Also - US, hello? That kind of sucks. Tourism would be a great way to integrate these areas more to the "western" spheres of business (I'm not saying that is a valuable value as such, I take no sides, but I presume US would consider this still advantageous to it's positioning).
When I read this news I immediately thought I could go and visit the ruins of Babylon (yes, I can go and see pieces of it museums in non-ESTA-nulling places but it's not the same thing). Now - ancient babylon vs. ESTA privileges? Oh man, choices, choices.
Notice it says in the article:
> Entry: If there is evidence of travel to Israel in your passport entry is unlikely to be granted.
Israel will, upon request, give you a removable sticker for your passport instead of stamping it if you also need to travel to unfriendly countries. I'm sure Iraq will figure out the same thing. (despite the irony!)
That unfortunately is a very dangerous and very bad advice in this case. The ESTA doesn't just check your passport for evidence of you being traveled to these countries. They ask you if you did. If you tell the truth, you don't get a visa waiver. If you lie and they learn about it from some source you can be in a heap of trouble. This trouble can include deportation, inability to ever again enter the USA, complications with entering many other western nations, etc.
I don't know about the probabilities of them figuring out the lie. It can be anywhere between "being hit by lightning" and "almost certainty". The potential consequences on the other hand are known and quite dire.
Different if you are from another country, read poorer and not part of the Western world.
I went to Iran, it was the most amazing 1-week trip vacation I've ever done (Damavand, Isfahan, Yazd, a bit of Tehran). Amazingly friendly people, everybody spoke english, most signs are dual farsi/english, and the best part - its completely untouched by mass tourism. Feels surreal in current world, in the best way possible.
Even if this trip would ban me for life from US which is practically impossible with current tech, trips like these are 100x worth it. Can't recommend enough.
Iran is on my list of places I'd love to go though. I can't imagine how awesome it is. There are so many sites I'd love to visit but I know as an American it's not a good idea to go right now, unfortunately.
> the whole US approach to Iran is plain stupid and amoral so I didn't mind it
What about the Iranian approach to the U.S.? What if Iran stopped development of nuclear weapons and attacking U.S. forces in Iraq and elsewhere, or sponsoring organizations that are destabilizing the Middle East? It's not like they're not also agitating the situation. It's in their best interest because that way they can maintain power.
I'm more and more becoming of the opinion we need to take away all the toys of these governments (U.S., Iran, and others).
It takes threee to tango in this situation
Provocations and aggressions that maybe the US should perhaps stop doing:
- presidential candidates gleefully parodying beach boy songs about bombing Iran. [1]
- spending many 10s of billions of America’s hard earned tax dollars surroinsing Iran with several dozen military bases. [2]
- Assassinating or supporting Israel in assassinating Iranian scientists abroad.[3]
- or assassinating Iranian military leaders [4]
- Organizing violent military coups to replace democratically elected governments with Radical Islamist puppet dictatorships [5], [6]
- Gatekeeping nuclear power by releasing destructive viruses into the world to destroy Iranian Nuclear research labs [7]
1. https://youtu.be/U7s5pT3Rris
2. https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1XmUD73hHQVBbdm8UcI...
3. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/29/middleeast/iran-mohsen-fa...
4. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Qasem_Solei...
5. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27état
6. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cia-assisted-cou...
Your frame of reference is something something U.S. bad. Others have a frame of reference that is something something Iran bad.
Both governments are bad and both continue to provoke and attack each other. For Iran it's in the current regime's best interest to stay in power. For the U.S. it's multiple other reasons.
Again, we need to take away the toys of these childish governments.
They may not be actively checking, but the information is definitely available for them. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27275163
Even if it includes my address (which I highly doubt), it will be different than it was 10 years ago.
Eventually, they'll get there. But I am fairly certain today they are not there and they don't bother for average Joe anyway. For me personally, the experience, especially in hindsight for what it offered, was/is well worth this minimal risk.