Do #flags directly speak to the core character of a nation?
Let's take a journey. What do #colors convey?

(Note: These are my views, and may be irreverent.)

A thread.

#Argentina: The albiceleste.
The sea on both sides. The sun at the centre.
Mainly peaceful. Perhaps, too much hope and prayer.
Too much reliance on fate (or what nature will bring).
Too little progress.

#Afghanistan
Black for a proud culture and people.
Red for a tradition of upheaval, violence and wars.
Green for an unconquerable land.
That emblem - is that an overbearing, restrictive state state? Look at the binding ribbons!

No place for progress. Not a place for prosperity.

#Belgium
Black for a proud culture and people at home.
Gold for prosperity, in the centre.
Red on the outer edge for violence abroad. Who can forget what Leopold II did to the Congo?

#Bosnia, before 1918 and after 2000.
The strife is unmistakable. A fight for prosperity? The partitions are plain and disturbing. Excessive energy leading to unnecessary instability. Easily eruptible.

#Brazil Celestial. Prosperous. Abundant.
This country has the perfect flag. It faithfully looks up to the many stars in its realm, yet aims to prosper right in the middle of its abundant land.

#Brunei
Gold for all the wealth and prestige you can imagine.
White for a peaceful nation.
Black for a proud culture and people.
A state that is religious but perhaps (red) brutal?

#Chile One proud star in a small sea. Hopeful but limited. Peaceful and likely to prosper.
However, it has a huge underbelly of violence and destruction.

#China Gold stars for prosperity. Red pool for brutality.
Basically, one huge gold star worshipped by the satellites.

You may prosper here, if you worship the state. Everything else ends in blood and tears.

#CongoRepublic
The land and natural resources are vital. Prosperity is possible and an aim. However, what about all that violence.
The state seems to play a minor role, or the place is just an anarchist jungle. Survival of the fittest?

#Croatia War seems to dominate thinking.
Even the peace they protect is tenuous. The state is a mottled shield, both helpful and dangerous. Luck is important here.

#Denmark Is this a gift wrapped in a background of brutality? These folks are not peaceful, though they may show goodwill to every side.

#Djibouti The blue sea is an important resource, and so is their strategic land.

A small red star in a large triangle of white. These folks seek peace, but their state is a cauldron of boiling war-craft.

#DRCongo #CongoRD An endless ocean of wealth split right in the middle by a relentless river of blood. Unstable.

That violence seems to generate sizeable profit for both sides of the conflicts. The state is fabulously rich, but only partly in control.

#Egypt Brutal, warlike and proud. The state has a long, prestigious and soaring history. It has lived in peace within itself, and has a bedrock popular cultural heritage.

#England Not a gift of peace! Rather, a curse of blood flowing in every direction. England will slice and carve you apart. It will violate you and own you. It will bind you with cords of blood, and never leave you alone!

#Ethiopia.
A proud, unconquerable land.
A prosperous heritage and potential.
But angry, tense and bloody, at the core. Not peaceful.

The state seems exalted, spiritual but quite fractious. Needs mending and some return to reality.

#EU The EU is a place of abundance and possibilities. It is a ring of shining stars, projecting and protecting prosperity within itself. Quite a nice flag, too.

The idea of open borders within is also evident.

#Finland seems like a peaceful, prosperous place, which is open to sharing its opportunities and possibilities with everyone.

It appears like a place where ideas are welcome.

#France is happy, prosperous and welcoming of grand ideas at home. France seeks freedom for its citizens, but is very violent, brutal and exploitative of outsiders.

#Germany is a proud nation. It has a distinct culture, work ethic and people. But, Germany has also been forged in violence and tyranny at the core of its state. However, it is undergirded by absolute wealth and economic power.

#Ghana is a place of daily struggle but is surprisingly stable. It has undergone pain and upheaval, but emerged steady.

Ghana has a heritage of prosperity resource riches in its land. However, its state is a burden on its people, dimming their prospects with its dark heart.

#Greece is a land of ideas and harmony. It has shared its soul with the world in all directions, and its goodwill keeps flowing like a mighty river of refreshing waters.

Greece is wise and timeless.

#Iran is a proud and ancient land of riches and history. It is also a very violent place - a pool of blood.

Even in times of peace, the state at its centre is brutal and a sharp source of pain for both insiders and outsiders. It cuts in all directions.

#Iraq is also a cauldron of violence, aggression and brutality. In times of peace, though, Iraq is a place of high culture and is home to a people who are proud of their racial heritage.

#Ireland
There is something about this land that makes men shed tears. It does not have many riches, but the land means more than anything else to the Irish.

The Irish have overcome adversity by always being early adopters of constant peaceful change.

#Israel is a land of hard borders. It is a birthplace of ideas, but mostly aimed at defending its peace and its state. The state itself is a fortress with perceived enemies in every direction. No one feels safe here.

It can be exhausting living in such a confined space.

#Italy An ancient, proud land with a history of violent conquests in faraway places. Their land guarantees food and peace at home.

Look at #Japan before WWII. It was not a rising sun. It was a source of bloodshed in every imaginable direction...

After the war, Japan exports peace abroad. Its state is a focused, even ruthlessly efficient machine at home.

The people of #Kenya are resilient and proud. They are headstrong, and prone to recurrent conflict.

The Kenyan state is squarely at the centre of this violence, and uses dark, crude methods (like the spears) to shield impunity while blocking access to resources.

#Liberia. Rivers of blood. Very little peace. Very little progress.

The lone star is an idea of statehood that refuses to grow up. Opportunity is limited, and therefore monopolized.

#Macedonia looks like a place flowing with blood through time. I dont know much, but it appears like each period of prosperity is eclipsed by large debilitating periods of death, destruction and dysfunction.

#Mexico This rich land has yielded a lot of trouble and crime that is "exported" abroad.

Their state is an eagle eating a rattlesnake while perched on prickly cactus. How much unbearable evil can one symbol depict?

#Morocco seems to have very modest ambitions. It is just a star of Islam (green).

It also seems to have a siege mentality, with blood all over, and the state tightly protected in a fortress.

#Nigeria is just land against land. There seems to be stability and peace for as long as the two sides are separated but equal.

The nature of the state is irrelevant in this dicey situation.

#Norway is a wrapped gift to the world, too. It shares its ideas, prosperity, goodwill and peace, but will not sit idly by if it is displeased.

The Norwegians are peacemakers in places of conflict. They seem able to stand in between combatants and de-escalate tensions.

#Paraguay is constantly at war and in internecine conflict, even if its state seeks harmony and peace. The shedding of blood seems like a key national ritual. Its dual spirit star has failed to shine, nor its lion to roar for the prosperity of its people.

#Qatar is internally peaceful, but has unstable, edgy relations with other nations.

It has an outsized influence on the rest of the world. It has uncertain, painful and festering or bloody relations with other nations.

#Russia seems like a contradiction. As the largest nation on earth, it is largely peaceful. Yet, to keep its peace and create prosperity for its people, it is a nation built for war.

Russia is full of great ideas, and opportunities.

It is a brutal place, if you turn wrongly.