6. Uzbekistan
As the recent scandals in Eastern Europe pointed out, ex-Soviet Union member countries are haunted by Communist shadows that are still doing their best to control the justice, media, legislation and keep getting elected through fraud. This is also the case of Uzbekistan: despite the fact that it is the fastest growing country in its region and relies on a strong economy based on production of cotton, gold, uranium, petroleum and natural gases, the independent sector is practically inexistent or controlled by a strict and corrupt government.
7. Turkmenistan
Even though Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are considered the fastest growing countries in Central Asia, they also occupy the top positions in terms of corruption worldwide. At this point, Turkmenistan is the most oppressive country on Earth when it comes to human rights, freedom of speech and press freedom. In addition, similar to states from the Soviet Union block, citizens face severe punishments and there are several inexplicable restrictions whenever they try to leave the country. All that, in spite of the fact that Turkmenistan has been making an effort to open up the borders since 2006.
8. North Korea
As with any communist country, in North Korea the least thing you can expect is transparency. Essentially, the only way you can manage to live somewhat quietly and undisturbed in this country is to have sufficient money to pay off bribes to various officials (as reported by refugees who managed to flee the country like this). From driving permits, consents to leave your own town and authorizations to run market food stalls to traffic with narcotics, illegal weapons sales and counterfeit bills, everything is about making more money in North Korea.
9. Syria
The civil war in Syria revealed a shocking truth: there is no grey area there, if you do not agree with the current political regime, then it means you are against it and consequentially silenced. What is interesting in the case of Syria is how the actual regime managed to survive for almost 40 years in power: the people were willingly sacrificing their rights and need in order to protect the country from the alleged “real danger” that threatened Syria from outside the borders. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
10. Sudan
Sudan is perhaps the most unfortunate country on the planet: with no natural resources and no infrastructure, the country is not only among the poorest states in the world, but it is also governed by corruption. Leaving the fact that the ex-president has been condemned for crimes of war and genocide aside, the current Sudan leaders have a hard time explaining the use (and obviously disappearance) of the public money.
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