25 Mar 17
Most Dangerous Places:
Right now, I donāt recommend offshore travel, particularly recreational travel, for most Americans. You can experience all the āquality timeā you can handle at any number of vacation destinations within CONUS, while exposing yourself to far less risk than will be the case offshore.
But, some places are more dangerous than others:
Our State Department periodically issues āwarningsā with regard to certain countries and areas, and my advice is to take them seriously! However, there are some places that have never been on a warning list that are also extremely dangerous!
āTours,ā where youāre with a group of Americans who are readily identified as such, particularly those with a religious theme, and particularly when they go to the Mid-east are to be especially avoided. Christian and Jewish historic sites are dangerous places!
Hotels, restaurants, and night-clubs that cater to foreign tourists are also best avoided, as are tour-busses that are conspicuously identified on the outside!
The foregoing applies, no matter where you plan on going, even to places like the UK and Australia.
Ten most dangerous foreign destinations for Americans are:
Pakistan
Thailand
Philippines
Haiti
Honduras
Nigeria
Belize
Guyana
Egypt
Mexico
However, the foregoing just reflects ādata,ā and does not take into account specific terrorist targeting of Americans and other Westerners.
My advice is to stay away from any place in the Mideast and all other places where Islamics are in charge, any place in Mexico, all of south and central America, all of west Africa, all of southeast Asia.
Israel is actually pretty āsave,ā at least in relative terms, so long as you stay away from religious sites. But of course, visiting religious sites is the reason most people go to Israel!
Again, āriskā attaches to everything we do, even doing nothing. The trick is to analyze risk honestly, absent personal bias. Your worst enemy is always your own prejudice!
Finally, donāt underestimate the cleverness and determination of Islamic terrorists! They are in every part of the world. They are relentless and plotting continuously. This grave situation will not improve during our lifetimes!
āOne of the most dangerous of erroneous beliefs is that civilization is automatically bound to increase and spread. The lesson of history exactly is the opposite; civilization is a rarity, attained with difficulty and easily lost. The normal state of humanity is barbarism, just as the normal surface of the planet is salt water. Land looms large in our imagination, and civilization in history books, only because sea and savagery are, to us, less interesting.ā
CS Lewis
/John
