hell, i'd go

foreign policy does a piece on the five best tourist spots that americans can't visit.

isn't there something wonderful about the idea of visiting these places, something removed from how "forbidden" they are? there's a way in which the fact that they're ruled by repressive or isolated regimes makes them... invincible. see, they're not really "ruled" by their governments—they exist, no matter how horrific the junta is or suppressive the stalinists are. these are geographic places that cannot be taken away. you can destroy them, i suppose (like the taliban did with the cliff-face buddhas), but for now, they are preserved. they trump the regimes, in a way. their beauty is apolitical, is what i'm saying, i suppose. isn't there something wonderful about that idea? that beauty can be apolitical?

then again, as paul atreides said, the power to destroy something is the ultimate power to control it.