“What goes on in the heads of people like this other than not much”
During the Vietnam war hippies would travel to adjacent countries and then hike into North Vietnam to show solidarity with the downtrodden communists. The Vietnamese knew these were just deluded idiots. But, they accused them each of being spies and executed them. I can picture the stunned hippies saying, “But you don’t understand! I’m with you!”
Those people who travel to North Korea or Iran probably are the same type of idiot. Hiking along a border with a crazy state? How dumb, or, ideological do you have to be? Especially when you already know what has happened to other Americans wo did the same thing.
If only they'd done that with Jane Fonda.
Well so much for that idea... but there is always 2019. At least justice was swift. “Following Monday's attack, four suspects were killed by authorities in a special operation, the interior ministry said. Another four were arrested, and a damaged car believed to have been involved was recovered.
From IS, “Such attacks, it said, would instill fear in Christians and prompt them to leave these countries. “
I spent a good bit of time there and never heard this one. I suspect it is a Snopes. American and European hips did regularly cross into Laos . They did so to hang around Vientiane because dope was really cheap and easy to get and very high quality. To get to NVN one had to travel through the Pathet Lao controlled zone and then into a de facto NV controlled zone dozens of kilometers from the real border. This was the so-called Ho Chi Minh Trail Complex and the Viets wouldn't let any outsiders in. Getting through the Pathet Lao region would be next to impossible let alone the trail zone. I am sure some hippie dopers did wander into the Pathet Lao zone and were never heard from again. A fair number of these people just disappeared in India, Afghanistan and SE Asia. If any got to NV they to just vanished with no trial. If you have some info on Hippie wanderers being apprehended in NV I would be interested in a citation. It was an interesting region that is for sure.