From: michael seium (michael.seium@gmail.com)
Date: Sat Aug 29 2009 - 00:26:56 EDT
A great documentary to watch on the scramble for Africa. Oil and resources
are the name of the game. Get your coffee, shahi along with a headset if you
don't want to be bothered and watch this spectacular story of a failed coup
in Africa's west coast. Here below is the link for the website.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/once-upon-a-coup/full-episode/5496/
Once Upon a Coup
Introduction
A failed coup attempt…a British mercenary in a notorious African prison…a
dictator suspicious of Western powers…and beneath it all, a spectacular
underwater oil reserve that the world’s major powers would love to get their
hands on.
It may sound like the latest John LeCarré bestseller, but in fact it’s the
real-life intrigue of *Once Upon a Coup*, WIDE ANGLE’s penetrating look at
the mysterious goings-on in Equatorial Guinea, a tiny West African nation
newly rich with oil and infamous for corruption. The story begins in 2004,
when a group of mercenaries, including a British ex-special forces officer
named Simon Mann, is arrested in Zimbabwe. Equatorial Guinea’s president,
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, accuses them of plotting a coup against him.
When Mann is sentenced to 34 years in Equatorial Guinea’s notorious Black
Beach prison, he claims to be only one piece of an international plot to
control the country’s vast oil resources. *Once Upon a Coup* travels the
globe to unravel that plot, which stretches from Africa to the U.K., from a
prime minister’s son to Zimbabwean arms dealers, from South Africa to Spain.
But as this all plays out, another actor is bidding for a share of the oil:
China. The Chinese government has showered the country with glittering new
buildings and a new administrative capital. If President Obiang has grown
skeptical of Western intentions, he has welcomed China as a new business
partner. Starting with a small West African nation and stretching around the
globe, *Once Upon a Coup* sheds light on the uncomfortable realities of oil
politics in the 21st century.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/once-upon-a-coup/full-episode/5496/
Enjoy!
Mike.
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