[meteorite-list] Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, and Safety or Terrorism Concerns

From: Michael Farmer <mike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2015 01:01:53 -0700
Message-ID: <52C0BFCF-A182-4E40-9D45-65BA67D2037D_at_meteoriteguy.com>

I used to frequent a cafe in Marrakech when I was traveling to morocco every two weeks. That date was bombed a few years and several tourists died.
I spent some time at the mall in Kenya that was attacked and nearly 100 people were killed in last year.
It is eery knowing that these places where you have been many times are now gone or horrible things happened there.
The Islamic countries are on fire. The insane jihadist people are on the loose. I'll pass on these crapholes until the lunatics are gone.


Michael Farmer

> On Mar 23, 2015, at 5:58 PM, Raremeteorites via Meteorite-list <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com> wrote:
>
> The entire world appears to be in chaos and international relationships are at the worst since World War II but I would still feel safe gong to Morocco.
>
> Adam
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anne Black via Meteorite-list" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> To: <john at meteoriteusa.com>; <meteoritemike at gmail.com>
> Cc: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Monday, March 23, 2015 5:46 PM
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, and Safety or Terrorism Concerns
>
>
>> Yes, but...........
>>
>> Tunisia is one country I would have felt perfectly safe going back to. The Bardo Museum is one of the top museums for archaeology and mosaics.
>> And look what happened.
>>
>>
>> Anne M. Black
>> www.IMPACTIKA.com
>> IMPACTIKA at aol.com
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: J Sinclair via Meteorite-list <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>> To: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike at gmail.com>
>> Cc: Meteorite List <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>> Sent: Mon, Mar 23, 2015 6:38 pm
>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, and Safety or Terrorism Concerns
>>
>>
>> Mike,
>>
>> Morocco is where the concentration of the meteorite trading with
>> our
>> Country, the US, is taking place. There are many Moroccans that visit
>> this
>> country to sell at the two biggest gem, mineral and fossil shows
>> here, Tucson
>> and Denver. They have been coming for years, long before
>> the large increase in
>> the number of meteorites that are being found in
>> the Sahara. With a passport
>> and visa, there is free travel between our
>> country and theirs. There are a lot
>> of Americans that travel there.
>> The country's abundance of minerals, fossils
>> and meteorites make it a
>> popular place for people that have an interest in
>> natural history to
>> travel to.
>>
>> A quick look at the list from the State
>> Department doesn't list
>> Morocco as a country with travel
>> warnings.
>>
>> http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings.html
>>
>> In
>> fact, the Meteoritical Society held its annual meeting in
>> Casablanca just six
>> months ago. It was attended by scientists and
>> meteorite enthusiasts from around
>> the world.
>>
>> Desert borders can be blurry though. Americans haven't been safe
>> along
>> some of those borders for decades.
>>
>> Is Morocco a place you would be
>> afraid to go to?
>>
>> Morocco shouldn't be grouped with the countries that have
>> travel
>> warnings just because Morocco is on the same continent with them
>> and
>> because of theories about social tolerance and the opinion of it being
>> a
>> good place to strike Western interests. There are many places that
>> fit that
>> criteria.
>>
>> The US State Department does warn us about travel to Mexico,
>> the
>> Ukraine, Iraq, Haiti, Honduras, Columbia and many other places
>> including
>> some that you mention. Morocco isn't one of them.
>>
>> Terrorist events over the
>> last few decades have shown us that we may
>> not be safe in places like Boston,
>> New York, Oklahoma City, Paris and
>> many others.
>>
>> Traveling anywhere including
>> just down the street isn't as safe as it
>> used to be. Morocco is one place I
>> would feel comfortable traveling
>> to. Paris and Boston too.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> John
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 6:19 PM, Galactic Stone & Ironworks
>> via
>> Meteorite-list <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com> wrote:
>>> Hi
>> List,
>>>
>>> Let me preface this - I do not want this to get political and I
>> want
>>> to stick to how this situation impacts the meteorite world. I do not
>> want to engage or ignite a discussion about religion or politics.
>>>
>>> I have
>> been reading stories on the news wires about the operation of
>>> terrorist cells
>> and training camps in the remotest regions of the
>>> Saharan Desert. It is no
>> surprise that parts of Egypt, Libya,
>>> Algeria, and Mali are used as havens or
>> hideouts for terrorists -
>>> these countries have had widely publicized problems
>> with terrorist
>>> activity, especially in the remote areas that are far from the
>> central
>>> government's control.
>>>
>>> However, up until recently (the last
>> several months), we have not
>>> heard much about terrorist activity in Morocco
>> and Mauritania. While
>>> Morocco is still considered mostly safe for
>> Westerners, neighboring
>>> Mauritania keeps popping up in the media stories
>> about Al-Qaeda and/or
>>> ISIS activity. A few known higher-level terrorists
>> being tracked by
>>> Western intelligence services are known to have spent
>> considerable
>>> time in Mauritania (ostensibly at training camps in the remote
>> desert)
>>> before going abroad to carry out attacks.
>>>
>>> Morocco has a
>> long-standing history of cooperation and honorable
>>> relations with the USA and
>> that cooperation extends into the realm of
>>> military black ops and
>> intelligence. Indeed, Morocco hosted a CIA
>>> "black site" for the "rendition"
>> of terrorist suspects during the
>>> years after the 9/11 attacks.
>> Theoretically, this close relationship
>>> with the West and social tolerance of
>> Moroccan culture in general may
>>> make Morocco a very tempting target for
>> terrorist cells looking to
>>> strike at Western interests, Western tourists, or
>> secular/moderate
>>> Islamic regimes that the terrorist hardliners consider to
>> be
>>> heretical.
>>>
>>> While Mauritania has been mostly safe in recent years,
>> there are
>>> isolated incidents of violence against Westerners by
>> Al-Qaeda-linked
>>> cells. Given the recent high-profile museum attack in
>> Tunisia, does
>>> this situation make any Western meteorite hunters nervous? Are
>> the
>>> more-remote regions of Morocco and/or Mauritania still safe for
>> Westerners?
>>>
>>> Are there any US or European hunters who have canceled plans
>> to hunt
>>> for meteorites in Morocco, Mauritania, or Tunisia because of the
>> recent security concerns? And lastly, have there ever (or recently)
>>> been any
>> terrorist-type attacks or kidnappings against Western
>>> meteorite hunters in
>> the remote areas of Morocco or Mauritania?
>>>
>>> Best regards and Happy Safe
>> Huntings,
>>>
>>> MikeG
>>>
>>> --
>> -------------------------------------------------------------
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Received on Tue 24 Mar 2015 04:01:53 AM PDT