> Your comment made me think about the subject in a different way. If 
> we take a specific period (i.e., WWII) and a common metric of 
> "goodness" - say, the percentage of Jewish polulation which survived 
> Nazi occupation, Denmark looks a lot better than Poland or 
> Czechoslovakia.

Interestingly, Japan actively sought to provide means for Jews to 
survive the Nazis, even though they were a partner in arms.

> Israel also comes to mind as a country with limited resources but 
> nonetheless commanding admiration.

That's the sort of comment that's going to get a thread like this shut 
down :-(.
Even though it's true :-)

It may be better to say eg "commanding admiration from some."
It is also, of course, one of the most despised countries on earth in 
some quarters.
I'd hate to have to be the chief decider of moral actions in Israel - 
they are very much in a damned if you do, dead if you don't situation. 
I don't like much of what they do, but it's not hard to see why they 
do what they do, and why doing otherwise may work against them. I 
think we'd have to leave Israel off the list for now.

        RM

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