Civil War in the Darfur region of Sudan
Photo Credit: Mondo

In many of my articles I have warned my readers to avoid travel to Muslim countries because of the higher crime rates, the likelihood of rape or sexual attack on infidel women, the lack of police protection, the possibility of civil unrest, the risk of kidnapping, culture clash, and the threat of terrorism.

You may be wondering why I include culture clash as a problem. Consider the following:

ABC News, The World's Most Dangerous Countries

a couple of folks recently ran afoul of authorities in Dubai for reportedly sending sexually explicit text messages. Had they looked up Dubai (under United Arab Emirates) on the State Department Web site, they would have seen this: "[Visitors] have been arrested in the past for obscene hand gestures, using inappropriate (foul) language with a police official, and for public displays of affection, such as kissing."

...

Presumably, the alleged "sexters" didn't know any of this, and as a result -- they're going to jail.

I thought it would be instructive to consider the views of other media sources in this matter and to distill the 13 most dangerous countries in the world. For example, the US State Department has travel warnings for 35 countries ¹ which they consider dangerous or unstable enough to recommend that Americans avoid the risk of travel to that country. If a country appears on that list I give it one point.

In January of 2010 Forbes Magazine ran an article with 15 of the most dangerous countries in the world ². If a country appears in that list I give it one point.

In April of 2008, Listverse.com compiled their Top 10 Most Dangerous Places on Earth. ³ If a country appears in that list I give it one point.

And finally, there is my article Muslim Threat Index, which ranks the most dangerous Muslim countries in the world. If a country appears in the top 13 on that list I give it one point.

The 13 countries with the most points, and most likely the most dangerous for travel appear below. Those that represent the greatest danger to civilization appear first. Please note that Afghanistan and Iraq, although quite dangerous for travelers, appear near the bottom because they are not as dangerous a threat to the rest of the world as is Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons and which thus appears first in the list.

If Columbia had a significant Muslim population it would certainly be higher in the list. As it is, the country only presents a danger to tourists, not to the rest of the world.