Spotlight on:

“Wahda, Hurriya, Ishtirakiya!”

The Baathist Arab Republic of Al Fakhir is a massive, safe nation, renowned for its punitive income tax rates. Its hard-nosed, cynical population of 4.146 billion are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, corrupt, socially-minded government stops and the rest of society begins, but it is mainly concerned with Defence, although Law & Order and Healthcare are on the agenda. The average income tax rate is 69%, and even higher for the wealthy. A large private sector is dominated by the Arms Manufacturing industry.

Suppression of pro-democracy protests is a daily occurrence, closed universities are currently being converted into MacDonald's restaurants, Al Fakhir's educational system is the envy of many and regarded as a pinnacle of academic achievement, and people regularly disappear off the streets and all evidence of them is destroyed. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force. Al Fakhir's national animal is the eagle, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its currency is the dinar.

Al Fakhir is ranked 11th in the region and 43,577th in the world for Largest Basket Weaving Sector.