ago

There are places which on paper look entirely dysfunctional. Institutions are highly corrupt and development metrics will never happen. The silver lining isn't national level institutions making the right move. It is the defacto live and let live atmosphere created when the state cannot get involved in the minutiae of your daily life.

logicalmonster 4y ago

I find this to be a fascinating question that can be answered in about 1,000 different ways depending on what you subjectively value. I just think it's really hard to objectively answer this because the biggest power-plays when it comes to national health and power on the global stage may involve things like oil pipelines and energy politics that most people understand very little about and other extremely complicated things like demographics that have a big impact on how the culture evolves. The long-term and second-order effects of so many geopolitical moves can't really be obvious to most people until far later, and what's often popular and celebrated on the Internet can often be a short-term oriented win that doesn't create a lasting system or long-term prosperity. Ironically, I think it's sometimes the case that those countries that seem to be doing the worst in the short-term might be the closest to achieving some of the biggest conceivable long-term wins.

bjourne 4y ago

Bolivia, Peru.

readonthegoapp 4y ago

I would tell you, but I don't want to give the US Government any ideas.