Archives for the ‘The Places’ Category

The 7 Most Dangerous Countries for Bloggers

By Rob Wood • Oct 16th, 2008 • Category: The Places

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 [...]



2007 In Focus – Top Ten World’s Worst Destinations

By Lee Ridley • Dec 25th, 2007 • Category: The Places

‘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.



2005 in Focus – Top Ten Worst Destinations

By Rob Wood • Jan 26th, 2006 • Category: The Places

A summary of the world’s worst travel dstinations of 2005, as chosen by Polo’s Bastards.



Russia’s Splitting Headache – A Brief History Of Chechnya

By Robert Chenciner • May 6th, 2005 • Category: The Places

Strabo at the time of Jesus mentions 26, already ancient, Albani tribes in the Caucasus that, by linguistic argument, included the Chechens (and Ingush). Most of the 55 ethnic groups in the Caucasus mountainous region between the Black and Caspian seas speak unique Caucasian languages. Chechen is a Northeast Caucasian language called Veinakh, meaning ‘our [...]



Darfur Crisis: From the inside

By Rob Wood • Oct 14th, 2004 • Category: The Places

Polo’s Bastards’ Contributor, Vince Gainey has recently returned from a 6 week posting in the middle of the Darfur Crisis in West Sudan with a major international aid agency.



War in Iraq: A Pylon too far?

By Rob Wood • Oct 5th, 2004 • Category: Commentary, The Places

Route six, Iraq – AKA “MSR Topeka” (Main Supply Route Topeka), as named by the UK coalition forces, is a long, worn, and neglected jugular through the heart of Shia Iraq, running roughly south and east from Baghdad to Basrah – the second city.



Nicaragua Blockade

By Eric Becker • Nov 22nd, 2003 • Category: The Places

I’ve never understood to what to attribute the prevalence of gold-capped teeth in Northeastern Nicaragua. For some, it seems like a fashion statement. For others, it seems the last line of defense against the total loss of dental capacity, a life restricted to mashed cassava and gummable beans. The truck driver was somewhere in the [...]