Where To Seek Refuge?

For those who don't know, Sweden has one of the largest populations in the world. It infact has the most Iraqi Refugees than any other country in Europe, and is also easily comparable to the United States for refugees seeking better lives. So then what is so great about Sweden and the U.S. that everyone must seek solace? In his article "The Case Against the West" Kishore Mahbubani argues that the Western Countries especially the U.S. no longer have the appeal they've had for centuries. Rather, he basically compares the U.S. to being a competitve teenage girl unable to give up her spotlight and reigning to those who have finally overcome adversity and are ready to shine. So if other countries are slowly growing into higher power, why are they still seeking refuge in the Western World? We're a world of nuclear proliferations, home of President George W. Bush, the home of Democracy, and we love war. How horrible. And along with Mahbubani, his friend Tony Judt in his article "What Have We Learned, If Anything?" believes that the U.S. and the Western World has sullied their names, and history and the past are reminders of the mistakes we've made. Judt even goes on to throw the "I" word out loosely, arguing that the U.S. is "ignorant of it's true significant" and the ignorance "leads to a misidentification of the enemy." Those are some fighting words Tony. So what does this all come down to? Not everyone's perfect, especially the world we are living in. Why not try and make the world a better place by bettering those who live in it first?