The TLD is one of the only ways that's quick to teach as a way to verify a domain. It's absurd to use another country's -- especially as I've seen first hand how the actual operation can just be handled by a small and easily-infiltrated group (as sometimes the TLD is initially handled by a university group).

It was always funny seeing news about the instability of government in Libya and then also see a bunch of projects come out using the TLD (.ly)