Spotlight on:

The Dictatorship of Obstone

“Something Worth Protecting”

Overview • Factbook • Policies • People • Government • Economy • Rank • Trend • Cards

The Dictatorship of Obstone is a massive, orderly nation, ruled by The Warden with an iron fist, and renowned for its free-roaming dinosaurs, ubiquitous missile silos, and prohibition of alcohol. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, devout population of 2.616 billion Obstonians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The relatively small, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Industry, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of The Spire. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 19.8%.

The frighteningly efficient Obstonian economy, worth 451 trillion Marks a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Retail, and Uranium Mining. Black market activity is extensive. Average income is an impressive 172,567 Marks, with the richest citizens earning 6.2 times as much as the poorest.

Actively encouraging climate change is helping reduce winter fuel costs, the government response to disaster victims starving for bread is "let them eat stale cake", it is illegal to distribute Girl Guide Cookies without an advanced food hygiene diploma, and life expectancy is way down but posthuman perfectionism is way up. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Obstone's national animal is the Moth, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is State Ordained Faith.

Obstone is ranked 176,817^th in the world and 4,413^th in the Rejected Realms for Highest Foreign Aid Spending, scoring zero on the Clooney Contribution Index.

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