The Economist: Nicaragua, Libia and Syria more peaceful than USA?

When you have an agenda, as the economist does, you can cook the numbers to get the data you desire. Libya and Syria lack the means to project violence on other countries, so they don't rate very low on the list. If they had the means, you better believe they would do it. In addition, I guess the economist doesn't consider the state of human rights as being part of a peace index. Try bad mouthing ad in Syria, or Qaddafi in Libya, the outcome will not be very peaceful.