https://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/08/27/welcome-to-tampa-a-first-world-city-that-has-assumed-a-third-world-posture/feed/PJ Media is a leading news site covering culture, politics, faith, homeland security, and more. Our reporters and columnists provide original, in-depth analysis from a variety of perspectives.en-usWed, 10 Jun 2026 07:57:32 -0400<![CDATA[Years ago when I was stationed in Japan, I visited the tiny Indian Ocean nation called Maldives. It&#8217;s a beautiful string of atolls set in an azure sea, so remote that it takes hours to get there from anywhere and each island is at least an hour boat ride from every other island in the group. It&#8217;s almost incomprehensibly tiny, but during a stroll through the capital, Male, I saw one major difference between a free society like ours and a less free society like Maldives: There were armed troops all over the city. They were on street corners. They were down alleyways. They were all around the presidential mansion. The Maldivian troops, armed with AK-47s, were just everywhere. You. Looked.]]>Mon, 27 Aug 2012 06:28:36 -0400<![CDATA[Bryan Preston]]>https://pjmedia.com/bryan-preston-1/2012/08/27/welcome-to-tampa-a-first-world-city-that-has-assumed-a-third-world-posture-n170509