We Live In A Not So Perfect World

Unfortunately, outside the safety of Bergdorf Goodman and atop couches in LIV the world remains to be a very harsh and punishing place. This is a reality that we’re sure sets in each time you have to make the painstaking decision to exit Elite Daily in your browser before heading off to daily obligations.  In a world that seemingly harbors more terrorism and fear-mongering than love and prosperity, it is important to know what danger and volatility exists in the perilous world around us.

Across each continent there are sure to be warm people, beautiful sunsets and jaw-dropping views. However, not everything that glitters is golden. Terrorism remains rampant across the globe and where it does not thrive it is harbored. As much as you would like to believe that extremist ideals only exist a half of the world away, you would be surprised.

North America

United States

The USA remains to be the number one target in the Muslim extremist world. We also harbor myriad equally dangerous homegrown groups like Aryan Nation, KKK, and the God-forsaken, putrid, puerile Tea Party.

Cuba

This beautiful island was placed on the list of State Sponsors of Terror in 1982 for training Communist rebels in Africa and Latin America.

Latin America

Nicaragua

Has a working relationship with Iran, has given asylum to members of violent Colombian separatist group FARC.

Panama

A safe haven, drug trafficking base, and training ground for FARC 57th Front members.

Venezuela

A country ruled by America-hating president Hugo Chavez in which there were 16,000 murders in 2009. Chavez has welcomed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his visits to Venezuela and has public praised Ilich Ramirez Sanchez (a.k.a. Carlos the Jackal), a man detained in France for acts of terror and who called 9/11 a “lofty feat of arms.”

Colombia

Despite military actions, FARC continues its campaign of terrorist attacks, extortion, drug trafficking, and kidnappings.

Bolivia

According to Israeli intelligence reports, Bolivia supplies Iran with uranium for its nuclear program. Iranian president and tie hater Ahmadinejad has stated “Iran and Bolivia share the same enemies, the same interests.”

Europe

France

Al Qaeda has made inroads as part of a campaign to have citizen of Western nations aid terrorist operatives. In 2010, 12 people were arrested on suspicion of trafficking arms and explosives.

Great Britain

IRA bombings have rocked the U.K. since the 1930s. In 2005, Muslin extremists set off bombs on London trains and a bus, killing 52 people and injuring more than 700. Failed shoe bomber and British citizen Richard Reid is the reason you have to take off your shoes at the airport.

Ireland

While the IRA threat has subsidized in recent years, the “Real IRA” and “Continuity IRA” have risen in its place. Authorities recently found a bomb in Dublin on the day of Queen Elizabeth’s visit.

Spain

Basque separatist groups like ETA are responsible for the deaths of thousands. In 2004, Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a train bombing in Madrid that killed 191 and injured 1,700 people.

Greece

Terrorist groups like Revolutionary Struggle have targeted police, U.S. affiliated banks, and the Athens Stock Exchange. In 2009 alone, there were more than 400 security incidents.

Africa

Morocco

A number of Al-Qaeda affiliated groups have taken root in Morocco over the past decade, most notably the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group. A bomb killed 16 in a Marrakesh cafe in 2011.

Algeria

This year has seen a marked uptick in terror incidents, primarily carried out by revolutionaries against the government. Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and Al Qaeda maintain a presence. In the 90′s, Islamic terrorists killed 10,000 civilians a year in Algeria.

Libya

The line between rebel insurgents and terrorist organizations can be a fine one: the Al-Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group helped lead the campaign to topple Gaddafi.

Syria

Designated a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1979: has given safe haven to many terrorist leaders; has defended Iran’s nuclear ambitions; allows arms to travel through its borders from Iran to terrorist organizations.

Turkey

U.S. relations have been strained since the 2010 Israeli raid of a Turkish flotilla delivering aid to Palestine. Internally, terrorist group PKK’s attacks have claimed hundreds of Turkish lives.

Somalia

Warlords, pirates, and terrorist groups such as al-Shabaab plague this nation. After bin Laden’s death, al-Shabaab vowed to find and kill President Obama’s grandmother in Kenya.

Sudan

Harbored Osama bin Laden in the ’90s. Although the government has cooperated in combating terror, their support of Hamas “freedom fighters” keeps them on the State Sponsor of Terrorism list.

Egypt

Egypt’s northern Sinai region has served as a base for the smuggling of humans, weapons, and other contraband into Israel and the Gaza Strip.

The Middle East

The Holy Land

As home to the Palestine Liberation Front, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Holy Land (Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip) has been the hottest of terrorism spots for several decades. But while groups including Al Qaeda focus their energies exclusively on violence, Palestinian organizations like Hamas and Fatah have morphed into political bodies.

Iraq

Al Qaeda’s front group here blasted the death of bin Laden, called President Obama “the rat in the black house,” and pledged harm to America

Iran

Designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism since 1984; provides funding, weapons, and safe haven to various terrorist groups; at press time, holding two American hikers captive.

Lebanon

Hezbollah helped to collapse the government; harbors numerous Palestinian terror groups; ongoing turmoil in Syria threatens to spill over the border.

Afghanistan

Despite almost a decade long U.S. presence, Afghanistan remains to be the Wal-Mart of terrorism.

Pakistan

Even though the U.S. has provided financial and military support, the Muslim nation has long been a safe haven for terrorist groups, most notably the Taliban and Al Qaeda (though the Pakistani government denied any knowledge of Osama bin Laden’s presence within its borders).

Asia

India

From Maoists to Islamic jihadists to Sikh separatists, India is arguably the country most affected by terrorism, with more than 1,000 deaths in 2009 alone.

Sri Lanka

For the past 26 years, a bloody civil war has raged between the Buddhist Sinhalese authorities and the Tamil Tigers — a Hindu separatist group that invented the suicide vest — leaving 100,000 Sri Lankans dead on both sides.

Russia

Numerous terrorist have wreaked havoc in this country, most recently the Chechen rebels who carried out the 2011 suicide bombing at Moscow’s largest airport that left 39 dead and the 2010 subway bombings that killed 40.

North Korea

A nuclear threat; accused of committing cyber-terrorist acts against South Korean banks; has tried to ship 40 tons of weapons to Iran.

Philippines

In 2010, Filipino troops killed a top Islamic militant who had helped mastermind the kidnapping of three Americans and 17 Filipinos from a scuba resort. Muslim extremist groups Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf are responsible for multiple killings, bombings and beheadings in the country

Elite.