Where the Action Is

[macphersonrants]

I recently picked up a copy of Deluxe Recon. The core book includes a number of semi-fictitious nations sort of like Proof of Life's Tecala. That is, they are thinly veiled fictional nations based on real life ones. They were selected to give a good sampling of areas where special ops soldiers and mercenaries might find some action at the time the game was set (60s through the early 80s).

This got me to thinking. If you were going to create such nations for a GURPS Action or Covert Ops game, what areas would you base them on for a game set around the present? Some of these are obvious, but I'd love to hear obscure choices also. It'd be great if you could be specific. Iraq is pretty obvious, but where are the real scary parts. Ditto for Afghanistan.

Edit:

Note- What I am really looking for here is a list of contemporary hot spots. The fictional settings in Recon just sparked my thought process.