Modern day North Korea, Iran, or Syria, vs Sadddam's Iraq. Which would you live in?

I'd take Iraq.

• Iraq definitely the lesser of these evils...

• Iran. Over 60% of their population is under 30 years old. The status quo will fall, and they will get back on the track they were on before the CIA deposed Mossadegh. As Hitchens used to say, this is a massive youth population that has seen through the bullshit of religion. The Ayatollah's grasp can't last forever, not with these demographics. I expect great things from Iran in the decades ahead. The population is very very different than the current rulers. Change will come. The other countries? I don't see the path out for them. Also it'll be interesting to see how Iran's extremely young population plays off of the USA's aging population in the coming years.

• Interesting take, r2.

• Definitely Iran. Beautiful country.

• Saddam's Iraq was at least a secular state with a highly educated population. Baghdadis were justifiably proud of Mesopotamia's history as a center of Islamic learning, and they were protective of its pre-Islamic heritage.

• North Korea would be the worst. You can still be gay in Iran as long as you aren't open. Check Manhunt and other gay meeting sites and you will see pictures of Iranians on there.

• Yes, I recall watching a video a couple years back about Iran. It is a country to watch in the mid-east. One thing that shocked me a bit was Tehran. Only images I'd ever seen of that city had mobs in the streets. But it is now a thriving metropolis. I also note on my blog stats I get quite a few hits from Iran too.

  LuciferTheLightBringer

• I cannot even *fathom* why anyone would voluntarily choose to live in North Korea. You'd have to be *extremely* ignorant of both its history and just how completely fucking brainwashed its population is to want to reside there. Baghdad or Tehran is a comparative cakewalk compared to it.

• North Korea and The Congo are probably the only two countries in the whole world that if someone paid me a million bucks to live in them for a year I would slap him in the face and ask if he was trying to kill me.

• R9, I can assure that there are nearly a dozen other African countries nearly as bad as Congo.

• Iraq, but only if I could be in the middle of an Uday and Qusay sandwich.

• Definitely not North Korea, where there is no uprising or opposition. Closest to George Orwell's 1984 there.

• OP = Freeper F&F THREAD CLOSED.

• Iran would be my first choice; such a beautiful country and filled with so much history.

• Adding to what R2 said, Iran's enormous young population is probably the best antidote to fundamentalist Islamism in the Middle East. They have actually "been there, done that" and they see through the bullshit. I had a Syrian roommate in college. He was fucking gorgeous and so sweet. He was straight, knew I was gay, and he didn't give a shit. We never played around but he would let me "catch" him naked once in a while (odd for an Arab, actually). He enjoyed being admired. That has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but it's a nice memory.