Subject: Re: Gershkovich and Whelan...
americans, even journalists, are too naive when going to authoritarian regimes. it has been established that foreigners are to be scooped for western trades.
not to mention those traveling anywhere with weapons and ammo...you are LEAVING gun-nut nation !

That's why I don't go places that have that threat. In the Philippines there's an island(s) and a corner of a very large island that have Abu Sayyaf presence - just don't go there. The NPA are more into revolutionary tax than actually doing anything. Duterte let a bunch of them out of prison to get the NPA to the table and they ingored the table, so he began dismantling them, and many times peacefully.

The Muslims and Morros are a different story, they laid a small siege on a town. Abu Sayyaf left their island and went over to Bohol and raised hell. Didn't accomplish much but they kept being spotted different places. Abu Sayyaf normally will hold people ransom, but they executed some this time around,