Libya, Yemen, Venezuela, Gaza: Being a tourist is hard work!

        Do you have any idea how many countries in the world these days have a official U.S. State Department "Do Not Travel" warning next to their name?  Let's find out.   

 

       Countries under the State Department's "Level 4 -- Do Not Travel" advisory include Afghanistan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Burma, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen.  

 

      There are even Level 2 travel advisories against France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, South Africa, Morocco, Peru, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, China and Tibet.  "Exercise increased caution."  Where's the fun in that?

      I tried to visit Yemen and Gaza recently.  Had my suitcase packed, my fingernails manicured and my sturdy walking shoes bought.  Got to the Jordan airport.  "No flights to Yemen.  No flights to Gaza."  Rats.  

 

     Did you know that Yemen is where they actually invented coffee?  There would be no Starbucks without Yemen!  Coffee was originally considered to be the drink of scholars.  The goal of the first coffee culture there was to elevate us as human beings and help us become better people.  Even today, coffee-drinking Yemenis are still fighting against genocide.  

     Imagine if all us coffee-drinking Americans fought against genocide, injustice and war-profiteering too?

     And even though Gaza has lovely sand beaches to die for and I'd already packed my bathing suit, it turns out that getting into Gaza these days involves access to an F-35, ten or fifteen Bradley tanks and having an American president at my disposal.  Obviously not gonna happen.

      Then I tried to get into Venezuela.  "Why on earth would you want to go there?" you might ask.  "The cocaine?"  No.  You are confusing Venezuela with Ecuador, where Marco Rubio's BFF, President Daniel Noboa, cleverly exports cocaine -- hidden in his banana boats.  Everyone knows that, even the CIA and Pentagon.  

 

      I don't like cocaine anyway.  

 

     Like coffee, stock-brokers on Wall Street use cocaine to help them wake up.  Me?  I just want something that will help put me to sleep.  Venezuela's got chocolate!  Works for me.  But still -- no American tourists are allowed to go to Venezuela either.

      What about Libya?  It's got nine (9) UNESCO World Heritage sites.  Cyrene is one of the very best examples of ancient Greek architecture outside of Greece.  Can't go there either.  No beach chair beside the Mediterranean for me in Libya either.  Libya is now a dangerous war-torn no-go zone thanks to Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama.

      I was in Ukraine back in 2003.  I even toured Maidan Square!  Took a lot of selfies of me visiting historic Orthodox monasteries and churches -- but then I lost the SIM card containing those photos.  Humph.  So can I go back there and take all those selfies again?  The US State Department sez no.  Ukra$ne is now off limits too.  Oh well.

      Been to Haiti.  Can't go back.  Been to Syria, Lebanon, China, Iran, Iraq, Russia, North Korea, Burma, Tibet and Afghanistan.  Can't go back.  Why?  Because America has either been at war with these countries before, is at war with these countries now or soon will be at war with these countries.

      Being a tourist these days is really hard work.

 

PS:  And then there's a whole new obstacle to me finally becoming a tourist again -- the government shut-down!  "FAA to cut flights at 40 airports starting Friday," scream the headlines.  Can't even fly from here to New York City these days.  And will the power elites strike back against Momdani as well?  Will Manhattan become just another Iran or Cuba?  Sanctioned, invaded, isolated and cut off economically?  Will we have yet another Bay of Pigs happen off Coney Island too?

 

      Looks like NYC is gonna be isolated and sanctioned next -- all except for Wall Street of course.  Time for us tourists to stand up for our rights!

 

Resources:

 

Forty US airports you can't fly to:  https://apnews.com/article/faa-government-shutdown-flight-cuts-airports-list-a11237fe6d6e14bed0935930dffed72e 

 

Everything you ever wanted to know about coffee from Yemen:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu7IgJpwQ5c

 

Buy Yemeni coffee here:  https://portofmokha.com/ 

 

Richard Wolffe really gets into explaining how America screwed up its empire:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6NC85RghwA 

 

And the Electronic Intifada explains once again why I can't go to Gaza:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaGQNJ953zg

 

The full Momdani victory speech, quoting Eugene Debbs:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfdUn9H4gjA 

 

New book about the JFK assassination:  https://substack.com/inbox/post/177226892?triedRedirect=true 

 

 

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