To be honest, I do somewhat understand the point of view but not the US-centric view.

I do wonder why Italy is poorer on average on HDI and PPP than Finland despite Italy having been a “large civilization” back in the day. Rome was flourishing before Common Era while Finland went straight from the Bronze Age to the Middle ages.

Sure, both were Axis powers but this doesn’t explain the difference. Finland paid heavy reparations to the USSR, suddenly developed industry and became “rich” in less than a century for putting money into tech (???)