Iraq has been wracked by a wave of the most sustained violence the country has seen since American troops left in late 2011.

NPR: Evening Bomb Blasts Kill 30 In Baghdad

One can say that the capital and the adjoining areas have been lifted and sustained by a credit boom and a wave of income from natural resources.

FORBES: Russian Regional Economic Inequality - Tyumen is like the United States, Stavropol is like Sri Lanka