Well, 2011 was a hell of a year and a lot of countries made a play for their place in the list of the worst of 2011 with unexpected and out of character descents into dangerous territory everywhere from Greece to Norway and the UK. The Middle East saw massive changes and Mother Nature really showed off her power in other parts of the world. This however, is the top 10 list where things really went downhill for the year – and here’s where that happened in a big way.

Tunisia – From a young man setting himself on fire in protest at being strong-armed out of making an honest living by the police to the fall of the first of many governments in the Middle East. Tunisia set off a chain of events that will go down in history (and that really made a mark on this year’s list). Hopefully that will lead to a better life for a lot of people, but for a while there it looked like things were not going according to plan for anybody.

Egypt – While the danger in Egypt went in fits and starts, you probably didn’t want to be a regular protester or even (in some cases) a journalist reporting on them. Mubarak fell, the army took over and then folks started getting pissed at that too.  Enter round two of the protests. Many of the maimed have even taken to wearing their injuries as a source of pride.

Libya – 18 months ago, if somebody had predicted that Ghaddafi would be gone by now, they would have been laughed at. One of the big casualties of the Arab Spring was the Colonel and he didn’t die pretty. Things drew out for a little while, but the rebel forces backed by Western air support finally ousted him. While the country was a very ordinary place for much of the year, hopefully it will be off next year’s list.

Syria – While 2011 has ended, the fun in Syria is only just getting started. The security forces are killing people daily and the demonstrations against the Assad regime continue to grow in momentum. Hopefully 2012 sees the people of Syria reclaim their country.

Sudan – South Sudan – welcome to the world! While things are going downhill slowly here, they’re definitely going downhill. The right call was made with the formation of this new country, but now we get to see what that means in reality. For the time being, it means fighting.

Japan – From arguably the safest country in the world, Japan shot up the charts to see a place in the 10 worst due to the huge tsunami and associated nuclear meltdown. Not a good place to be with thousands of people confirmed dead and the great unknown of nuclear pollution now hanging over a huge population of people.

Afghanistan – It’s difficult to see when this place will ever get off the list. Same country. Same crap. Different year.

Iraq – 2011 finally saw the removal of the US army. Now things can really get down to business with the Sunni and Shias starting to go for each other’s throats. It’s been a difficult 10 years for them and now we get to see if they can finally bring it together. We’re not taking bets.

Pakistan – This was the year they got Bin Laden. Unfortunately, the whole fiasco proved to the world once and for all how messed up the internal workings of the country really are. With the military and intelligence services playing both sides and the slew of tribalism and independence movements, not to mention the strong hold of Islamism, it’s difficult to see Pakistan turning into Sweden any time soon.

Somalia – With piracy, Islamism and foreign machinations in the country, this one deserves a spot in our hall of fame. You’ve heard the story before, and not much has changed in 2011. Though, with US banks now refusing to transfer money to the country (mainly from the large group of Somali expats living in the US who send money to their families) it’s difficult to see this one getting better, let alone a little less sucky for the people living there.

And while we haven’t forgotten our friends in Mexico, Djbouti, Nigeria, Honduras or even even Yemen, Middle Eastern history stole a march on them in 2011. And so onto 2012 – the year that the Mayans predict the end of the world. For some, that may not come soon enough. So remember your luck. Remember what makes life worth living and be good to your fellow humans. Some day, you might need them.

The New Year dawns, as we wave goodbye to another decade. But that wasn’t just any old decade… no, there goes the new millennium, gone in the blink of an eye, as if to really trivialize all those now seemingly ridiculous fears we harboured during the approach to the year 2000. Remember all those airliners dropping out of the sky? Me neither. Ten years on, and we’re still here: Still trudging our way through life, fighting against the rat-race, monitoring our carbon footprints with growing concern, and counting the ever-increasing number of gray hairs that peer back at us from the bathroom mirror each morning.

Further afield than the bathroom, the dreams we may have held of an improvement in the situation of many areas look to yet again have been dashed. It seems, as ever, that a small improvement in one area is met with significant deterioration in another. This once again ushers into the New Year Polo’s Bastards fifth annual World’s Worst Destinations list! Because, of course, Polo’s Bastards is always a step ahead of the boring and mundane masses, it seems as though nowadays everyone from Forbes magazine to Travel and Leisure or Maxim, and quite possibly even Cosmopolitan, puts out some lightweight version of our very own ground-breaking “Awful places to visit” list and it’s not even as if so much as a small percentage of their writers even know of somebody who has visited some of these destinations, let alone they themselves set foot there!

Of course, being the forward thinkers our people are, and as such we are wont to do, we have of course included some of the perennial spots that show up in what now has become a yearly mainstay. So there comes the delineation of what constitutes the “Worst”. While “war is hell” and this is something no one will deny, an insurgency and warzone alone does not necessarily a “Worst destination” make. Face it; for some cheap-ass Lonely Planeteer, a destination like Monaco or Iceland may seem like hell on earth compared to India or Moldova. It’s a fact the vast majority of us hate the notion of being shot by a sniper or stepping on a land mine and being reduced to a bloody torso. This year, though, we’ve included some destinations that quite simply suck for a wide variety of reasons, and some that perhaps could sort of be considered “borderline” by some, or are simply less publicized and tend to sneak in under the radar of the mainstream media.

So without any further ado please enjoy this year’s list and, as always, please feel free to join in the predictable, ensuing fracas that always results when folks don’t necessarily agree with our view of the world.

Afghanistan – Now, repeat after me… “QUAGMIRE”… That’s good, not bad at all! This place was once called, “The Graveyard of Empires” – but for today’s exercise we’ll just call it a fucked up mess. We’re now seeing our strategy was not well considered, in supporting a leader that is rapidly becoming an embarrassment to the international leaders, who send their fine men and women to help build “democracy”. That’s a joke! Combined with that, there appears to be some ad hoc military strategy that pays no heed to history, meaning we will be seeing this on the list for yet another year and probably into the foreseeable future. Until our leaders realize that the only, albeit unpalatable, strategy towards peace in Afghanistan involves far more engagement with, and empowerment of tribal leaders, we can expect this pick to stay firmly in the top ten. It’s almost boring.

Photo Courtesy US Army

Iraq – Did I say boring? While things are vastly improved and 2009 saw the first package tourists in Iraq for some time (watch that Iranian border!!), it is a long way from Club Med there just yet. While the surge went some way towards improving security, internecine hatreds thrive on. Thus the bombings and slaughter look to endure for some time to come. If you are Baghdad bound, watch out for the bomb holes in the sidewalk; you could turn your ankle.

Pakistan – While we like to pretend there is a border between Afghanistan and Pakistan the local tribes consider these areas theirs, not the foreign and domestic governments’ lands. It’s been that way for centuries and as far as they are concerned that isn’t changing anytime soon, no matter what ISAF, Obama, Karzai or Zardari insist. Fighters melting back and forth across the border are commonplace, and until the mixed motivations of the Pakistani government regarding the Taliban and the tribal areas are addressed, the fun here is just going to continue. With India again moving to their historical power play of controlling Pakistan’s water (Over $300 million dollars of Indian money has so far gone into water investment in Afghanistan which feeds much of Pakistan’s supply), the Pakistani’s are understandably concerned about killing the only people who stand to throw a spanner into the works of India’s plans – the Taliban. So with lack of support on that side of the frontier, impunity rules for the holy fighters, and folks with fair skin and smooth chins should proceed with utmost caution. Allah Akhbah!

Photo by Faisal Saeed

Mexico –Think a visit to Cancun during American college spring break, with severe sunburn, a throbbing Tequila hangover and a bad case of Montezuma’s revenge is as bad as it gets in Mexico? Ok, admittedly that is a pretty damn bad scenario… But think again. How about a surplus of weapons coupled with a nation awash in illicit drugs because of your Northern neighbor’s insatiable appetite for this product and the oodles of cold hard cash that can be made from selling this contraband. While it’s easy to simply blame America for the weapons and its reactionary drug policies causing this spasm of violence, it’s more complex than that. Yes, it’s true the immediate victims and beneficiaries of this vicious cycle tend to be the Mexican people themselves, but there are enough Colombian, Venezuelan and Mexican citizens in places of power within the government and military, playing their part to assist the nation’s inexorable lurch closer and closer to becoming the world’s first ‘Narcocracy’. Chances are you, the casual visitor, could get from one end of this country to the other without getting entangled in some gun-runner’s or drug-lord’s mojo, but there are better than fair odds that Mexico’s latest export, Swine Flu, will have had a cursory tour of your respiratory system. Almost as bad as man-flu, and trust me, that’s hell!

Photo by Esparta

Sri Lanka – 2009 saw the ‘defeat’ of the Tamil Tigers in the north of the country, who had been mounting an armed rebellion, calling for a homeland for the Tamil minority and who were widely credited with inventing the “Suicide bomb” along with many other modern terror techniques. The by-product was hundreds of thousands of displaced Tamils, many of whom still reside in refugee camps, and more than one human rights organization continuing their wide and unified condemnations of the Sri Lankan government for their inexcusable methods. The problem now is that the Tamil Diaspora (the main financier of the insurgency) still exists. Meanwhile the Tamil minority still bears some very genuine longstanding grievances, much of which hasn’t improved one iota. The Tamils are down, but not out. Look for the very same Tamil Diaspora financing a move towards the Indian Naxalite insurgency in return for weapons and for training to continue, assisting Tamils in the next few years. We will be hearing from these guys again.

Yemen – This small nation is plagued with lots of large issues and is full of big problems, all of which may impact any visit a traveler may pay to the region. Between rebel insurgencies; tribal and Sharia law; a gun-toting populace and daggers as fashion statements, the peril is just waiting for you to make your first wrong turn. Plus you can mix in plenty of local superstition and an edgy khat-chewing police force, which can make it remarkably easy for the notion of a “stranger in a strange” land to blossom to its full and most negative manifestation. Obviously the term “inhospitable environment” relates not only to the weather and has a whole different implication, since kidnapping is a fairly regular occurrence, affecting locals and foreigners alike. Whether you’re part of Saudi security forces (73 killed by rebels since November ’09) or a member of Al-Qaeda (several killed recently in Predator airstrikes) it seems at times no one can ever really be assured they’re safe in this part of the Arabian peninsula. If you’d been in Yemen anytime since last August, you may well have sat in the same café as Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, as he prepared his attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas day. Fortunately for the 290 souls on board, both he and his Al-Qaeda instructors proved incapable of even blowing their own noses.

Photo by Enthogenesis

The Philippines – While this country is comprised of several thousand islands, which can vary wildly in degree of safety and danger; and although a large population of good Christians would beg to differ with the opinion that this nation is unwelcoming to visitors, there is a small minority of bad Moslems. Between Abu-Sayaaf and the MILF (Moro Liberation Front) there is no lack of folks who are all too happy to give you an off the beaten path tour of their beloved homeland, and who won’t even expect a gratuity… A ransom, perhaps, but no tip! Just for a change of pace let’s now mention that one of their 18 active volcanoes, Mount Mayo, has everyone’s attention and is predicted to fully erupt any day now, and while you might think to yourself hypothetically, “what are the odds that would affect me during my visit?” the only real answer is also hypothetical insofar as, you won’t know until you’re there and it happens. But do fill us in on the details if and when it does, if you’d be so kind.

Personal accounts of natural disasters never get old, and are warmly and gratefully received by Polo’s Bastards’ editor!

Nigeria – Just writing this post ended up costing me $100USD in bribes, not to mention my soon to be bride, who wrote me asking for help via a letter (she is a Nigerian princess!) Cost me $10,000USD because her uncle just died suddenly. What’s a 419 anyway? After paying another $150USD just to leave the airport, I got into a Taxi that was supposed to take me to her home town somewhere in the Niger delta, but the driver, after making a wrong turn, drove up to a check point manned by police (they seemed drunk and high on something!) and they wanted another $200USD just to give us directions. They weren’t very helpful since they threatened to kill us both if I didn’t pay! After that the driver reneged on our agreed price because this delay took longer than he expected AND took him out of his way! This, he said, would cost me extra! When I said I wasn’t going to pay his price he dropped me off in an area called Akwa Ibom, where some nice people offered to give me a boat ride to their home (why do they need all these guns?) right on the river!

It’s been two months and I’m still here! They told they can get me a ride back to the airport if I can get them $50,000USD (the going rate for a ride back, they told me, so maybe the earlier ride was a better bargain than I first thought!) but where am I going to get that much money?? What a crazy country!

Photo by Pieter Hugo

Haiti – Like a veritable canker sore on a supermodel’s face, the nation of Haiti shares half of the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic and the rest of the Caribbean with countless emerald islands in turquoise waters. Unfortunately for the residents of the nation of Haiti, history hasn’t been kind to them or their beloved homeland. The cumulative effects of slavery and colonialism have created a dysfunctional mélange of abject poverty; the worst forms of government and leadership, politically creating a tragically overt desperation in its citizens. The starvation, rampant violence, disease, governmental corruption and deforestation of the once lush flora have created a hellacious type of existence for the populace and visitors alike. The slum of Cite Soleil in the capital of Port au prince is so bad that even the UN peacekeepers deployed there have great difficulty accomplishing their task and intentionally minimize the time they spend in this slum. With a high rate of HIV/AIDS and a predisposition for being in the path of tropical storms, which commonly initiate flooding and mudslides; coupled with a severe lack of infrastructure, there seems to be a plethora of ways to have your day, week, month or the rest of your life affected in the most negative of degrees. Maybe the only really safe place in Haiti is a place that most Haitians don’t know exists – Most of those that visit it don’t even realize they’re still in Haiti. It’s the cruise industries’ artificial construct port-of-call, named Labadie and your Haitian safe area… Until the next category 5 hurricane dumps a cruise liner on your head, that is.

Photo by Billtacular

Guinea – Unlike its neighbours of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea doesn’t have a history of war, although it seems as though the war-like violent behaviour it’s suffering via osmosis from these countries, or something similar, has rubbed off on its military and police forces, because they act as though they are at war against their very own citizens. The major MO is shooting to kill anyone that is unarmed, regardless of age or gender. The mandate looks to be the total opposite than that of most armed forces’ missions – to protect the citizens from the hostile actions of others and to protect the nation’s sovereignty. Just last month, the head of the ruling junta, Moussa Dadis Camara, was shot by one of his own aides and had to head up to Morocco for treatment. No one has heard anything from the hapless aide since. Needless to say, if for some strange reason you should decide to travel to Guinea, don’t think that the military and police will keep you safe. In fact the military and police look to citizens for what they want and need; primarily cold hard cash in the way of bribes and outright confiscation of property through impromptu check points or the simple stop and search tactic. What the plain folks need is an insurgency looking out for their wellbeing. In other words the only good (questionable at best!) that the authorities provide is an incentive to initiate a coup d’état occasionally, as they embody all that could possibly be wrong with a military/police force. Now they are starting to mimic their other local neighbour –Nigeria, in that they are fostering a thriving industry in financial fraud, involving groups that are becoming increasingly refined in their creativity in developing and propagating a variety of internal and international financial scams. Guinea is also becoming a major player and transit point for drug smuggling, insofar as providing a safe haven for storage and recruiting mules that help supply Europe’s appetite, most notably for cocaine from South America. The shame is even if the tourism industry was to be promoted, no one seems to really know what there is to go and see. It really is a place that has only recently prompted people to ask themselves “Where the heck is that?”

Photo by Martapigs

Djibouti – Djibouti, you may ask? Yes it’s a country of superlatives and we know of folks that have been there and described it, saying, “It sucks”. It’s incredibly hot. It’s incredibly expensive (though extremely poor). It’s incredibly small. It has incredibly bad neighbours (Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea). It’s incredibly beautiful (In an otherworldly kind of way). And the only people that ever really seem to go there that aren’t Djibouti citizens, are foreign military, all of whom want to leave as soon as they are able. And, as it’s only about 13 miles across to Yemen, you can sit on the beach, watching yachts and ships being hijacked by the Somali pirates. Incredible.

Photo by Guuleed

Honduras - Just when destinations in Central America started to get a peaceful reputation, considering most had at one time or another been at civil war or under the authoritarian regime of some despot or rebel group, along comes Honduras to jog everyone’s memory of the Central America of the bad old days. Along with the veritable coup d’état last year, where the then elected government was tossed from power, leading to plenty of demonstrations, roadblocks and closed airports; there’s also more than enough petty crime, from pick pocketing to murder, robbery, carjacking and kidnapping to go around for all. Roads are terrible, so the inherent danger related to automobiles is only magnified and there’s plenty of gang related murder meaning that it really isn’t too much of a stretch to imagine getting caught somewhere in the crossfire. Also, with the advent of adventure tourism comes the very real possibility that one’s safety may not be in the best hands, because apart from the dangers that come from participation in these sorts of activities, the reality is there is little to no safety oversight from many adventure sport operators. So if the day-flying mosquitoes, with their Dengue Fever don’t get you, the frayed bunjee chord, or threadbare whitewater raft might. So do your research carefully. Oh and don’t drink the water!

Photo by Giggey

So, mind your six as you tread these intriguing, but hostile lands. Make friends, lots of them. Hopefully that guy you just had Ramadan breakfast with will turn out to be your future kidnapper’s brother. You think I’m joking?!

Happy New Year. Go well.

All at Polo’s Bastards.

By Steve Strommer with help from Rob Wood and Lee Ridley.

Yet another year of carnage has come to an end with the close of 2008 and yet again, we are doomed to see many familiar faces on Polo’s Bastards Annual Top 10 Worst Destinations. We’re sure some of these countries are beginning to get a complex, but luckily for them there are also plenty of others that deserve dishonorable mentions and maybe even a place on next year’s list. But without further ado, let’s get into the worst places list for this year.

Iraq – Despite some massive security improvements this year, Iraq is still a long way from Club Med. Even though the official legal sanction for US troops to be in Iraq expired on December 31 they are still there. So are a bunch of bad guys. Then some not so bad guys. Well, they all have guns and the place is still not exactly challenging Sweden in the stability stakes. Great improvements this year, but not good enough to slide down our list.

Afghanistan - 2008 was the year that foreign troops suffered their highest death toll against the Taliban. The capacity of the central government to control the country continued to be pitiful and the internation community got even more apathetic about everything. If Obama tries the surge tactic that was used in Iraq and the rest of the world gets interested, things might improve, but we don’t see this one falling off the list even next year.

Somalia - Well, at least the pirates seem to be doing well for themselves! They even managed to score themselves a few tanks this year which made some important people sit up and take notice. Of course, as long as they’re not stealing too much of the passing maritime traffic, nobody is really going to care what they do in the capital or anywhere else. A shame for the 300,000 undernourished children who make this the country with the highest levels of malnutrition in the world for 2008.

DRC - We suppose it was really the ebola outbreak in December that really put the cream on this pie of misery. ivilian massacres, refugees, cross-border incursions, the place has it all!

Gaza - Well, they almost got through the whole year without too many major catastrophes. Almost. Neither side seems to really want peace and when politicians get involved…. well, you know the rest. The carnage continues as we write this.

Sudan - With the government so entrenched in the economic capital of Sudan and so intent on allowing the mayhem to continue, it’s difficult to see this country slipping off the top 10 list for a while. 2008 saw the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC accuse Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, of war crimes. Time will tell if that comes to anything.

Zimbabwe - Mad Bob has the country locked down tighter than tupperware and if Zibabwe didn’t deserve a place on our list last year, then it certainly did for 2008. With cholera epidemics, a refugee crisis and a $50 Billion note that’s not worth the paper it’s printed on, Zimbabwe is going over the precipice of complete melt down.

Pakistan - When your own “ally” starts launching cross border raids into your territory to clean up the business that you are unable or unwilling to take care of, you know there is something wrong. At least 2008 saw the decline of Pervez Musharraf in elections. Time will tell if the new crew will do any better, but we’re not holding our breath.

Georgia - Well did Georgia decide to attack their Russian neighbours? Did Russia decide to be a bully? Whatever you think, this one has been on the cards for a few years. When the second largest recipient of foreign aid happens to be a former Soviet block state, you know the peace isn’t going to last forever. Cooler heads prevailed after plenty of people and places got destroyed. The break away regions got closer to a permanent state of break away. Georgia got further away from NATO membership. And the world was reminded that Russia isn’t going anywhere just yet.

Myanmar - We were actually a little surprised that Myanmar made the list for the seond year running, but Cyclone Nagaris which spraked one of the biggest aid non-responses from its own government means Myanmar has that privelege. While the carnage wasn’t as bad as we were all told it would be, that probably has more to do with luck and the resilience of the Burmese people than any good planning on the part of their government.

Now despite our top 10 list, you still might like to be a little careful in some other countries too. Don’t go drinking milk in China, don’t stay at the Taj in Mumbai and don’t get involved in politics in Kenya for example. But if, like us, you have the very good fortune to be born into a country where these things aren’t such a big deal, then spare a thought for our less fortunate cousins around the world.

Rob Wood and Steve Strommer

Sure, you’ve probably heard of a few big cases of bloggers being sued or held up to professional standards of journalism that they spectacularly failed to meet, but did you also know that around the world there are over 60 bloggers currently behind bars for writing a lousy blog? The sad truth is that this state of affairs is getting worse rather than better.

Here are the main places where blogging can make you a criminal.

Thailand – 0. Ok, so things aren’t too out of hand yet for bloggers in Thailand. Last year Praya Pichai was detained under the Computer Crime Act of the country and detained for 12 days facing up to 10 years in prison. The charges were subsequently dropped after international pressure. Things aren’t too bad for bloggers in Thailand compared to the other countries below, but it is definitely getting worse. And let’s face it, there is plenty of fodder for government criticism in the land of smiles.

Saudi Arabia – 0. Although there are currently no bloggers in jail as far as we know in the kingdom, Fouad al-Frahan was detained without charge for 137 days earlier in the year “because he violated the customs of the kingdom.” Calling for democratic reforms and sounding off against corruption isn’t going to get you too many friends among the authorities over there. He also blogged about some guys that the Saudis had jailed for terrorism, claiming the charges were fabricated. Fouad reported that he was well treated while in custody, but he hasn’t started blogging again. No surprise there really. Here’s the Free Fouad website.

Egypt – 1. Abdel Kareem Soliman enjoyed the distinction of being the first Egyptian prosecuted under his country’s laws against insulting Islam, sedition and insulting President Muburak – the country’s despotic leader. All of this for referring on his blog to al-Azhar University, at which he was a student, as a “university of terrorism.” He also referred to Muburak as a dictator which doesn’t go down so well in the land of the Pharoahs. There is now a movement to campaign on behalf of Abdel who blogged under the pseudonym, Kareem Amer, which can be found at the Free Kareem website.

Burma – 2. In Burma, things are worse. The government has the country locked down so hard that barely anyone can get on the internet due to government restrictions or just plain poverty, but they have still managed to do what most other authoritarian countries have not – actually imprison a blogger. Nay Phone Latt, an internet cafe owner and blogger, committed the grievous crime of having messages in his inbox that were disrespectful of the government.

Syria – 5. When he started criticising the Syrian secret service, blogger Tariq Biassi may not have thought it would end in a three year jail term. The 24 year old was found guilty of weakening the state and undermining national morale. We guess that the irony of that second charge hasn’t quite caught up with the Syrian secret police. The problem for Syrian bloggers is that the state has decreed that all website owners are to keep records of the authors of stories even though the country’s constitution theoretically grants freedom of speech for writers.

That wasn’t much of a protection for Habib Saleh either. According to Amnesty, there is no information on his whereabouts after his arrest and they fear for him being tortured. You can find some of his best work at Elaph.

Then there’s Firas Saad, a poet who was bringing down the Syrian state machine sonet by sonet. You know things are getting tough when a country is afraid of haiku. He went to the
clink for four years in April of this year for the same charges as Tariq. You can read more about Firas at Free Syria.

Vietnam – 9. The great thing about the Vietnamese is that they won’t even try to hide their contempt of bloggers behind laws that are even remotely related to blogging. For example, Nguyen Hoang Hai who blogs under the pseudonym Dieu Cay was last month jailed for tax fraud. Reporter Without Borders condemned the trial and conviction as “trumped up” and “completely unfounded.”

Not to worry – Nguyen will have 8 other blogging buddies to keep him company in jail. In fact vietnam is a clear second in terms of incarcerated bloggers in the world.

China – 50. It’s concerning that the fastest growing internet population in the world comes from the country that is most likely to put its internet users in jail. Perhaps more worrying is the issue of western companies’ complicity in at least a few of those jailings in order to court favour with the authorities who control access to such a huge market. In fact general censorship of the internet relies on censorship technology developed by western companies and western search engines companies have been known to hand over information that has led to the arrest of those critical of the government in their online writings.

And it doesn’t seem like a lot of Chinese cyber-dissidents report the same good treatment in jail that those in Saudi Arabia have – in fact one blogger named Liu Di (who wrote as “Stainless Steel Mouse”) was held in solitary confinement for a year after she was arrested back in 2002. She was eventually released, but but almost 50 other bloggers remain in Chinese jails. Group punishment is also not out of the question as human rights activist, Hu Jia found out when his family was placed under house arrest. RSF keeps a reasonable list of current inmates in China.

So with that, China is the clear winner of the most dangerous place for bloggers, but special mention should also be made of Malaysia, Jordan and Libya who weren’t mentioned on this list, but have all put bloggers in jail.

By spreading the word about the plight of bloggers, it seems some pressure can be applied to the authorities responsible for these abuses of power so consider blogging, writing, emailing or bringing these issues to the attention of others on the internet.

‘Tis the season to be jolly, for some at least. Elsewhere, ‘tis the season to rampage through the streets, rubbing out your adversaries and making life a misery for anyone that contests your anti-social behaviour.

And so as we enter the final week of 2007, the staff at Polo’s Bastards, tucking into roast goose, washed down with hot mulled wine, present you with their collective assessment of the year’s top ten worst destinations. Always the source of much contention and vehement disagreement from various corners, we expect this year’s compilation to be no different. But whatever you may think of us and our take on the world’s more “colourful” destinations, we think you’ll have to agree that getting upset about a teddy bear’s name is just plain stupid, and murdering monks is dismally short of tactful.

–

Iraq

What, wait, aren’t things supposed to be getting better there? Yeah sure they are, for those who may have already survived umpteen hundred suicide car bombs and bombers, extra judicial killings and kidnappings perhaps, but for you Mr. And Mrs. Samsonite, even the best and safest parts of the country may put you on the wrong end of a Turkish JDAM, or stuck at the wrong checkpoint, or tossed unceremoniously into the trunk of a car that you most certainly did not hail.

Your hide is still worth money here or it simply might just be good for a point making beheading on YouTube by all the wrong independent filmmakers, whom have absolutely no axe to grind with you personally, except the one that happens at that moment to be against your neck. Face it does anyone even know how many people are actually still being held hostage in Iraq? Arab hospitality notwithstanding, there are more armaments circulating this country in all sorts of hands and at all levels of technology that while it may be possible to get a cold drink and a tan the potential for so much more than you bargained for, or were willing to pay, is still very much in the realm of possibility.

While the violence and unabated killing seems to be enjoying a temporary lull it really is one of those rare countries where everyone seems to have a beef with someone else, whether it be brand new or a hundred years old. Let there be no doubt here, it’s whether or not the country is even in possession of a future that is still very much in doubt.

Afghanistan

There may be only one place more wary of strangers as a whole than Afghanistan’s hinterlands (that’s pretty much the majority of the country outside Kabul) and that spot too would be inside Afghanistan somewhere. For centuries the tribes and people that populate this country have taken great pride in tossing out occupiers, and now for the past six years the country has been loaded with occupiers from all over Europe and the rest of the developed world. This would be courtesy of an organization called NATO and, all things considered, those locals that are so predisposed to the longstanding tradition of ejecting outsiders certainly have plenty of motivation to get their game on.

Unfortunately for everybody involved – the citizens, NATO and yes you the world traveler of exotic locations, the extreme dichotomy that exists within this physically and culturally stunning country range from “We want our MTV!” to “Sharia dictates that you must be punished for watching it”. Indeed you’ll be punished for any number of apparent ludicrous crimes against Allah by any number of barbaric forms of punishment; all of which for the average citizen and especially for the traveler tends to create a behavioral minefield. Speaking of minefields; this lovely country has more than its fair share of those too, sixth in the world, in fact, not to mention when talking of world rankings it happens to be number one in opium poppy cultivation. So while there may be a myriad of ways to find yourself in a great deal pain, whether through ever increasing rates of suicide bombing via human bombers or vehicle borne devices, kidnapping or random shootings, car or bus crashes on dangerous mountain roads, rampant disease, conflagrations initiated between NATO and the Taliban or the current villainous warlord of the moment, you’ll at least be able to derive some comfort that there will be enough morphine or heroin around to take the edge off.

While Chicken Street and much of Kabul and its populace will invariably be sure to invite you inside their rug shop or café for a hospitable cup of chai and to chat you up and practice your particular language, this will not be the case in the south of the country or in the northwest frontier provinces where tribal law and ‘who has the most guns’ tends to sort out even the most minor of issues. Unless, of course, NATO, the Taliban, Narcotics funded warlords or the Pakistani military decide to put in their two cents’ worth, which more often than not tends to be the case. Expect things to heat up in the upcoming year.

Somalia

How much worse can it get for this poor impoverished, fractured, chaotic pseudo nation? It could always be stated that for a country that has had no viable government since the early 1990’s, it’s not doing too bad. Some folks even felt the leadership takeover this past year by the Islamic council was a step in the right direction, despite the fact that edicts governing basic human behaviors and Sharia-based laws were being declared on a weekly basis. The banning of public showing of movies, and Khat chewing, not to mention simply playing a radio, were punishable offences.

Say what you will about Sharia law but this was enough to prompt Somalia’s powerful neighbor, Ethiopia, to invade to toss these Islamists and their supporters out of power. This took cities like Baidoa and Mogadishu that already had enough violence and chaos and misery, and turned them into full on battlefields, where of course it was the civilians who suffered the most. Like so many forces before them, Ethiopia is now bogged down there following an initial withdrawal and then a quick return to support an outgunned interim government that within weeks of being “returned to power” was once again under attack. If this sounds complicated it hasn’t even begun to bring into play the role the warlords and their affiliate clans play, and the resulting constant, ongoing havoc. When it comes to the deaths of journalists that cover the anarchy, this country is second only to Iraq and it’s not clear where that leaves your camera-yielding white tourist other than dead.

Chronic Khat chewing leaves young, bored, gunmen with very twitchy trigger fingers and enough stimulation to jump into the back of a heavily armed Toyota Hi-Lux, ready to settle some perceived score with some begrudged party. If you plan a visit it is a very good idea to hire this type of crew as a preemptive measure to protect you from the very real threat of kidnapping by the very same people you’re hiring.

And it’s not just on land that you stand a chance of an early demise either: Rampant piracy has led to attacks, kidnapping and hostage taking on the high seas, and any ship or vessel entering Somali waters runs this terrifying gauntlet. The increase in the past year has been dramatic and worrisome for all involved. Relief agencies, the UN and Somalia’s citizens all depend on the goods and services that the maritime trade provides. Without safe, open shipping routes, a large segment of the population faces the prospect of starvation.

Without question the south of the country is vastly worse than the northern end, which has for the past several years been trying to divorce itself from its misbehaving brethren to the south by declaring itself the independent de facto states of Puntland and Somaliland. This is done to attempt on an international level to separate the north from the anarchy and violence in the south, and thus engender stability and a better way of life for the northern citizens. So yes it could be worse for Somalia – it could break off the continent and fall into the sea. Expect the grind to continue at its usual steady pace.

Lebanon

For a place with such a perfect Mediterranean location; wonderful historical context; exceeding geological beauty and refined social culture, it sure does have a load of worries. It’s really difficult to choose just where to start with this small plot of land with big problems, but betting people have been talking for some time now about the “if’s” and “when’s” of the next dust up between Hizbollah and Israel. This valid concern might be the top reason any vacation you plan here might most be affected. The last conflict in 2006 left no less than 3 billion US dollars in damage to Beirut alone, and a similar action could be your fastest ticket to ride along with the US marines or the French navy during the next mandatory evacuation, thus placing a sizable kink in your holiday plans of sunbathing, drinking fine wine and café dining. Couple this with an ongoing and seemingly systematic eradication via car bombs of higher echelon Lebanese politicians and civil leaders, and those who tend to be in the same area with them. Syria usually takes the blame here, so it’s easy to see that Lebanon has some serious neighbor issues.

No matter where you go in Lebanon, you will find the potential for trouble for a variety of different reasons. In the south, Hizbollah’s strong hold, you’ll find minefields, some old some new; you’ll find the remnants of cluster bombs that Israel dropped in the area during 2006; and you’ll need to contend with the potential for Israeli artillery to occasionally drop in, or over-flights from their jets that like to buzz Damascus and the disputed Golan, occasionally dropping explosives. But even in the north, on the outskirts of Tripoli, the Lebanese army has spent a great deal of time this past year fighting Palestinian Islamic militants (Fatah-al-Islam), who had entrenched themselves in some refugee camps. Outside of the potential for Pakistan to explode into an orgy of election inspired violence, to many this small country might perhaps have the greatest chance in 2008 to become, once again for all but the most fool hardy of travelers, a “No go” destination.

Pakistan

The nemesis of India just seems to go from bad to worse and this year was a particularly exciting one for them. With tribal problems, Islamist problems, territorial problems, sovereignty problems, election problems, foreign relation problems and the imposition of martial law, it’s a wonder they’re not getting a complex. Of course, the big bang this year (or at least the one that the media bothered reporting) was the public and very messy attempted assassination of opposition leader and former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto. With a few hundred casualties, it gave us a good reason to stay away from political rallies in this volatile country. The incumbent PM also had at least one attempt on his life, too. Of course, with the amount of weapons floating around the country (largely thanks to the manufacturing production lines in the North West Frontier Province) combined with a peculiar predisposition to settling differences with said weaponry, it’s little wonder that the politicians of the country are constantly dodging the pointy end of them. Speaking of NWFP, the state continues to stew in a molasses of violent tribal retribution and anti-government sentiment with continued rumors that this is the current hiding place of the big kahuna himself – Osama Bin Laden. The other big problem, of course, is there are the twenty or so proxy Islamist groups that keep popping up in Kashmir to fight the evil secularists in India, though how much control the central government has over them is up for argument.

The lid is beginning to loosen on this powder keg which gives Pakistan a firm spot in our top 10 and a very likely position in next year’s too unless something drastic happens and it changes for the better. With the sheer scope of problems in the country, that is pretty unlikely.

Sudan

The hilarity just continues in Africa, with Sudan getting another well deserved place on the list. Notwithstanding the fact that it appears to be a country with a sizeable population of idiots that believe a teddy bear’s name is reason enough to execute an old lady, Sudan is also mired in as complex tribal and political hostilities as you’ll find anywhere on the continent.

As one of the world’s longest running conflicts and the resistance of the central government to any meaningful actions that could lead to a lull in the hostilities, it’s difficult to see an end to it. With 200k Darfurians already dead and another four million displaced or relying on aid, the counter just keeps ticking. The 2006 Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement didn’t have a lot of support on the ground and resistance of the central government to the deployment of a UN peace keeping force means any real muscle that could help stop the slaughter remains impotent. Clashes between the Government and the SPLM also leaves the Comprehensive Peace Agreement on the verge of collapse with the rebels withdrawn from the Government of National Unity.

African Union troops currently deployed seem to be remarkably ineffectual and are coming under direct attack. Seven aid workers were killed in October alone and major aid organisations (which supply millions of people with their only access to food and water) starting to contemplate withdrawing. Cross border incursions by the government armed militias are also destabilising neighbouring Chad and having an effect on CAR.

As if all this isn’t enough, Sudan Arab militias have struck up a lucrative deal with those humanitarian angels, the Chinese, in which oil is traded for weapons and military training. Nations with a shred of decency walked away from an oil deal with Sudan, but Chinese oil companies saw an opportunity and now two billion US Dollars’ worth of oil each year is shipped out and fundamentalist Arabs draw a handsome salary. With untapped oil fields in the north/south borderlands, it seems only a matter of time before the shaky peace deal falls apart and if the north goes to war against the south again, Darfur will pale in comparison.

Even with all of this going on, Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir had the temerity to term 2007 “the year of peace” proving once again that politicians always have their hand firmly on the pulse of reality. The only question remaining now is whether the international community will have the strength of purpose to pursue a peace operation that guarantees security to civilians now that it is glaringly obvious to everyone that a short or even medium term political solution is a pipe-dream. We’re not holding our breath.

Myanmar

You know things aren’t going great for you as a government when you need to start killing and torturing monks. Now that’s some bad karma. But that’s what happened this year in our favourite South East Asian golden land when the monks started backing up a fairly sizable portion of the general population in anti-government rallies and found themselves on the wrong side of the ruling junta. Now, Myanmar has had its own fairly constant and intense teething problems with pesky things like elections and opposition parties, but beating up on monks was a new low and there were even reports that the soldiers were targeting anyone with a camera in order to stop the story getting to the outside world. Needless to say, the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest (the only Nobel Peace Prize winner with such a distinction) and journalists have been warned about reporting on the problems with internet access being cut off completely for a time and then restored intermittently.

Of course, we can’t really forget the ongoing insurgency in the country or the massive amount of heroin that comes out of the place, or the 300,000 odd refugees along Myanmar’s various borders. Really, Myanmar has it all!

Now, entering as a tourist, it might seem like a pretty nice place. This is largely due to the fact that the government forced thousands of citizens into forced labour to pretty up the main tourist destinations and thus encourage tourism, which is responsible for a fair amount of the country’s hard currency. The International Labour Organisation stated that it would be seeking to prosecute the leaders of the government for crimes against humanity as a result. With the likelihood of such great national management continuing there is a fair chance that we can expect to see more fun in Myanmar in the coming months and years.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Welcome to the darkest heart…. well one of them anyway. DRC is one of those nightmare places that usually ends up as the background of a flippant Hollywood attempt at depth and insight. Unfortunately for the locals it is all too real.

This year, DRC’s main claim to fame is their love of the child soldier. According to several charities, who still operate in the country, the eastern DRC has seen some of the worst situations for children in recent times (not to mention the displacement of up to 800,000 people). Kids as young as 10 years old are being draughted by both sides of the conflict as front line soldiers, not to mention porters and sex slaves. One exceptionally troubling element of this is that the government (and UN) backed soldiers have also been accused of recruiting children to their cause during an offensive against rebel general, Laurent Nkunda. Spotting the good guy is getting increasingly difficult.

Of course, to add to the lovely ambiance of DRC was a UN report in July by the United Nations Human Rights Council on violence against women that characterised the problem as “extreme” and “pervasive” with local authorities doing little to stem the problem. According to the report, “In numerous cases, male relatives are forced at gun point to rape their own daughters, mothers or sisters.” As for who to blame for the brutality, according to the report, it is “committed by non-state armed groups, the Armed Forces of the DRC, the National Congolese Police, and increasingly also by civilians”. That basically means there’s nowhere to hide. How nice!

Chad

When the UNHCR warns that genocide may well occur in your country, it’s probably best to sit up and take notice. Well, that is unless you live in Chad where it’s just another day at the slaughter house. The country seems to have more problems than Paris Hilton and Pete Doherty’s love child and things certainly ain’t getting any better.

With several hundred thousand Darfurian refugees on the border with Sudan, Chad is now forced to endure constant cross border incursions by the Sudanese armed Janjaweed militia, leading to pretty tense relations between the governments, not to mention the people at the coal face. Combined with another 50,000 or so refugees along the border with CAR, who have fled the fighting there, and 140,000 internally displaced persons of their own, it’s fair to say room is getting a little tight at the inn.

Things couldn’t possibly be complete without a homegrown insurgency, too, and Chad does not disappoint. The Chadian Movement for Justice and Democracy keeps the government on their toes from the north of the country and at least a couple of other groups keep things tense. Banditry is also pretty rife so be sure to keep your iPod at an extended distance from your person so that the thieves don’t take your arm or head too when they steal it.

Sri Lanka

The country seemed to be united at the time of the cricket world cup with a multi-ethnic team making the finals of the event. Unfortunately, the Tamil rebels put a slight damper on that unity when they started dropping bombs at the exact time the rest of the country, including the army, was watching the Sri Lankan team play in the finals. But that’s how things roll in Colombo, where the bombs just keep coming. Sri Lanka lost the cricket and the peace but won a spot on our most coveted of lists.

Unfortunately, 2007 was another less than stellar year for peace on the island, with the Tamil Tigers finding a way to launch their own air raids against various facilities controlled by the central government, and the government finding ways to marginalise human rights groups, who questions their tactics against the rebels. In reality, both sides attracted condemnation for their human rights abuses, but who’s keeping count anyway? Extra judicial killings, “disappearances” and arbitrary arrests under terrorism laws are all part of the local festivities. With a quarter million people displaced and thousands dead, it can only get better… or not.

The Tamil Tigers have taken up a fine tradition from other parts of the world in kidnap for profit, and some pro-government militias have started to take up the fine tradition of child recruitment for military adventures. Fun!

With no viable political solution being discussed, we can only look forward to the party going on. Luckily, the cricket world cup only rocks around every four years.

–

And so as the new year unfolds before us, keep a mental note of this list of unsavoury spots and book yourself a nice skiing holiday in Austria instead; or a beach holiday in the Bahamas; or a barbeque at Ayers Rock. And if you simply can’t ignore that irresistible urge that’s drawing you to a night’s partying at the Hard Rock Café, Mogadishu, then don’t say we didn’t warn you.

From all at Polo’s Bastards – Go well.

Authors – Rob Wood, Steve Strommer and Lee Ridley.
Photography – Michael Cordoni, Lee Ridley, Sean Rorison, Vince Gainey.

Lessons from the French school.

Back in the day there was a guy called Chad, and also a country, somewhere down there in the dirty sands of Africa, where a bunch of those little kiddies ran around playing and screaming and falling over stuff and sometimes even picking up guns to kill each other - yes, it’s a nasty business, that war, and lots of those wimps in the “First World” as they call it feel all squishy inside when they see a tyke with a Kalishnikov on the television. They say “oh, that’s terrible, it can’t be happening, they’re just children after all”, as if the mediaeval world from which this nasty modern planet of ours burst out from under has actually receded into the horizon, into the history books, into the dark grey annals of times gone past where the witches were burned and the men sent off to death, while the women and children tilled the fields until they all died at the ripe old age of fifteen. What can I say: we’ve made progress there, but in other ways we’re still very far behind.

But, of course, amongst the poor warmongering tribes where the world still spins around the moon in the painted desert, where spirits still live with you in your mud hut and where half of your siblings won’t see their fifth birthday, where the capital cities have painfully long names that no one in their right mind would try to remember, where water is scarce but bullets are abundant, kids grow up pretty fast. They never have a chance to play PS2 until their eyes bleed, to get folds of flab under their underarms from sitting and eating cheese puffs and listening to their stomach gurgle while whatever bullshit the television feeds them kicks it up a notch and they are forever trapped in the suburban dream of accumulation, inflation of the body, obsession with increasing income, and to ultimately getting that two car garage so they can do it all over again to another generation of vegetables – no, they’re stuck out there in the real world, between the earth and the sun, living life at its most base. Some pansies from Paris saw their simple lives on television and decided they needed to be “saved”. Or something.

Thus, buying and selling children has become something of a cottage industry in the Saharan region, saving kids from their own environment and growing up with skills that they may actually use for survival once the entire world goes up in flames. Better to inundate them with ignorance and an obsession with Dolce and Gabana than have them learn to hunt and wage war. When once they could have been the generation that built a desert nation from the ashes of a global holocaust, now they’re stuck in cheap flats in Parisian suburbs hoping no one throws a Molotov through their window. Life is a twisting game, and that one’s a dead end; but according to their saviours, they’re “safer”. From some things, anyways, like consciousness.

Thus, we get a few groups of people heading to visit their buddy Chad and take the kids aside. The ruse is that you have a school somewhere, just over the ranges. Making up a fake name, some business cards and official looking documents, will undoubtedly be more than enough to convince the poor villager to part with three of her fifteen children. She may not even notice. Tell the kids they’re going someplace magical, give them teddy bears and toys, maybe some sweets to get their brains hooked on first world foods. Then pay off a few people at the airport, and you’re on your way.

It really is that simple. These African countries generally don’t care much about what you do with their kiddies – they’re too busy making them. Some villages are chock full of kids, ripe for the pickings of the white folks there to save them. Smuggle the kid through to another country if you’re unsure of immigration laws. Pal up with a cargo outfit that ships aid in and out. Really, once the kids are in your possession, it’s smooth sailing on the blowing sands.

The other option is simply to head to the old slave markets of Mauritania or Niger and foot the bill up front. Some Jesus loving types do just this, since money is an abstraction after all, compared to leaving a child for slavery. Of course, no one ever asks the kid if they want the slavery of the Bedouin tribes living from day to day in the open desert, or the slavery of the nine to five grind in a nameless corporate compound. And once you’ve discovered which one you prefer, it’s usually too late to do anything about it.

Good kids should only cost a few hundred dollars apiece at the slave market – peanuts compared to the Air France flight back to Paris, and the fake documents proving it’s your adopted kid. For under a grand you’ve got yourself another inductee into the Western World. Congratulations.

This avenue for getting yourself your own army of kids to do your bidding is undoubtedly cheaper than the alternative, legal adoption, or the worst of all possibilities, marriage and family. But naturally you need to question your motives – why ship the kid back? Why send him or her to a life of indentured servitude in the corporate brothels of Western Europe?

Catch and release, I say. And I’d wager that if you went down south and started shopping for slaves, your epiphany would likely end with you in your own Bedouin clothes, building your own tribe, with your own contingent of child soldiers. It’s a vast area out there and your own fiefdom isn’t such a far off dream after all. It’s always a question when one visits Chad – are the whiteys saving the children, or vice versa?

It is a war for those of us who happen to spend time traveling or living in parts of the world where malaria is an issue to be not only aware of, but one to also consider when it’s implications can affect our health and welfare. Modern medicine is on our side, and is also our greatest ally in this struggle.

Apart from our own due diligence in preventing exposure from the main vector of transmission (the venerable mosquito) this is usually done through the use of repellants, caution and prophylactic medication. Sometimes, depending on the area you may be staying in, and the length of time there, the odds unfortunately will go against you and the likelihood of contracting this scourge can become more then just a concern they turn into a reality.

Then the critical issues become many. How long since contraction do the symptoms start to manifest themselves? From that point, how long before the correct diagnosis is made and the proper treatment is started? Is it a common strain, or a multi-drug resistant type? Lastly, and hopefully on a minimal level, what will be the resulting and lasting effects of contraction and exposure and will the resulting effectiveness of the treatment have been optimal?

I don’t know about you, but the fact of the matter is (maybe I’m just hypersensitive) after spending a good part of my life working in a medical environment (a hospital) these are the kinds of issues that freak me out and make me go all obsessive compulsive when I go abroad, especially to malarial zones. I read up, and get my scripts and shots, cross my fingers and hope for the best, and as I’ve written here before, I tend to worry about my travel partners commonly much more then I do about myself. Low and behold my worries are usually well founded, not malaria thus far (inshallah) but most recently altitude sickness. But I digress (I’ll write about that in another entry) back to the war.

This year has been nothing less than a banner year for progress in this epic struggle, mostly for folk’s (developed world) who have been unfortunate enough to have contracted this disease. Some post exposure treatments have been not only found to be effective in killing this bug, but have also been approved by various governmental and legislative bodies for treatment of the malaria parasite. Quinine has long been known to be an effective treatment, yet in the United states it was never approved by the FDA until recently in the form of Qualaquin (quinine sulfate) though admittedly to read about all the contraindications and various drugs interactions it can cause you begin to realize just how bad the disease it’s treating is. Maybe the most important advance though on a global level is the Artimesia based medication Coartem (reg) (artemether-lumefantrine) considered to be the most effective treatment for many of the more common resistant strains of malaria. The only real down side at this point looks to be availability, mostly because the plant varieties of Artimesia used in production are only mass farmed in a few places most notably China. The other notable advance has been made in the realm of diagnosis. As I stated earlier, the sooner you find out you’re infected the better off you are because treatments that start early are not only more effective but you’ll more than likely suffer far less from some of the more debilitating symptoms. Binax NOW has been developed to give a positive blood test result in minutes as opposed to days as in the past. Unlike a skilled technician making a diagnosis from a blood sample utilizing a microscope this product will not only allow a quicker diagnosis (using microscopic analysis after the fact) but will also be able to differentiate whether the strain is a resistant one or not!

Though this is awesome news I’ll have to brush up on just how that is actually possible. Something along the line of a pregnancy test I suppose.

Regardless in these particular circumstances let’s certainly hope that the old adage of “If it sounds too good to be true it must be!” couldn’t in this day and age and in regards to the subject at hand be proven at least for once wrong.

http://www.drugs.com/mtm/qualaquin.html

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/23629.php

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01659.html

2006 has kept the news headlines coming thick and fast – from 13 car bombs in Iraq on the 1st Jan; through food shortages in Central Africa, to a summer of destruction in Southern Lebanon.

In November, the Democrats took control of the US Senate, spelling the beginning of the end for Bush, while elsewhere we’ve had floods in Indonesia and Malaysia; poisoned Russian spies in London; nuclear weapons testing in North Korea, a military coup in Thailand, Castro’s ailing health and Pinochet’s last gasp. Plenty to keep the worldly-wise interested and Polo’s Bastards’ writers busy.

So what news of the places that have been making the front page headlines of 2006? Where are you next going to follow your wanderlust, and where are you going to avoid like the plague. Polo’s Bastards have hand-picked the top ten worst destinations (in their opinion) to help you decide. Click on the photos to enlarge.

Iraq
There was really never any doubt that Iraq would top the list again, at the end of another year of widespread carnage and chaos. Conflict-related body count figures for 2006, alone, vary wildly. Some claim tens of thousands, while others claim several hundreds of thousands, and although access to this battleground, for journalists, photographers and other adventure types, is as easy as it’s ever been, caution is an absolute necessity, as the death toll certainly has much mileage left in it. The north remains relatively safe, although the Kurdish PKK are still seriously pissing the Turks off and hiding out in their N Iraq safe haven; leading one to think that it’s only a matter of time before Ankara sanctions an incursion across the border to weed the fighters out. Who knows? They may already have done so. Do we really think N Iraq will remain stable for long? You decide.
In the rest of Iraq, the US and Britain are both under considerable pressure to start withdrawing their respective forces, but the sectarian lawlessness that now grips the country, will surely continue in their wake, and will undoubtedly see Iraq here at the top of Polo’s Bastards’ top ten worst destinations for a long time to come.

Afghanistan
While the country seems to have picked itself up and brushed itself down following years of Taliban stranglehold; and having celebrated the coalition forces’ sacking of the errant Islamists, the buggers have in fact tenaciously maintained dominance in the southern provinces and made the region a no-go area for anyone without a burka or a long wizened beard (or both). British forces are entrenched in the hostile lands, trying to eradicate the blighters but are, quite frankly, taking a kicking. Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan definitely remains out of bounds for the wish-you-were-here crowd. In fact that goes for all the southern provinces, although we at Polo’s Bastards heard from one crazy guy, who, just a couple of months ago, donned a turban and hitchhiked to Qalat in Zabol! It’ll be a while before the adventure tourism companies put the Kuchi Nomad Hospitality Tour back on their schedule. Stick to Kabul; we hear the rugs are lovely.

Chechnya
Another of last year’s top ten contenders makes the grade again this year, as nothing really seems to have changed at all in this part of the North Caucasus. Even if you can get yourself a permit to enter this troubled land, you’re not likely to have the right to roam without a collection of Russian soldiers escorting you every step of the way, making sure you don’t photograph anything, or talk to anyone, that they don’t want you to. Not that you’d want to go out on your own around here to walk your lunch off, as kidnapping would most likely spoil your afternoon stroll real fast. In any case, with the poisoning of former KGB agent, Aleksander Litvinenko, topping headlines towards the end of the year, along with his well known association to Chechen rebel envoy, Akhmed Zakayev, the Kremlin is going to be doubly sensitive about foreigners wandering around Grozny, digging for newsworthy gossip. Don’t expect visa-on-arrival to be available in Chechnya for a while yet.

Chad
2006 has not been a good year for Chadian President, Idriss Deby, as rebels calling themselves the United Front for Change tried to seize control of N’Djamena back in April. Although the coup failed, hundreds were left dead, as the rebels were driven east into Sudan, where it was alleged they were receiving backing from Khartoum. Sound familiar? While troops loyal to Deby were busy countering the UFC’s offensive, the Sudanese Janjaweed, who we’ve all come to know and loath, used the disarray to their advantage, pushing ever deeper into Chad’s eastern desert. Aid workers based in Abeche, and administrating over a large part of the Darfur IDP population, had little choice but to evacuate, as the security situation collapsed around them. A state of emergency now exists in the volatile border region and tanks are a common site on the streets of N’Djamena. Chad, for the time being, is most definitely suitable only to those well versed in central African discord. Perhaps a beach holiday in Mombassa may be a better option.

Nepal
In the last ten years, Maoist insurgents in Nepal have left 12,000 people dead and over 100,000 displaced as they’ve fought for a communist republic, mugging tourists and murdering policemen as they went. Ranked among the poorest countries in the world, Nepal is a ripe picking ground for the Maoists, who found they had widespread support from the peasants in the fields; so visitors to this most scenic of places have all too often found themselves handing over sums of money and expensive items, such as cameras and phones, to help fund these mountain folks’ cause. Resistance is not taken lightly. In January 2006, the Nepalese town of Tansen was attacked by the rebels and 20 people killed, but since then peace talks have made considerable ground and the days of the Maoists destroying roads and bridges is alledgedly over; for the time being at least. However, they’re still heavily armed and refusing to lay down their Kalashnikovs, so a cautious step is still advised. Notwithstanding the political environment, if the Maoists don’t get you, the altitude has teeth and is a fickle beast.

Haiti
Officially the poorest nation in the Americas, Haiti is a poverty-stricken, barren dustbowl, marred by violence. A trip to Port Au Prince can be a trouble free experience for the Saga city-breaker, who’s just looking for a voodoo doll souvenir to take back to the cruise ship. But an evening stroll through Cite Soleil, Haiti’s largest and most notorious slum, is a different prospect entirely – probably just your cup of tea if you’re yearning for a burning tyre necklace or double-tap to the back of the head. Our advice is don’t even think about it unless you’re either tucked safely inside a UN APC, or best drinking buddies with the Cite’s ruling class – whoever they may be on any given day. In 2004, when Jean-Bertrand Aristide was booted out of his presidency the second time around, violence erupted, resulting in 8000 killings and 35,000 rapes (Lancet Report). Following that promising start, Haiti has gone downhill from there. Since May 2006, newly elected President, Jacques-Edouard Alexis has faced the unenviable task of leading Haiti out of the chaos. We wish him luck.

North Korea
Resting down there at the south-eastern end of the Axis of Evil, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is doing a great job of winding up the United States. A test missile launch in July provoked widespread condemnation, but Kim Jong-Il just stuck two fingers up at the rest of the world and went on to detonate a nuclear device in October. Sanctions were imposed as a result but this just brought stubborn defiance from Pyongyang, where they’re now saying that unless the sanctions are lifted, the nuclear deterrent programme will continue. It’s hard to see how this sabre-rattling stalemate is going to play out, but one thing’s for sure; the hapless citizens of Seoul are sitting pretty, like ducks in a row, with DPRK artillery pointing their way, and are getting real twitchy just praying that George Dubbya doesn’t draw on his wealth of experience in global diplomacy and make a move. Travellers are allowed into the DPRK, with a permit of course, but they’re not going anywhere on their own. Expect a very polite shadow everywhere you go instructing you to only photograph street corners, billboards and bus stops.

Horn of Africa
We’re very generous folks, here at Polo’s Bastards, so we’re going to give you three for the price of one, with Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. Hell, let’s throw in Sudan for good measure, too! The fact is it’s pretty hard to go anywhere on Africa’s great horn without getting caught up in some god-forsaken, stinking hole with the bullets flying.
All looked good for the folks of Eritrea, when they were awarded independence from Ethiopia in 1993, but some kid on work experience at the local cartographer’s office, in Addis Ababa, had his map upside down and got the border demarcation all wrong. It’s been tense up there ever since. In the southeast of Ethiopia, the disputed territory of Ogaden has been the cause of some serious squabbling too. There’s a non-aggression pact in place now, though, between Ethiopia and Somalia, but if you go there, you’ll probably die of thirst anyway.
Elsewhere on the Horn… In the south, the Somalis are shooting anything in a white skin, as Mogadishu swings back and forth between mild anarchy and all-out-lawlessness, and now the Ethiopians are throwing their weight around in towns such as Galkayo and Beledweyne too. In the north, the Eritreans are allegedly harbouring and training anti-Khartoum rebels, while they themselves are warding off a Sudanese plot to assassinate their own President in Asmara. All in all, the horn is a tense place to be right now. If you do decide to throw caution to the wind and fly down there, keep smiling and watch your back.

Central African Republic
Not a nice place to be if you still have some growing to do; the C.A.R. has a reputation for trafficking in children; sold into a life of forced labour, domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. For the adults, life isn’t much better, as the country has pretty much been a boiling pot of instability for all of its 47 years of independence. Coup has followed coup, and today armed militia roam the forested countryside with impunity, so hats off to Francois Bozize for taking the presidential stand in 2005, probably knowing that his will eventually be an unsavoury demise if past experiences are anything to go by. He was a coup leader himself, so he should understand better than anyone. Britain’s foreign office warns against all travel to the country, even suggesting that military escorts guarantee no safety. A foreigner can rest assured, however, that he or she will stand out in a crowd and draw plenty of attention. Just bear in mind that it may not be a good thing.

Lebanon
The relationship between Lebanon and Israel has never been affable and gracious, but July 2006 saw the shit really hit the fan, when Hezbollah thought it would be cool to kidnap a couple of Israeli soldiers. Israel unleashed hell on Hezbollah, taking out any man, woman or child that was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time; polarising global opinion into those that saw Hezbollah as suicide bombing terrorists, and those that saw them as beleaguered country men, suffering at the hands of Israeli oppression. Whatever side of the fence you stand on, the unexploded ordnance that still litters the Lebanese countryside isn’t fussy and will remove your legs without discussion, and probably the rest of your flimsy body too. In Beirut, you’re equally vulnerable, as western interests are still at considerable risk of retaliatory bomb strikes. Lebanese Industry Minister, Pierre Gemayel, was assassinated last month (21st November), so don’t think the Middle East peace process is making ground just yet.

So here’s to 2007 and all it brings, and we wish you well in your forthcoming adventures. May the eyes in the back of your head be keen, your friends genuine and your enemies slow witted. As you scale breathless mountains and grumbling volcanoes; tread dusty back roads and vanishing point interstates, please remember to keep an open mind with a healthy sense of paranoia. And if you find yourself in the midst of the headlines as they’re being written, we’d like to hear about it. Godspeed and happy New Year.

Author – Lee Ridley
Photography – Sean Rorison, Lee Ridley, Lightstalker, Flipflop, David Astley and Fergus Cunningham.

Throughout history, military forces have depended on civilian contractors of one sort or another to give their military personnel flexibility, or to fulfill logistical and support functions that soldiers do not need to do.

In ancient and medieval history up until at least the 1600s, it was not unusual to depend on armies made up primarily of mercenaries and civilian support. George Washington’s Continental Army depended on civilians for a variety of support roles: transportation, carpentry, engineering, food and medicine. These were logistical functions, considered either menial or too specialized to expect soldiers to do them. Frenchman Marquis de Lafayette was one of the first Military Contractors in the US. In 1777, he purchased a ship, and with a crew of adventurers set sail for America to fight in the American Revolution against British colonial rule.

The Marquis de Lafayette joined the Revolutionary Army as a major general and was assigned to the staff of George Washington. He served with distinction, leading American forces to several victories. Upon his return home to France, he worked closely with US Ambassadors Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Even after technically leaving the service of the United States, he continued to work in its interests.

The Marquis de Lafayette

Logistical, combat and diplomatic functions like this have been the domain of civilian contractors ever since, up through the Vietnam Conflict and today. Often, the contractors hired were locals, people who could be counted upon to know the area, the local foodstuffs, and to be able to find the proper resources for military needs. Other times, they were brought in from the United States, just as the soldiers were.

THE VIETNAM WAR: A CHANGE OF PHILOSOPHY
In Vietnam, there was a significant and basic change in the way the military treated civilian contractors. Business Week, in March 1965, called it a “war by contract.” This was largely because standard military equipment was suddenly technologically advanced, while the average soldier had little technical training besides basic combat skills. There was suddenly a serious need for civilian contractors with specialized skills to work side by side with the troops. Field maintenance crews with companies like General Electric or Johnson, Drake, and Piper dodged bullets at DaNang and Pleiku to maintain and repair field equipment and infrastructure for troops, who desperately needed them. Instead of being kept safely behind military lines, civilian Contractors were in the same danger as the soldiers they were supporting. This was not the only reason that civilian contractors were active in the Vietnam Theater.

Before the war even started, Air America was field-lifting supplies behind enemy lines to covert US Special Forces operatives who were training the CIA formed South Vietnamese’s, Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG). Food, supplies, weapons, intelligence and transportation would have been impossible to access without Air America pilots and Civilian Contractor ground crews who were maintaining Air America’s airplanes and helicopters. The U.S. was still not yet officially involved in the Vietnam conflict, and to commit American military planes and soldiers would have caused the international incident that the U.S. was trying to avoid at the time.

An Air America helicopter helps evacuate Vietnamese refugees from the top of 22 Gia Long Street, a half mile from the U.S. Embassy.

The men and women working behind enemy lines out of uniform were a unique breed. Some were ex-military, or ex-CIA, with the training necessary to perform covert operations. They did not have the same status, however, of an American soldier, who soon learned how faithless the enemy was, as the number of tortured POWs started to mount. Others were young men (few women) who were moved by high salaries, or by a taste for adventure, and even by patriotism or idealism.

When the war ended, some ex civilian contractors entered the CIA or other US military or paramilitary service afterward; others went on into private life, often finding successful careers. One ex-civilian contractor went on to run a large branch of Goodwill Industries International on the Pacific Rim, successfully transforming his experience with Asian culture into an executive job after he made millions starting and running a 400-employee company in San Francisco. There were numerous other civilian contractors at this time, almost all working for the same companies that built U.S. army electronics or field equipment. These companies and contractors included General Electric, branches of AT&T, Johnson, Drake and Piper, and even Michigan State University.

One of the many highly technical weapon systems maintained by Civilian General Electric employees in Vietnam was the 7.62MM GE MiniGun

WHAT IT WAS LIKE?
Serving in this manner was extremely hazardous. Many were shot down; others were captured and remain missing today. Air America lost 87 people during the conflict; it is unknown how many men and women serving with other civilian contractors were also killed or captured by the VietCong, largely because these statistics were not maintained by the military. There were also a few French mercenary- class security contractors working in Vietnam at the time, but they were mostly doing cleanup and protecting French citizens and expats who were still in Vietnam despite the war. R&R was a real problem for these contractors, particularly after the Vietnam War started in full force. A few went to Saigon, like US soldiers, but this was an unsafe and often times uncomfortable position for US personnel, and especially for US contractors. A trip to Tokyo, Bangkok or anywhere outside the theater was a prize to strive for.

Soi Cowboy’s famous Go Go Bars where American GI’s and Contractors went for R & R during the Vietnam War

Civilian contractors who were working side by side with the military maintaining and upgrading their equipment (and getting shot at with them!) were usually the best accepted by US soldiers. Those Contractors who worked independently from the US Military were generally shunned as outsiders or rogues who were only in the war for the money. R&R could be a little surprising.

The men working for US Contractors sometimes got a little stir crazy, and being shot at every day tends to numb your sense of danger. In 1967 in Laos, some civilian Contractors decided to spend their day off, not sitting around the nice safe hostel they were assigned, but searching through jungles infested with enemy personnel for wild orchids, rare and valuable flowers, to beautify their temporary homes. Miraculously, they were not caught doing this, and returned to their home base with a load of beautiful living flowers.

Others found a different kind of R&R. With so few American women in the area, there were few options for romance. A number of civilian Contractors married Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian women, bringing them back to the United States with them when the war was over, or even remaining in Asia to start their families.

One of the main reasons these young men put their lives on the line was for money. Civilian Contractors working with US companies were taking the same risks as US soldiers, but getting significantly higher pay, much to the dismay of the US soldiers they were working with. Salaries varied, of course; but some came back to the United States with the seed capital to start their own businesses, while others went on to high-paying jobs in the military- industrial complex or in private industry. A number stayed in Southeast Asia with their hard-earned cash to live the easy expat life.

PRIVATE CONTRACTORS TODAY
The temptation of a high-paying overseas job today and the poor job market for former military personnel often outweighs the risks involved. It’s currently estimated by the Brookings Institute that for every ten military personnel involved in the Iraq war, a contractor is there to maintain equipment or work for the military in some other capacity; because of security concerns, almost every single one is American or from a European Union or NATO member country.

There are dozens of small private military companies and security contractors that provide PSD (Personal Security Detail) teams to high ranking US, European and Iraqi officials, or escort supply convoys through the dangerous “Mad Max” highways of Iraq; these are most frequently the men who die at the hands of insurgents.

Security Contractors protect top U.S. administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer as he greets Provincial Council Governor Abdul Kareem Barjas in Baghdad this May

Today, the U.S. military relies on Contractors to maintain 28% of its weapon systems. Ideally, they would like to use contractors to maintain 50%. Military contracting today appears to be a real growth industry, particularly for those with the skills necessary to work with the US Military. R&R is more likely to be in Dubai or Bangkok (like their Vietnam Contractor predecessors) and salaries are sky-high. Special-forces-trained Security Operators make over a thousand dollars a day; more than ten times the wage of enlisted equivalents; even a bus driver makes eighty thousand dollars a year tax-free, and companies are starting to offer juicy incentives like profit sharing.

Whatever else can be said, this much is true: as long as the US military has bases overseas, are involved in peacekeeping with the UN, or involved in some sort of conflict, Contractors will always be hungry for qualified workers, and the workers will always be hungry for the high paying jobs and adventure that can only be found working as a Civilian Contractor in a theater of conflict.

Author – Jamesintheworld

Jamesintheworld is the editor and founder of www.CivilianContractorJobs.com a free site for people looking for high paying overseas jobs with civilian contractors in conflict areas . He has worked for Contractors throughout the Middle East and is currently working in Iraq. James spends his leave time at his homes in Virginia and Indonesia. Contact him at: james@uscontractorjobs.com

Malaria is one of the scourges of third world travelers, not to mention the people that live in areas prone to the disease. For centuries Malaria has caused devastation among populations, especially in Africa which accounts for up to 90% of Malaria cases. Although the latest news about the disease coming out of the scientific and medical communities all seems to be pretty positive, the disease has undergone a major resurgence since the attempted eradication programs of the 50s and 60s.

Malaria is a disease that is transmitted by a parasite that is carried between humans by mosquitos. Up to 500 million people are infected with the disease every year, leading to the deaths of 1 million and contributing to the deaths of millions more. Predictably, the scale of the carnage has a massive economic impact as well, seemingly in places that can scarcely afford it. According to The Economist, Malaria accounts for 40% of public health spending in Sub-Saharan Africa and strips their economies of $12 billion in lost production per year, not to mention the impact of the disease in places such as Cambodia and Myanmar.

The good news is that Malaria can be prevented and treated (as any experienced traveler probably already knows). The problem so far has been preventing and treating Malaria on the massive scale required to have an impact on its overall effects.

Last year’s major story to do with Malaria was the beginning of mass production of “Olyset” mosquito nets infused with insecticide by Japanese company, Sumitomo Chemical. The nets can be produced for as little as $5 per piece and, according to the WHO, potentially reduce fatalities from Malaria by as much as 20%. (They are also a wise addition to your travel kit as they weigh next to nothing and take up very little room – if you can find them). The nets have been the basis of many private and public campaigns to limit the effects of Malaria in developing countries. The low and tangible cost of the nets also makes them an easily promoted remedy for organisations seeking charitable donations.

Last week the Economist ran a story on the development of a new climate prediction technique that could forewarn of Malaria outbreaks by a period of up to five months. Current computer early warning systems can only give predictions of an outbreak within about a month of the expected date – a timespan that doesn’t leave health organisations a lot of time to organise a response. The distribution of the Olyset nets could be far better coordinated with this new information system not to mention other outbreak prevention strategies.

So with the scientific communities being on the offensive against the disease, why has it continued its resurgence?

According to the US Center for Disease Control, the reemergence of the disease can be attributed to several factors, a few of which would seem to be preventable.

One factor that stands out is the prevalence of armed conflict in places affected by Malaria which sees populations move to succeptable areas with limited resources to offset the disease. The obvious problems associated with Malaria prevention in a conflict zone coupled with the more immediate concerns of feeding and sheltering refugees mean the issues associated with the disease are usually overlooked at the time. Other than to halt the fighting, which seems an impossiblity given the UN and the West’s reticence to become involved in African squabbles, there doesn’t seem to be an obvious solution to that problem.

The other preventable factor in their assessment is the abysmal socio-economic conditions of the areas in which the spread of Malaria is a major concern. The fact that Sub-Saharan economies are simply not equipped to deal with the major costs of offsetting a prevantable epidemic would seem to be an absolute tragedy. Once again, Irish rock stars aside, this causative factor doesn’t seem set for a major reversal unless the economic fortunes of Africa take a miraculous turn.

Despite the advances made by the scientific community, the factors that would enable them to mount a serious attempt to wipe out Malaria simply don’t exist at the moment. At best we can hope that continued efforts will keep the disease within a manageable scope and continue to reduce its devastating impact, but until several of the causative factors that aren’t currently on the radar of the international community can be addressed, Malaria will be something the world will have to learn to live with.

Technorati Tags: Malaria, WHO, Africa