Belgium is not a 'failed state', says former US ambassador

Belgium is anything but the failed state it was made out to be in the international media following the terror attacks in Paris on 13 November, former US Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman (pictured) told television news programme De Zevende Dag. "The only failure Belgium has had, is that it let others control the message," he said.

The facts speak for themselves, Gutman added, citing Belgium's 14th place in the Global Peace Index, which ranks the nations of the world according to their level of peacefulness. The UK is number 39 in the list, and the United States ranks 94th. “If Belgium is a failed state, then the US would have to be Afghanistan," Gutman said in the interview.

When asked why the international media were jumping to conclusions about Belgium and calling it a failed state, Gutman replied, “The international media need to sell papers.”

“It's not a matter of failed state, it's failed journalism,” he concluded, adding that the most dangerous thing about Belgium is its chocolate because of the risk of high cholesterol.