Be a real country!

"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer."
- Frank Zappa

Frank was probably more accurate than he ever thought he'd be! It is unfortunate though, that of the four possibilities he mentions, more countries have always focused on option #4 - nuclear weapons. What a waste?! What if the monstrous amounts of money put into nuclear weapons (the top ten countries in the cumulatively spend over a trillion dollars per annum, these are only estimates) year after year were spent on developing a new beer, an airline or a football team...?!

We'd all be better off with a beer that didn't build into a belly, an airline that always got in on time, or perhaps a football team that combined the experience of the French, the intensity of the Italians and the spirit of the Black Stars of Ghana...!
(all references from the 2006 World Cup teams)

Besides, there would be a lot more real countries. Hey, Lennon said Imagine but Zappa was more specific!