Robert D. Kaplan has a piece in Foreign Policy today whose most salient point, "Peaceful or not, the future of the region will be one of weakened authority," is perceptive, I think. May have to defer that trip to Damascus for now ("Dozens reported dead in bloodiest day of uprising so far,") but I'm hankering for a visit to the Erbil Rotana Hotel, below, in nearby Kurdistan. 6x/week nonstop service from Vienna on Austrian Airlines flight OS 829.
Photo from the hotel web site.
"If something happens to them, I'm very sorry—I do my best to make sure it doesn't. But if it does, then that's what happened. Anyone who says they didn't know is an idiot. It's on television every day." - Geoff Hann
Hinterland Travel organizes trips to the places on its web site masthead, above, and some more. Sample prices: Afghanistan, 24 days from £2560, Iraq, nine day tour £1780. There's a long article here in Outside Magazine about a Hinterland trip through Afghanistan.
Common Sense and Whiskey is the companion to EarthPhotos.com, where you can see and buy professional photo prints from 105 countries and territories around the world, and the blog for Common Sense and Whiskey - the book. It's Intelligent discussion about the world out there.
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