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A daily brief about the world's most dangerous places from international war correspondent Chuck Holton
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Wednesday Jan 02, 2019
Wednesday Jan 02, 2019
It's a new year, and we'll be here to cover every crisis around the planet. 2019 is going to be LIT. I'm not even sure what that means, but it's got to be good. We'll find out here, on the hot zone.
Thanks for being with us. Happy New Year everyone. Hope your celebrations last night were safe and memorable. Mine were - we drove up to the rim of the valley overlooking our little town and watched thousands of fireworks - It didn't come out too well on my phone but trust me, it was spectacular. Very memorable.
Well I've got big plans for the coming year, and today I want to make a list of the ten hot zones I'd like to cover most in 2019.
One of the frustrations of being a journalist is that you are always beholden to whoever is paying the freight. If I'm working for FOX, for example, they might not be interested in the plight of the Hill Tribes Christians in Burma, or might not have the budget for it. This has always been a problem, and normally it just comes with the territory. But I have a mind to change that this year.
Since I have relationships with various different agencies as a freelance war correspondent, I'm going to try something new. My idea is to go wherever I want, then sell packages and media to as many agencies as possible. This makes it cheaper for them because none of them have to pay for the travel, and still makes it profitable for me. While I'm there (wherever there is) I can take photos, shoot packages, do live interviews, and even write articles for various outlets, and hopefully all of them put together will pay for the travel and still allow me to put food on the table.
You can help with that if you want - head over to Patreon.com/hotzone and subscribe - you'll get signed copies of my books, bonus content and more for just 36 bucks for the entire year. And we can crowdfund not only the news, but you'll also get to see your contributions helping people directly, whether it's hurricane survivors or Syrian refugees. Let's partner together to make the news, shall we? And in the process, we'll make the news good for the people we meet. People like Zaina, who I met the last time I was in Iraq covering the fight against ISIS.
Okay, here's a list of the places I'm hoping to cover this year.
Syria: It's the largest scale humanitarian crisis of our time. Now in it's eighth year, with over 12 million people displaced, as many as half a million dead, and the effects being felt literally around the world, but especially in neighboring countries like turkey and Jordan, and of course in Europe. I've got tickets to head to Erbil in the end of January, and will be spending a couple of weeks in Syria with my friend Dave Eubank of the Free Burma Rangers. So pray for us, and for the people suffering after eight long years of war.
In reality the mass exodus from Syria started a much wider and deeper crisis as tens of millions of people from poor countries across africa and the Middle East realized it would be possible to follow the Syrian refugees into Europe and take advantage of their generous social welfare programs, to include free housing, food, medical care and education. Which is like winning the lottery for people who live in Africa.
Without a doubt, the worldwide epidemic of mass migration from the third world to the first is not only an indicator of crisis zones pushing people to seek a better life, it's also creating new crisis zones as millions of destitute, desperate people push into western countries uninvited and oftentimes bring their problems with them. What I mean is this: If you've lived in a failed state for most of your life, you have no concept of the rule of law, or even the golden rule for that matter. So when you arrive in a civilized country, you are going to have a really difficult time assimilating to the morals and values that made that country the kind of place people want to get into. We are seeing this across europe, as masses of military aged males who successfully make it to the continent are contributing to a wave of crime, sexual assaults and violence - which is then causing the electorate in countries like Italy, Austria and the UK to lurch to the right and elect populist and nationalist leaders who promise to crack down on the flood of migrants. I mean, it's pretty clear that Brexit would not have been a thing if it weren't for the civil war in Syria. A great example of chaos theory at work, I think.
And there's no shortage of Chaos. For me, that's job security.
The second country I'd like to cover is Londonistan and the UK. There are lots of stories to tell there - acid attacks at epidemic levels to the point where the government is cracking down on the purchase of bathroom cleaners. Knife attacks at historic highs, in london especially, and the hordes of desperate migrants who are braving death in the English Channel to get in before the UK is scheduled to leave at 11pm UK time on Friday, 29 March 2019. I could easily spend ten days or so covering all of this and jump over to Calais, then down to Normandy to report on the preparations for the upcoming 75th Anniversary of D-day in June.
Number three is Ukraine. I hope to go to Crimea in March and report on the fighting, which has been going on since 2014 when the Russians said "mine" to the region. Fighting is still happening as we speak in the Donblas region of Eastern Ukraine, and it's pretty clear the Russians are intent on extending their influence further in that area and all the way to the black sea. I'm not sure I can get in at the moment, but I have some contacts who are planning a trip and I may be able to tag along. We'll see.
Number four, Afghanistan. We still have thousands of US troops there, and later this year one of them will be my oldest son. I haven't been to that country since 2013 or so, so it will be interesting to go back and see how much it's changed. From what I hear, not much, except that the US troop presence is much smaller now, and is slated to be reduced even further. President Trump is getting a lot of flak from his generals over his decision to pull troops out of both Syria and Afghanistan, but some of my sources say that the real reason for doing so is because Trump plans to privatize bigger chunks of what we are doing in those places - hiring more military contractors to do the jobs US troops were there doing. There are some very valid arguments for the efficiency and effectiveness of using PMC's, and so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Number five South Africa. The media has really failed miserably in it's reporting on this particular crisis. Racial violence is nearing genocidal proportions there, but not against blacks. No, it's White Farmers who are being murdered and driven off their land at an absolutely horrifying rate, and reportedly the government of South Africa is actually sanctioning this violence. I've spoken with multiple White South Africans who say at the rate things are going all the whites will either be killed or driven off within a few years. I want to go and see for myself just how bad it really is, and I hope to get there in May or so.
Number six is Venezuela. it's the Syria of the Western hemisphere, and has already led to wave after wave of refugees escaping the crushing poverty, hyperinflation and despair of that socialist paradise. Riots and violence are about the only things not in short supply in Venezuela, and I want to do some more reporting on it. Now Venezuela is one of only a couple of countries my wife says I can't actually visit. But I'm planning to go to Colombia where there are over 1 million Venezuelan refugees and report from the border areas about the deepening crisis. If that corrupt and evil government does not collapse soon, or even if it does, I believe this could be one of the biggest stories of the year.
Number seven is Nigeria. Like the UK, there are multiple amazing stories to tell in this region. Boko Haram, the ISIS -inspired terror group is still killing, raping and kidnapping Christians in the North and in neighboring Niger, the internet scams which have become a huge growth industry there, and even the epidemic-level growth of trafficking in humans and their body parts. I could spend weeks there, but we'll see.
Number eight is Congo. I would really like to do some reporting on the rise of illegal cobalt mining - I've seen some reporting that children as young as seven are being worked nearly to death in what amounts to modern day slavery, digging for cobalt, which is an important mineral for batteries used in electric cars. Maybe those vehicles are "earth friendly" but they certainly don't seem to be human friendly if you are a poor family in sub-saharan Africa. There are also stories to be told there about the insidious growth of islamic fundamentalism across Africa...in fact, I might try to get an embed with US troops somewhere in Africa
Nine is Nicaragua. I talked about this issue a few episodes ago, but that country has all the makings of another venezuela, and it has seen an explosion of violent protests and riots over the past year and a half. Plus, it's an easy trip for me from Panama, so I could do that story in just a few days.
And ten is Honduras. I'd like to do some investigative reporting into the source of the recent migrant caravans, and how the people left behind feel about the situation. I believe there are place in Honduras where people could move if the poverty or violence got too bad in their own neighborhoods, and I'd like to show them to you. There are nine million people in that country, and the most recent caravan out of there is over fifteen thousand people. I'd like to investigate the things that make people leave, and find out if it has more to do with the pull factors from the United States or the push factor from their own country.
Every year I make plans like this about the places I'd like to visit, but as you all know, there are alway unseen disasters, wars and terror attacks that come without notice, and I end up heading off with a few hours notice to cover those events. Wherever I go, however, there are always people who need help. I want to bring you their stories and give you the ability to reach directly into their lives and help, and see how your generosity changes their lives. One of the worst things about watching the news is that you are usually so helpless to do anything about the tragedies the media tells you about, and it's been proven to be stressful. Well I'm determined to change that. Join me, won't you? It'll help a lot if you'd like and share and subscribe on youtube, podbean, itunes, facebook or wherever else you get the podcast. But in light of the rampant censorship and attempts by the big social media companies to stifle conservative voices, I'm going to be moving more and more over to Patreon.com/hotzone to post content. So please go check that out and while you are there subscribe for three dollars a month to support what we're doing.
I'm glad you are here. Let's make 2019 the best year ever for a lot of hurting people. That's what we do here on the hot zone. See you tomorrow.
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