Botswana is one of the most stable African nations despite having large diamond mines. It would be cool to see a video on them and why they were able to create a functioning government and keep it going compared to neighboring African nations
@@christopherwalker5017 Please let us know what is not stable in Botswana. I live next door in South Africa and I rarely hear about political troubles happening there.
@@christopherwalker5017 relative to other countries it is. High Democracy index, third lowest corruption index in Africa, and relatively low crime rates. Yes they still have health and electricity access issues to deal with, but they are headed in the right direction.
@@christopherwalker5017 overall no, compared to its neighbours and most developing nations it is very promising, both in its politics and economics on top of stability
As an Angolan I appreciate this video. The damage done by corrupt politicians is still a very big concern as most of the people still lack the bare necessities. Good work, you got me subscribed
We just hit a £100billion railway track. Alongside an existing one. To shorten the journey by 30 minutes. Lots of buildings bulldozed and communities all fucked up. Nobody voted for it.
He uses a service that provides copyright free content or its owned/licensed by the service company. I can’t remember the name but he mentions it in one of his other videos
Yeah, Wendover is always skillful with stock footage but this is the first time that I've been seriously impressed by the quality of the footage. This is documentary-level quality.
I lived in Angola for about three years as a kid, being a child of an oil company employee. It's really interesting watching this video as an adult nearly twenty years later. I did actually visit again in the early 2010s, and it was crazy to see how much development had happened in the city as far as infrastructure was concerned. It really was surprising how much it had changed in a short time, but you could still see the massive wealth inequality. So many people live in poverty, and you can't hide it with a beautiful skyline.
the people of that country whos oil it is are the one's living in poverty, while the seed of the serpent steal, kill, destroy, and plunder their natural resources live great, i tell u they are indeed through innoncent blood and corruption are enjoying their heaven on earth now and with all of their wealth they have accumilated over the years they will not take it with them as u have never seen a uhaul being pulled behind a limosene hurst, after they leave this world they will lift up thine eyes to judgement! unless they repent and turn from their wicked ways,
Angola is mentioned prominently in: "The Looting Machine". Another example of a country whose leaders' financial success depends solely on resource extraction by multi-nationals rather than the taxation of it's citizens. This circumstance leads to the needs of the general population being completely irrelevant as their prosperity, or lack thereof, has no impact on the capacity of the corrupt to enrich themselves.
very much like the tory governments of the UK. only the (mild) threat of losing power at next election keeps tory govts from deserting the needs of the 95% entirely. i kid you not.
@@shauncameron8390 no, they dropped Marxist practices almost immediately after independence cause western money is sweeter from centuries of imperialism. What we are seeing in Angola is capitalism in all its neoliberal glory.
I was an expat petroleum engineer working for Chevron in the late 90's in Angola. It was obvious back then that the dos Santos family had a corrupt strangle hold on the massive Angolan natural wealth. Every person of influence in every Angolan company remarkably had the last name dos Santos. It always struct me as tragic that a country with such incredible natural wealth, and at the time a population of only around 11 million, was subject to such extreme poverty and a life expectancy in the mid 40s. I hope Angola, like much of the developing world can overcome the crippling disease of corruption.
Why can't people who come into alot of wealth and power and use it to lift up their fellow country men? More well off citizens = stronger country and more prosperity and wealth in the future. Why is it ALWAYS that the people in power use that power to take advantage and exploit and steal? It it just a human thing or is it that you have to be a fucked up person to seek power?
I worked in Portugal in 2010-12 and knew many people in the alcohol business, they all talked about how Angolans, along with some Brazilians, were making up pretty much the entire luxury alcohol market. I personally saw an Angolan couple spend over €30,000 in wine and spirits while I was at a wine shop there. Angolan political elites drank Petrus and Louis XIII while Angola continued to have some of the world’s highest child mortality rates. The corruption of the José Eduardo dos Santos regime was outrageous. And I think they also had deals with Deloitte, in return for lucrative consulting contracts with Sonangol and Sonagás, Deloitte would also audit the Angolan elections, partially explaining the Dos Santos incredible margins of victory despite his naked corruption.
i can say the same for the feds.. make one about the feds cause what the feds and government got line up gor you yu guys here will burn your pockets nd mental..
I was the maintenance lead for that 747 that flew to Angola for several years till they stopped flying in 2018. There were 3 times when the flight got to Iah we found a bullet hole on the aircraft. All 3 times the bullet hit the flaps. Local hpd got involved but nothing happened due to it got shot in another country.
An old man where I grew up in Venezuela was one of the Cuban soldiers that had been sent to Angola. I also met a girl that went to the Luanda International School. Interesting video and how you are telling me some of the stories these people had told me.
Cuba really made a big contribution (especially considering Cuba's small size) for the freedom for some countries in the southern parts of Africa. Some one should make a video about it 👌
@@kv4648 She told me it was nice in the neighborhoods for the people that worked for the oil company (her parents worked for the oil company). Anything else wasn't in a good shape and there were buildings with bullet holes still from the civil war.
@@pettahify Yes it is quite interesting. This man did tell me they tried to also kidnap South African soldiers and hold them for ransom in exchange for Mandela. Not sure how much of it was made up though. He was pretty serious though.
I lived in Luanda for 4 years and this is pretty accurate, except the prices which you could get around. Also about LIS (Luanda International School) most capitals in Africa and the world have private IB schools so this isn't really very rare.
exactly I'm from their neighbouring Zambia and we have "American International School of Lusaka" , International School of lusaka " etc all in the capital.
Please share what is inaccurate about the prices, I am genuinely curious. BTW, I am from Bulgaria and the best-ranked high school in the country is the private American College in Sofia. So, the Angola matrix spreads well out of Africa
i think the point is that LIS is the ONLY school in the region offering anything more than a very basic level of education. That would not be true of other cities/regions in the world that have IB schools operating in them.
As an Angolan , it’s sad to see that my country had everything to prosper but unfortunately the greed for money and power made the people more selfish and abandoned the others who have nothing , imagine where those people would be today if everything was fine, recently we had elections and the MPLA is being accused of altering the results (which everybody knows it’s true) and there’s practically nothing the honest people can do to help our country, one day I hope everything to turn out to be fine .
In Canada the corrupt federal politicians of the Liberal government are the same. Their greed overlooks homeless, unemployed Canadians. The disabled, seniors & low income family with children are homeless & starving. The current Canadian government doesn't care about that. Canada is a third world country with corrupt Elections under the current NDP-Liberal coalition governments. Simply corruption for the elite who are currently preforming GENOCIDE of the people of our country.
@Prkau telek You mean the same Europe that got terrorized by Mongols, committing never-before-seen genocide or the Turks (Osmans), who have killed, kidnapped, raped and enslaved basically THE WHOLE South - and East Europe until 1683, when they got proper beating at Vienna? 😄😄 Learn some history first, shallow and purpose-built wokeism doesn't work when confronted with facts 😄😄😄
This is a very good, brief account of the recent history and development of Angola. I was employed there, by an oil company, based in Luanda, from 1987 to 2000. The tribal influences, Ovimbundu vs Kimbundu, etc, the development of relations between the colonial government and specific groups of nationals, the possibility of migration of communism to the uranium rich Namibia, etc, also had an influence. From my own experience and recollections, the direct flight from Houston was a faster and lesser cost alternative to flying via Paris, Lisbon or Brussels. With most oil company employees and offshore staff being on a 28 day rotational basis, there was a gradual preference for Angolan personnel to replace expatriates, for Luanda office employees to become resident and for facilities to be made available for wives and children. By my recollection, Luanda originally had services; water supply, electricity and sewage disposal, for about 300,000 people. The various phases of the war led to an influx of over 2 million, many living in very basic, breeze block and corrugated iron shacks, surrounding the white walled, red tiled roofs of the colonial city. Water supply for the office and apartment I lived in was brought in by a tanker truck. Power cuts occurred often, at peak usage periods. Some apartment blocks no longer had functioning sewage disposal. Renovation and expansion of the Luanda city services was considered to be a less preferable alternative to building a new city, nearby. The subsequent new construction of large areas of US style housing, villas and apartment blocks, and suitable schooling for International children is not a surprise to me. Even in the 1990's, monthly rental charges for expatriate family housing, built before independance, could be tens of thousands of dollars. The Production Sharing Agreements between foreign oil companies and the Angolan national company, Sonangol, allowed accommodation costs, etc, to be recovered from the funds generated by the oil produced. When I left in 2000, the total oil rate of about 750,000 bopd was from offshore blocks adjacent to the coast. Subsequent, higher cost development of deeper water blocks, further offshore, is the origin of the increased oil production, to 1.5 million and more. In the late 1990's there were about one hundred aid organisations providing support to the Angolan people, many with representatives in Luanda. One may have hoped that the removal of Savimbi and the subsequent peace agreement would have led to improvement in the quality of life for the average Angolan. Life expectancy has increased from the 40's to about 61 and infant mortality has improved from about 137/1000 live births to 55. Agriculture is being redeveloped and other industries established. The apparently despicable activities of some of the Dos Santos associates surely does require detailed investigation and appropriate action taken, by the current Angolan authorities.
Regards Houston Express. That 747 replaced an MD11 that wasn't the most reliable. Nobody got in taxis. You have drivers. Oil companies would often have minibuses. Taxis were/are not deemed safe. Also flights were generally workers, managers and technical experts rather than executives. "Executives" get their own plane. They're not going to stand for two hours in a queue at Immigration. Now people are generally flying on scheduled airlines - from the US that's usually via Frankfurt. Things a lot better now than 20 years ago for most, but way too much money has left the country. Hopefully the elections tomorrow stay generally peaceful. First one since Dos Santos died.
Thanks for the insight!! Do you remember by any chance the nationality or ethnicity of the 747 and/or of the MD11 pilots? Best regards from Brasilia, Brazil.
“Why Nations Fail” by Acemoglu and Robinson shows how this was the norm around the world throughout history, until a very small number of nations started to escape in the 17th and 18th Centuries.
Definitely a good recommendation. And the reason why I do not really share the optimism that ends the video. As long as simple exploitation can make an elite incredibly rich pretty easily, this will be done by that elite. It is a very long struggle for nations to transform from extractive to inclusive
i lived in Portugal years ago in my youth in which i worked construction with many Angolan immigrants, and i can tell you these guys were some of the best people i ever met in my life. invited me in their homes for dinner and drinks, always happy and grateful for the opportunity they had to make a better life for themselves and their families
When I was 14/15 years old, I lived in Luanda with my parents in 1966-67. My father was a diesel engineer working for Gulf Oil as part of the first crew to begin drilling off of Cabinda on a huge flotation rig. Angola was a beautiful country and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Many stories to tell about that time. It is sad what happened in the 1970s and 80s with civil war, then again the corruption of the 2010s that derailed a chance for the population to improve on their condition. I hope they can get things straightened out.
On my first trip to Angola in the mid 2000s, managers from the company I visited mentioned that an apartment for six people could cost $100,000. I thought that was expensive to buy when prices in Eastern Europe were so much cheaper. I then found out that the price was MONTHLY RENT. Given the paucity of hotel rooms at the time, which went for $500 a night, it made sense. Wow!
@@nazbmn242 The way it works is your expat "package" includes things like lodging. The extreme prices were partially how the multinationals were paying the landowners off. You never "see" the bill. It also usually includes a car service too. Nobody hires American's unless they have to on the international market -- our taxing of foreign income and reporting requirements for foreign banks makes it too big of a PITA to hire us.
i can say the same for the feds.. make one about the feds cause what the feds and government got line up gor you yu guys here will burn your pockets nd mental..
Also, do not forget to mention the fact that 99.8% of the expats living there use the "Black Market" rate which usually is valued 3x higher than the official one. For perspective, 1 USD is equal to 426 AOA, With the black market rate, 1 USD could be valued over 1,000 AOA. This is great for the "rich" expats living there but terrible for the locals who get paid in their official rate prices. Even buying bread sometimes, is a luxury some cannot afford; despite being one of the cheapest things in the country. Therefore, the economic system in Angola is shambolic; it supports visitors but doesn't support the permanent inhabitants.
So if Wendover used the official exchange rate those stuff costs about 1/3 the mentioned price for foreigners actually. Which is still not cheap. I've seen that in my own country in the 80's and 90's during hyperinflation: "parallel" exchange rates over 5x, 6x, 8x the official one.
This sounds almost exactly like Argentina where the official rate is 1 dollar $163, but unofficial is $340 and rising each day, also with hyperinflation.
That's something that struck me on the rewatch too - they talk about the Westerners living in the elite areas but not even much discussion about other elite Angolans aside from the Dos Santos siblings.
When I saw the title of Last Week Tonight I just thought, man Sam already did this, are they just ripping off Wendover? Then you got featured and I felt better about it. Congrats!
I'm angolan and live in Luanda, and I'm lucky enough to currently be within the middle-class bracket that can live comfortably, but the stark contrast between poor and rich here is absolutely and glaringly enormous.
@@incognito4809 Culture. My family has mixing with Portuguese and portuguese-descendants at the level of my grandparents and great-grandparents, on both sides I believe.
@incognito48_9: Look up the colonisl Portuguese term ""assimilado"" (?sp?) The Colonial Portuguese meaning of the **term** highly __enlightenimg__ (!!pun. Maybe? Imcluded!!😚😄😚😄
Lived there for 5 years. The difference between the rich and the poor is impossible to describe. Beautiful country that is run by corrupt people. However, this is the case for most of Africa to be honest.
While I was a merchant navy cadet I "visited" Angola, we were pumping gas so far off shore we couldn't see land. In the end it was destined for China but our ship was chartered by Total, pumping BP owned gas from a Chevron platform. I had a similar experience when acting as a floating oil store off the coast of Nigeria before that. The oil industry just wants to take from Africa with the bare minimum investment back to the countries there
That's a fair point, but there's no reason a fellow African family has to benefit; including unimaginable wealth from it. Something similar happened a few hundred years ago, the US had a Civil War about it
As a Brazilian, I am glad to see a video like this. Brazil and Angola share not only the language, but also problems such as social inequality and corruption. Unfortunately, the situation for Angolans seems much worse.
@@cabidela Bull. The elite in Brazil are far worse! They live behind heavily fortified compounds and horde all the money to themselves. They use the police and military to keep its citizens from rebelling. It's what America is becoming.
I read an article that proposed that the reason Norway succeeded where others failed (in being a relatively poor country that discovered oil) was that even though Norway was poor when it discovered its oil reserves, its political institutions were strong and were not destroyed by corruption after the discovery of oil. Sadly, it seems that many african countries that discovered oil reserves did not already have strong political institutions in place to deal with the wealth that oil brings and protect themselves from potential corruption.
@@EduardoMusasa Not really. Singapore was colonized. The Gulf was colonized. There are 10 countries that never got colonized, but only 3 of them are prosperous. The other 7 are just middling at best.
Australia is another example of a resource rich and successful country. But it was colonised and settled by Britons who brought the Protestant work ethic and Westminster system of government. Success was ensured.
@@EduardoMusasanot sure you can blame colonialism for this over Cold War politics. Most of my family thought the country was headed towards becoming an independent multiparty multiracial democracy in '72, '73. Then cold war politics fueled a war that made the previous wars look like a sunday picnic. You had the bizarre situation of the White House ok'ing American oil giants to exploit the oil there, with the royalty $$$ they paid to Luanda being used to pay Cuba for their troops, who in turn were fighting UNITA, also paid by $$$ from the White House. Bidding wars between the global powers made every 2bit warlord there into a player. That more than anything is what made corruption endemic. I sometime troll old South African or Cuban vets, asking them what were they fighting for anyways? Just sad when I think about all those meaningless deaths
I like how he hooks in the old wendover fans with some airplane facts at the start of the video, before diving into a country report that taught me more than a semester in college.
I truly think this channel is my favorite now, over and above the history, gaming, music, and intellectual focused channels I could typically be found watching... it's just that damn good! Sam is just out here, killing it, every episode..... This is a Sam channel, right? Keep up the good work, sir! You, and what you do, is very much appreciated!!!!
That last line was a little weird. "If the people can accurately predict which candidate will stick to their word - which candidate will find a path to turn natural wealth into human wealth - then all is not lost for Angola. It still has a chance at breaking the resource curse." The line implies that one - and only one - of those candidates will absolutely do just that. For all we know, both will. Or more likely, neither will. This feels like the perfect opportunity to point to CGP Grey's wonderful "Rules for Rulers" video where he elegantly describes the forces that make corruption inevitable. Corruption is simply a tool for acquiring the keys to power, something a ruler needs no matter how honorable their intentions. If Angola's government is going to reform to better serve its people, that will almost certainly be because external players who benefit from it doing so have become more important keys to power. A well-intentioned leader is important, but destined to fail unless those keys to power change to help align his goals with his power base. The fact that this election is happening at all is a good sign, though.
I would like to remind you tha Bangladesh seems to have election every 4 years but in last 3 terms the same party has won uncontested while rest of opposition boycott election. Another resource based (lot of natural gas) "democracy" which never seem get out of "get rich quick" skims.
@@AshrakAhmed why not take the hungarian path and create an all encompassing anti-establishment coalition intended to take power away from the ruling party?
I just spent 10 days in Angola. 4 nights in Luanda, took Macon bus to Kuito, took an express train to Luena, took a school-type bus to Lalumba, and finally travelled to Malundo-Sikongo border in Zambia on a private cargo vehicle - the most uncomfortable 18 hours! I was deeply saddened to experience the lack of infrastructure, the inability to communicate (although I’m fluent in Spanish), the extremely dilapidated housing, standing dirty water in giant potholes (which causes frequent malaria), and the mistreatment of children, especially boys. People were mostly kind and some were helpful also.
Just because you speak Spanish, that doesn't mean they can understand you. They speak Portuguese, not Spanish. Even myself, Angolan descend (Dad is Angolan), speaks Portuguese from Portugal and Angolan people still have difficulties to understand me and visa versa.
Im so happy you spoke about Angola, the wealth that the 0.5% hold is way too high, I can prove this video is also very much right as I am Angolan myself. keep up the good work :)
White Supremacy takes no Ls The reason why they do not like 👌🏽💅🏾💄Ms Dos Santos is simple 1 reason. SHE MADE Portugal Angola's 🇦🇴 newest colony. if Angolans pull out their money out of Portugal banks ..the economy fill fail overnight THE SAME FAITH is for France w/ African countries supporting the. The same way for London with Nigerians hold up their economy ==================== at the end of the day " CORRUPTION MONEY do not stay in African banks ======================== they have no moral grounds when they accept a thief items. he has no words for allthe European banks or the Americans from Texas going to live off Angola's future. They too are taking food from the poor Angola. White supremacy takes no Ls. = its ok for them to steal and plunder. its ok for them to be number #1 but is angry at ALL others for improving their country. CHINA made their country great..from dirt poverty and they are pissed off AFRICA is the future = and they are upset about it.
i can say the same for the feds.. make one about the feds cause what the feds and government got line up gor you yu guys here will burn your pockets nd mental..
The video doesn't mention the atrocities of UNITA, which was back by Apartheid South Africa, which kept the war going and completely destroyed the country and planted land mines every where as a result displaced millions of people. The war could have ended in 1998, after the fighting had stopped. There was an election, everyone was campaigning peacefully, but because neither candidate got 50% of the vote, there was supposed to be a run off election. Power Hungry Savimbi didn't like run off elections and was afraid he was going to lose, so he abandoned his election bid, and instead decided to continue his war campaign, killing millions' more villagers in the country side until he died in a shoot out with Government forces in 2002. Then after all those atrocities committed by UNITA, they expected the Angolan people to elect them to run the country. Very strange. There is a reason why UNITA keeps loosing elections. People remember what they did.
Congratulations on getting featured on LWT with John Oliver's Carbon Offset episode! It's sad that the world celebrates the growing net worth of the richest in a poor nation. Celebrating the first billionaire is not what the world should aspire to. Instead, we should look at the opportunities for the poorest to escape poverty as good metric for improvement.
Lol, you watch lwt? And on top of that you think getting featured on it is an achievement? Guys are lwt are terrorist supporting hypocrites, they aren't intrested in truth but rather whoever pays most
There is nothing wrong btw in celebrating rich in poor countries, what matters is how they got rich. Blanket hating rich mentality shows how tarded someone is.
@@mefisto05s.20 Nice straw man, no one hates all rich people, people just immediately question large income or wealth gaps, before watching the horror show of what lot’s of rich people do to be rich in the first place. It’s a process, not a knee-jerk reaction.
On May 1st 2017, Sonair decided to open the Houston Express service, previously exclusive to oil companies operating in Angola, to the general public, to reduce the impact of weak demand brought about by the low oil price and the flight became semi-open, with 80 seats per flight, among the 189 available, dedicated to public passengers, to be precise.
Very good stuff, once more. Thank you. As for the image chops and jumps: when working with interlaced images with differing framrates: convert interlaced- to progressive footage in the framrate it was recorded in, do it in a separate project (make sure field order and fps are as in the original or at least visually make sense when importing). Then, import into your project; making sure the original frame rate remains assigned, so conversion happens in your final compilation sequence. Only the occasional single frame stop or drop will remain, being hardly if at all visible.
When I worked for an oil company with a large presence in Angola, graduates were earning 3x more than compared to their Houston counterparts and also got an apartment for $10k a month. Of course these positions were only open to sons and daughters of local politicians
Well done on the shout out from John Oliver's (HBO) 'Last Week Tonight.' That was the first time i've ever seen legacy media quote a RUclipsr, where the piece wasn't actually about the RUclipsr (ie Pewdiepie). Well done team!
Short answer: oil. (7:30) 3:22 War for independence. [muffled "Death to the MPLA!" in the distance] (5:35) 11:00 Not much trickle-down, but a lot of transfers. (16:10) 20:10 Yeah, that one.
VIDEO IDEA: Since you're a big infrastructure guy, I'd love to see your take on the European Commission's July proposal that Finland and the Baltic countries switch their rail gauges from the 1,520 mm Russian Gauge to the 1,435 mm Standard Gauge: What the difficulties and benefits will be from the switch, and if and when it might happen. Apparently Ukraine also plans to do so, but they don't see to have a timeline to do so, even one dependent on when the war ends. I read that in Ukraine alone, it's estimated that the switch will cost at least 100 billion USD, mostly because. it will require the replacement of most of the the country's rolling stock. (The train cars/engines themselves are wider than allowed on most European lines, so just replacing the bogies would not be enough for them to be allowed to travel outside Ukraine.) Apparently the European Commission proposal was in large part motivated by the difficulties experienced by Ukraine when it tried to export its grain by rail while the port of Odessa was closed. I would assume that another motivation was making it harder for a future hypothetical invading Russia to supply its troops, and easier for the free world to supply their defending forces in the invaded country.
Is there any way you could make a similar video about sao paulo? The sheer amount of inequality that is present in that city is unprecedented. You could go from luxury and opulence above most European capitals to poverty and violence comparable to war zones in the blink of an eye. I think it would make a very interesting video, either about rio de janeiro or sao paulo.
Its not unprecedented, though. Amazingly, even São Paulo and its impressive inequality is nothing compared to many metropolis in other third world countries
yes, brazil is just rio de janeiro or são paulo... dont do about fortaleza... dont do about salvador, dont do about gramado... do about a fucking dump like this two cities. what there is to say? you dont have high pay jobs for everyone because we have high taxes and anti-bussiness policies created by fucking socialists, there... it makes me mad that people like you even exist and there only so much you can do about a city. inequality, that is not the goverment job to fix it, in brazil the goverment needs to get the fuck out of the way,open the markets, lower taxes, turn all this fucking state bussiness into private ones and fucking fire or fuck everysingle high pay public servent and give that money to public servents that do the job at the base of all things, the real elite of this country. dont do about rio de janeiro or são paulo, do about minas gerais or something more interesting not this places.
@@FOLIPE Brazil is the most unequal country in the most unequal continent, Latin America. You can find world class universities, Ferraris, and the largest shantytown in the world in just one city, Sao Paulo
@@santiagorf77 Brazil isn't the most unequal country in the world nor Latin America. Brazil isn't the land of opportunity as the US, neither has the same quality of life as the countries in the west of Europe, but it is much better than Africa, Asia, and even most countries of eastern Europe. If you really want to see inequality look at Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and China.
Congratulations on having your video featured on John Oliver!!! This one was amazing as always. Happy to see you educating the world and keeping us incredibly entertained while you do it.
this is definitely a forte that black people and chinamen share in common. Corruption. No wonder the leaders of African nations and Xi the pooh get along so well.
I used to take that very flight every 28 days. I didn't stay in Luanda though. I took another flight to Cabinda and stayed at a camp called Molongo (sp). Kind of miss those days as I made absolutely killer money and only worked 6 months a year.
@@kennarajora6532 Work in Oil & Gas is the only way. I was over there training the locals how to laser scan (aka LiDAR) in 2014 to 2016. It was a very cool gig. It did suck being gone for a whole month at a time but the equal amount at home made it worth it. It isnt as nice over there any more. The work has dryied up for the most part and everyone I knew over there have moved on. The Houston Express flight is no more and there are other US airlines that fly over there. Only reason the HE flight existed in the first place was due to the government. They would not allow any US airlines to land there when flying direct from the US. Only way to get a direct flight was to take the HE flight. Only way to get a seat was to work in O&G. I was a huge money grab since the gov was the ones that contracted the flight and thus received the revenue. The people of Angola are super nice and I had nothing but nice memories from my time over there.
As an Angolan and long time subscriber thank you. You are on point, your research was well made. Yes unfortunately corruption is the evil of any society and it has been deeply integrated in ours and will take some time to turn the tide.
@@ozeppeo Not with a democracy. When you see a recurring problem, one of the variables is the issue. Why is the Arabian Peninsula more successful? Probably because they're all authoritarian regimes. Democracy in Africa is all about balancing economic growth and growing your personal wealth before your term ends. An absolutist, on the other hand, is more concerned about his people, otherwise he cannot assure his hold on the nation in the long-term. One of the first things Sheikh Zayed did with oil money was boost education among Bedouins. Educating children is a long-term investment that bears fruition perhaps not even in the Emir's reign, but this heirs who will witness a native, educated middle class, perhaps. Why would a president in Africa do that? Democracy is just the perfect rigging game for western corporations. You lobby for the candidate who benefits your corporate interests the most and the uneducated population is nonethewiser towards the propaganda, heck, illiteracy is actually a perk for the president's campaign. Every sovereign European country once had their authoritarian leader that laid the foundation for their country, why is that development stage deprived for the developing world? Being the 21st century makes no difference if they're still weaving baskets and do not read or write.
It looks a lot nicer than when I was there in the 80s. It was a bit of a hole then, still with a slow war going on in the south. Little food available and infrastructure so poor that oil workers would not use the lift in their tower block a week before leave, in case it broke down and trapped them. Luanda looked like it had been a nice place once, but was full of Cubans and Russians as well as the American oil companies. There were some interesting events with the Russian "trawlers" hanging around just offshore an American oil base and retransmitting all of the American walky talky traffic back over loud speakers to wind them up. On another occasion luanda Airport was closed for the departure of the Portuguese prime minister, so our helicopter could not depart. So the crew of a Russian airforce executive jet came over and started chatting to the French pilot who showed them around. They reciprocated by showing us around the inside of their aircraft.. Not bad for still being in the middle of the cold War!!
This video is so information. I'm Angolan living in South Africa so I don't know enough about our history. Most of the history I know is South African because I went to school here so it's nice to learn about my own countries history.
Angola is such a rich country in natural resources, imagine if it were well administered rather than pocketed by few! I feel for Angola and many other countries like it where the wealth gets grabbed by those in power while the people suffer in poverty!😥
are you going to pretend that you are not aware that outside powers and the oil companies pick these dictators and install them in these countries to do their bidding
@@MalcadorTheSigilite It's part of the video he had about Carbon Offshoots being meaningless, specifically how a forest "set aside for Carbon offshoots" was actually owned by a preserve for decades and the company was lying out their ass.
i wish and pray.. angola will grow and recover in peace.. and all its people will benefit from its earth blessing of natural resources.. love from the philippines
I'm shocked that Portugal was in political turmoil for multiple decades, and I've never heard of it. For anyone wanting to read more about it, it's the Carnation Revolution. Congratulations on the appearance on Last Week Tonight. A good video. An excellent job at highlighting consistent problems.
@@eobardthawne324 Yes, but I like history a lot, and I feel like a revolution and military dictatorship in Portugal that lasted a good chunk of the 20th Century would've been something I encountered in my random readings by now.
@@TheHylianBatman Portugal isn't a country that hits the news very often so you probably wouldn't have came across it unless you were specifically looking at Portugal.
Yup... Our king was killed in the early XX century, we then had a republic, were involved in the 1st World War and after that had a military coup in 1926. Salazar was invited to overview the finances in 1928, under the condition of having big veto powers and decisions regarding taxes and fiscal laws. In 1932 he was elected to the equivalent of a today's Prime Minister and in 1933 changed the constitution and became the dictator for almost 40 years. We stayed "neutral" during WW2 and managed to not come under fire in the wake of WW2 regarding our imperialistic stance, because Salazar alleged that our colonies should be viewed as an extention of our mainland Portuguese borders. From 1961 to 1974 we fought in the Colonial Wars and some of the Captains of those wars later founded the movement that would overthrow the dictatorship. Salazar died in 1970, two years after an accident where he fell from a chair. The brain injury got so bad that for those two years, he was led to believe by his closest people that he was still in charge and would still sign new laws and attend meetings (it's a wild story). April 25th of 1974, the MFA (Armed Forces Movement) overthrew the regime and for a year there were riots, terrorist attacks and general uneasiness between the supporters of the newer, socialist-styled regime, the ones who were in favor of the old dictatorship and even within the higher positions of the MFA. Things got messy up until November 25th 1975, when two factions of the MFA (the "radicals" , who wanted a more communist-oriented country and the "moderates", that well... Were more moderate in comparisson) clashed and the moderates managed to subdue the other movement. To mention that between 1974 and the new Constitution of 1976, the US was watching the situation very closely, and there were even plans of a possible intervention (via coup or invasion) should the communist faction of the MFA come to power. This is a veryyyy abreviated summary of the history of Portugal in the 20th century... It's too much happening for so little (historical) time.
Having many natural resources is a double-edge sword; you can increase the wealth of the nation on the positive, but corrupt and powerful people can put it in their pockets on the negative
How do Angola go about distributing wealth . They need investment in other fields not just mining and drilling. Also they need to control most of land since investors won't negotiate proper salary if they can buy these resources illegally for cheaper than the government rate.
All these silly countries needs to release you need to invest into production and service industries. Gotta make your own shit if you want wealth. Wendover IIRC once did a video why hot countries are poor etc, and its true with agriculture...You just haft to bloody make your own food if you can. Cant buy everything.
I believe that oil especially offshore deposits are a dictator's best friend because you only need a small amount of workers for a major operation, you can easily import workers instead of hiring locals, it's easy to keep your subjects away from offshore rakes
The idea was to convince the portuguese angolans to stay, their businesses were important for the new government. However the start of the civil war proved that was impossible. My grandfather had a few bakeries, as a baker he was an asset. Decided to stay but was quickly turned into a hostage controlled for months by the MPLA until in a james bond like escape attempt he returned to Portugal. My familly all came from Angola. The Civil War and after the Dos Santos dinasty destroyed any hope for a future.
Wow this is an amazing video. I must say the sheer level of detail you poor into all your videos is just amazing. I’ve been watching you for years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a video of yours that’s not been engaging and well researched. Anyway hope your day stays great. Have a good one mate.
If one visits Angola, it does not look like an African country with Africans. The number of EU-immigrants I saw there was unbelievable. Goes to say, if there are any resources, the EU-immigrant will be the first one to show up.
Angola's historical population. 1990 - 12 million. 2000 - 16 million. 2010 - 23 million. 2020 - 33 million. Future Estimates. 2030 - 45 million. 2050 - 77 million. 2100 - 188 million. When the poorest decide to have a revolution I wouldn't want to be in Luanda especially after years of showing off all that wealth.
In case you’re interested, in Portuguese, the “J” in “José” is pronounced exactly like the “J” in “João”. Great video, as usual! Edit: Sorry I wasn’t clear. I was referring to the way “João” was pronounced in the video. My comment was directed at Sam (not that I expect him to read it).
The "J" in Portuguese is pronounced pretty much like the "J" in French, as in "je m'appelle". It's not that different from the English "J" either. So in doubt, just pronounce it like you would in English. What is absolutely wrong is to pronounce it like the Spanish "J", almost with an "R" sound. You are just doing an effort to end up with an even worse, mistaken pronunciation.
@@Walk_on_Part_In_a_War Compare "José" at 6:10 and "João" at 14:54 The first one sounds very Spanish and wrong, the second is not perfect but is much more accurate.
Angola is kept down for a very basic reason, the same reason everything is expensive: Everything is imported! Angola is a mostly arid country (not necessarily desert, but arid), those billions of dollars go to food imports that the gov. doesnt even make a profit from. They've implemented water security measures in the east, and thats let the HDI move a little, and they've let NGOs operate vaccination campaigns... but otherwise? Angola is entierly chasing foreign money, with very few local wealth generation schemes. There is very little inter-provincial commerce that isnt through gov. subsudized transit.
@@gfjfjufidi2880 Why would you make it even more expensive for the avaerage Angolan? The Angolan gov. already imports food and medicine at a loss, all for the welfare if their people. They need to tax luxury imports being bought by the aristocracy, not push that burden in the people. And that tax money? Is going to go back to imports. If anything, Angola needs to use its petroleum reserves and cheap labor pool to launch into plastic production... but probably won't, because China is a heavy investor in Angola, and wouldnt like it if they suddenly became competition in a market they already dominate (plastics).
I remember when my daughter was going to university and she met an Angolan diplomat at a university sponsored seminar. After a couple of conversations with the diplomat, he offered her a job when she graduated in two years time. The guy was very serious about the offer. My daughter decided she wasn’t interested and never contacted the gentleman again. She still is a world traveler who has worked and vacationed across the entire planet.
@@jonathanodude6660 She made the right decision. I live in a neighbouring country. The poor are very nice people. Struggling hard to make ends meet. Politicians corrupt to the bone.
@Gloriellee X you should tell it to the thousands of Angolans that fled during the drought. We in Namibia fed them and kept them alive. What did your government do? We even paid for their repatriation. Some is still here. I employed some at great risk so that they could get money to feed themselves. The poor Namibians took them in. Our Government helped feeding them all while we also had the same drought.
I am from Bulgaria and the best-ranked high school in the country is the private American College in Sofia. We don't have that many ex-pats, but we do have some, owing farm land, former state enterprises left from the socialist time or having involvement in the IT sector, the largest industry as of now (paying cheap estearn Europeans less than IT-specialists in the West). In the 1980', during socialism, we ranked #20-30 in the world by Human Development Index, now we are #56. The Angolan model spreads all over the world, even to Europe
@@Juho221 Well, exactly. Other countries improved on the index, while Bulgaria stagnated. Comparatively the HDI of Bulgaria dropped. Because we don't have a state whose priority is to provide welfare for the masses, social services (in general, the things measured by the HDI), but instead a state interested in facilitating the "business" (serving the rich)
I lived in Angola from 1 to 10 years of age. From 1966 to 1975. I still dream with that country. Good memories of my childhood..I loved that native people. VIVA ANGOLA.
South African cities like Durban , Joburg , Cape Town and Pretoria are cheap to live in , yet have more money , better infrastructure , more to do and most importantly are actually built by South African companies , these buildings in Luanda are built by Chinese companies . All to create the illusion of wealth when its actually not there
Joburg has one of the highest murder rates in the world, highest rape/assault rates in the world, and a significant minority of the population lives in abject poverty
We all wish prosperity for Africa but unfortunately it's just a revolving door of one corrupt politician after another. Rwanda is the only African nation I can think of that is trying to turn around and change their identity. The Rwandan president is trying to erase tribal identity and replace it with a national one. He created community days to create a sense of community and nationality in the country; such as clean up days which now makes Rwanda one of the cleanest nations in the world. It also formed a military with every tribe serving as one and sends them on counter terrorism missions abroad. People might be upset that he's trying to erase tribal culture but tribal culture is what made Rwanda the host of the most brutal genocide in modern history. The unfortunate thing here is that the Rwandan president is a de facto dictator. Once he dies, or is removed the next dictator will just return to siphoning money from the country
It's actually quite curious how the greed of other nations resulted in so much suffering. The 1974 people's revolution in Portugal resulted in Portugal giving freedom to the colonies and, unfortunately, other greedy nations quickly jumped into supporting their factions to create another dictatorship. Poor people of Angola.
@@genghiskhan7741 You missed my point. It is very easy, and very popular, to target groups to blame for human suffering. First, subsistence living is the way most humans have lived throughout human history. That is nobody's fault. It's the old saying. Life sucks, then you die. Second, blaming others feeds into the notion that if we just remove the others, that will fix everything. This is a perfect example of the flaw in that reasoning.
@@bjs301 Your first point is wrong, for most of human history, sharing and caring for others was the main way humans lived, a more communal type of living. Second, there is no human nature, humans aren't naturally greedy, human nature arises from material conditions of the time period.
This is an outstanding documentary and its crazy how the now dead former president stole so much from Angolas people. In 2010 it was so common to see all these angolans down town Lisbon buying Gucci, Dolce Cabanna etc. They would travel just to buy these brands and would go back right after.
I can't imagine living in that complex, looking across and seeing the very poor organizational city . It would break my heart, the level of suffering on 3rd world countries is EPIC
Some private schools in Manhattan are $50,000 per year in tuition. I was surprised by how little the Luanda International School costed in comparison to everything else you mentioned.
@@fgsaramago Many communities in the United States have good to excellent public schools. The problem is not that public schools are bad overall-the problem is inequality. I grew up middle class, in a community where most children attended the public schools. With most children attending public schools, a majority of tax payers had a direct interest in ensuring that the public schools had good resources. (In my state, citizens vote directly on whether to approve the public school budget.) Manhattan has a much wider income disparity than the community I grew up in, with wealthier individuals who can afford the tuition to private schools and choose to do so-this gives them less of direct connection to the public schools and less of an incentive to support them. Which means the public schools receive fewer resources. Middle income wage earners-especially those with children-tend not to actually live where they work-and one of the most important factors in choosing where to live is how good the public school system is. This further erodes support for the city public school system and means that more middle income wage earners move to communities with better school systems. Which further worsens the public school system which means more workers deciding to live somewhere with better schools.
@@fgsaramago The US has plenty of decent public schools. They're just found in the wealthier parts while the not-so-decent ones are usually found in "the 'hood" known for crime and poverty and most of the residents either live on social assistance or make too little to contribute to funding the schools.
Also, your flight ticket costs are way wrong. Min price as Schlumberger that we could get was $4k+ in 2007 for economy one way. Tickets could only be bought after 14 day visa was secured, which was late 90% of the time for me.
The damage that the colonists have left in their wake on these African countries is still being felt and will be for decades. Their influence has still maintained a stranglehold long after they have abandoned their scorched lands. These people have been pawns of more powerful nations and business magnates profiting off their resources.
interesting video. it really shows how the individual governments that freed multiple african countries from the grip of colonialism have failed to do their job and are actually siphoning africa's wealth to developed countries. the african people continue to not benefit, while these leaders grow reacher and richer along with their kids, family, and friends to support their lavish lives. what is happening in Angola, is happening in many other countries, and it's really sad to see that the very people who were meant to protect us only reached for power with the wrong intentions. and unfortunately the democracy in Africa is a mirage. these parties that freed the african people from colonialism have clung to power and created a system that protects them from ever being taken down. we have the right of suffrage, but our choice doesn't really matter, for the same people will remain in power no matter what. it is almost like a second wave of colonialism in the end of the day
I remember, between 2009 and 2011, going on my daily live and around the Alvalade neighbourhood I saw a BMW X5 just abandoned and rotting. And importing an X5 wasn't cheap by any means. Or visiting Kilamba Kiaxi, built by the Chinese, looking like one of those ghost towns we now hear about everywhere in China. Luanda is a crazy town (in a good and a bad way!)
Zaire smuggling weapons into UNITA was possibly the cause of the worst African Air disaster in history. In 1996, an overloaded AN-32 took off from Kinshasa's N'dolo airport but crashed into a market place, killing at least 370 people and injuring hundreds more. President Mobutu orchestrated the weapons smuggling at the time.
It amazes me that still under the very real threat of American invasion, Cubans still sent their people to help organize and protect the liberation struggle in Angola. In the end, things didn't turn out for the best in Angola, but we should still learn from their solidarity.
well, Cubans did nothing but prey on Angola to feed on it's natural wealth. They didn't really care about Angola, they just wanted influence.@@shauncameron8390
The MPLA and the 1974 coup in Portugal were arranged by the USSR , Isabel dos Santos mother is Russian. The USA backed FNLA against its NATO partner Portugal. Old Angolans say they would be much better off today if under Portuguese / EU rule, with more local involvement, rather than under the shameless cleptocrats of the last decades.
If Angola does break the 'resource curse' it will likely find itself spending much of the new found income on securing its borders. Because it will have become the one and only 'honey pot' in a heavily populated region characterized by how little 'honey' any of those nations currently offer the 99.5%. Such folks currently travel thousands of miles and cross seas in boats made of driftwood in pursuit of a little 'honey', so, crossing the border into Angola will be seen as a very welcome alternative.
As an Angolan, it is with such sadness that I see my country degrading and ruining itself like other African countries. The greed of our leaders, corruption, the European Union, the united states, and china are all a little to blame for this.
Totally agree.. But from ue, I can tell you that : ALL politicians, all over the world are corrupted, for some a little bit, for others a lot, some are working for money, other for power. But they are still the puppies of BC and oil, diamonds leaders company. They are the big champion of these stole.. Did US company goes to Russia Or China to prospect.? I don't think so. Africa need to unify herself to be powerful. One of the richest continent must have a BC to trade with others in same way.
I'm glad you're recovering. I was in and out in 92/93 also based in Benguela and things were nasty then. We were flying a contract for Diamag and others and we got all over the country. Cabinda, Dundo in the north down to Cuito Cuanavale. It was very interesting.
As an Angolan who's been watching a learning a lot from this channel, I appreciate this video and say that unfortunately, the 24th of August elections are again proving that MPLA is not ready to give up their control and corruption. We wish for a country that creates an environment for everyone to thrive not only politicians and those who are attached to that corrupt party. Despite some efforts, we do not believe they will manage to heal the same illness they created and keep infecting themselves every day.
Unless they have arrested, charged, convicted, and put every member of the family who is not a minor, who has in any way accepted any benefits from this obvious corruption, to death, they have not gone far enough. Anyone who has so much accepted a free dinner from this corrupt family is complicit and guilty. That is how all oil kleptocrats of the world should be treated, from the House of Saud on down.
Botswana is one of the most stable African nations despite having large diamond mines. It would be cool to see a video on them and why they were able to create a functioning government and keep it going compared to neighboring African nations
Hate to break it to you but Botswana isnt as stable as you like to say
@@christopherwalker5017 Please let us know what is not stable in Botswana. I live next door in South Africa and I rarely hear about political troubles happening there.
@@christopherwalker5017 relative to other countries it is. High Democracy index, third lowest corruption index in Africa, and relatively low crime rates. Yes they still have health and electricity access issues to deal with, but they are headed in the right direction.
That's because opposite to what is broadcasted people and nations are not equal. Some are smarter and better than other.
@@christopherwalker5017 overall no, compared to its neighbours and most developing nations it is very promising, both in its politics and economics on top of stability
As an Angolan I appreciate this video. The damage done by corrupt politicians is still a very big concern as most of the people still lack the bare necessities. Good work, you got me subscribed
How is Angola , I hear that China basically owns Angola
We just hit a £100billion railway track. Alongside an existing one. To shorten the journey by 30 minutes. Lots of buildings bulldozed and communities all fucked up. Nobody voted for it.
Pedi legendas para melhor espalhar a palavra, vamos ver se eles o fazem...
...força Angola!
Aren't the elections this week?
@@jorgecoelho4051 Não falo português, mas meu inglês é bom. Eu adoraria ajudar se houver alguma maneira que eu puder.
I don't think people realize how impressive it is to see the sheer amount of original old footage used in this video. Well done digging them up, WP!
Except…its footage from the 1960s and 1970s. It’s in black and white but it really isn’t old. The fact that it was accessed is impressive though.
He uses a service that provides copyright free content or its owned/licensed by the service company. I can’t remember the name but he mentions it in one of his other videos
Yeah, Wendover is always skillful with stock footage but this is the first time that I've been seriously impressed by the quality of the footage. This is documentary-level quality.
@@corbin8930 Storyblocks, but it's unlikely they had the historical footage, it's mostly stock footage.
Beep, bop... I'm the Philosophy Bot. Here, have a quote:
"For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories"
~ Plato
I lived in Angola for about three years as a kid, being a child of an oil company employee. It's really interesting watching this video as an adult nearly twenty years later. I did actually visit again in the early 2010s, and it was crazy to see how much development had happened in the city as far as infrastructure was concerned. It really was surprising how much it had changed in a short time, but you could still see the massive wealth inequality. So many people live in poverty, and you can't hide it with a beautiful skyline.
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the people of that country whos oil it is are the one's living in poverty, while the seed of the serpent steal, kill, destroy, and plunder their natural resources live great, i tell u they are indeed through innoncent blood and corruption are enjoying their heaven on earth now and with all of their wealth they have accumilated over the years they will not take it with them as u have never seen a uhaul being pulled behind a limosene hurst, after they leave this world they will lift up thine eyes to judgement! unless they repent and turn from their wicked ways,
Thanks to your country for sucking up the oil of that country
Angola is mentioned prominently in: "The Looting Machine". Another example of a country whose leaders' financial success depends solely on resource extraction by multi-nationals rather than the taxation of it's citizens. This circumstance leads to the needs of the general population being completely irrelevant as their prosperity, or lack thereof, has no impact on the capacity of the corrupt to enrich themselves.
very much like the tory governments of the UK.
only the (mild) threat of losing power at next election keeps tory govts from deserting the needs of the 95% entirely. i kid you not.
What more do you except from a country operating on central planning which the needs of the population are an afterthought?
@@shauncameron8390 no, they dropped Marxist practices almost immediately after independence cause western money is sweeter from centuries of imperialism. What we are seeing in Angola is capitalism in all its neoliberal glory.
@@shauncameron8390 sounds like the only research you did on Angola was a glance at their flag
Angola aint' got nuthin on Ukraine. A nation so unspeakably corrupt, it's being used as the catalyst to conquer the planet, and the human race.
I was an expat petroleum engineer working for Chevron in the late 90's in Angola. It was obvious back then that the dos Santos family had a corrupt strangle hold on the massive Angolan natural wealth. Every person of influence in every Angolan company remarkably had the last name dos Santos. It always struct me as tragic that a country with such incredible natural wealth, and at the time a population of only around 11 million, was subject to such extreme poverty and a life expectancy in the mid 40s. I hope Angola, like much of the developing world can overcome the crippling disease of corruption.
You think the Dos Santos were able to concentrate all the power without the help of the US government?
Why can't people who come into alot of wealth and power and use it to lift up their fellow country men? More well off citizens = stronger country and more prosperity and wealth in the future. Why is it ALWAYS that the people in power use that power to take advantage and exploit and steal? It it just a human thing or is it that you have to be a fucked up person to seek power?
“Every country has the government it deserves.”
― Joseph de Maistre
Like many African countries, the only thing they will grow is from a population of 11 million to more than 200 million.
@@sulaak remember the US started off by fighting them. not everything can be blamed on the US my friend.
I worked in Portugal in 2010-12 and knew many people in the alcohol business, they all talked about how Angolans, along with some Brazilians, were making up pretty much the entire luxury alcohol market. I personally saw an Angolan couple spend over €30,000 in wine and spirits while I was at a wine shop there. Angolan political elites drank Petrus and Louis XIII while Angola continued to have some of the world’s highest child mortality rates.
The corruption of the José Eduardo dos Santos regime was outrageous. And I think they also had deals with Deloitte, in return for lucrative consulting contracts with Sonangol and Sonagás, Deloitte would also audit the Angolan elections, partially explaining the Dos Santos incredible margins of victory despite his naked corruption.
Evil
I worked as a manager for a large retailer in Angola. We sold 700.000USD in a single day of wine and spirits for a wedding in 2017.
@@mnbandeiracarvalho lol 🤣
criminals or when scum gets to undeserved money
i can say the same for the feds.. make one about the feds cause what the feds and government got line up gor you yu guys here will burn your pockets nd mental..
I was the maintenance lead for that 747 that flew to Angola for several years till they stopped flying in 2018.
There were 3 times when the flight got to Iah we found a bullet hole on the aircraft. All 3 times the bullet hit the flaps. Local hpd got involved but nothing happened due to it got shot in another country.
Wow!
An old man where I grew up in Venezuela was one of the Cuban soldiers that had been sent to Angola. I also met a girl that went to the Luanda International School. Interesting video and how you are telling me some of the stories these people had told me.
What did the girl say?
Cuba really made a big contribution (especially considering Cuba's small size) for the freedom for some countries in the southern parts of Africa.
Some one should make a video about it 👌
@@kv4648 She told me it was nice in the neighborhoods for the people that worked for the oil company (her parents worked for the oil company). Anything else wasn't in a good shape and there were buildings with bullet holes still from the civil war.
@@pettahify Yes it is quite interesting. This man did tell me they tried to also kidnap South African soldiers and hold them for ransom in exchange for Mandela. Not sure how much of it was made up though. He was pretty serious though.
@@pettahify Yes Cuba made a great contribution to keeping civil wars going.
I lived in Luanda for 4 years and this is pretty accurate, except the prices which you could get around. Also about LIS (Luanda International School) most capitals in Africa and the world have private IB schools so this isn't really very rare.
exactly I'm from their neighbouring Zambia and we have "American International School of Lusaka" , International School of lusaka " etc all in the capital.
Please share what is inaccurate about the prices, I am genuinely curious. BTW, I am from Bulgaria and the best-ranked high school in the country is the private American College in Sofia. So, the Angola matrix spreads well out of Africa
i think the point is that LIS is the ONLY school in the region offering anything more than a very basic level of education. That would not be true of other cities/regions in the world that have IB schools operating in them.
@@noneofyourbizness there’s a few but not many
@@nonamenoname2618 “unofficial currency exchange”
As an Angolan , it’s sad to see that my country had everything to prosper but unfortunately the greed for money and power made the people more selfish and abandoned the others who have nothing , imagine where those people would be today if everything was fine, recently we had elections and the MPLA is being accused of altering the results (which everybody knows it’s true) and there’s practically nothing the honest people can do to help our country, one day I hope everything to turn out to be fine .
In Canada the corrupt federal politicians of the Liberal government are the same. Their greed overlooks homeless, unemployed Canadians. The disabled, seniors & low income family with children are homeless & starving. The current Canadian government doesn't care about that. Canada is a third world country with corrupt Elections under the current NDP-Liberal coalition governments. Simply corruption for the elite who are currently preforming GENOCIDE of the people of our country.
It is YOUR PEOPLE WHO MADE THE DECAY.
DEAL WITH IT.
@@Meatdevil
But Angola is yet another case of yesterday's liberators becoming tomorrow's oppressors.
Thanx for sharing!
@Prkau telek You mean the same Europe that got terrorized by Mongols, committing never-before-seen genocide or the Turks (Osmans), who have killed, kidnapped, raped and enslaved basically THE WHOLE South - and East Europe until 1683, when they got proper beating at Vienna? 😄😄 Learn some history first, shallow and purpose-built wokeism doesn't work when confronted with facts 😄😄😄
This is a very good, brief account of the recent history and development of Angola. I was employed there, by an oil company, based in Luanda, from 1987 to 2000. The tribal influences, Ovimbundu vs Kimbundu, etc, the development of relations between the colonial government and specific groups of nationals, the possibility of migration of communism to the uranium rich Namibia, etc, also had an influence. From my own experience and recollections, the direct flight from Houston was a faster and lesser cost alternative to flying via Paris, Lisbon or Brussels. With most oil company employees and offshore staff being on a 28 day rotational basis, there was a gradual preference for Angolan personnel to replace expatriates, for Luanda office employees to become resident and for facilities to be made available for wives and children. By my recollection, Luanda originally had services; water supply, electricity and sewage disposal, for about 300,000 people. The various phases of the war led to an influx of over 2 million, many living in very basic, breeze block and corrugated iron shacks, surrounding the white walled, red tiled roofs of the colonial city. Water supply for the office and apartment I lived in was brought in by a tanker truck. Power cuts occurred often, at peak usage periods. Some apartment blocks no longer had functioning sewage disposal. Renovation and expansion of the Luanda city services was considered to be a less preferable alternative to building a new city, nearby. The subsequent new construction of large areas of US style housing, villas and apartment blocks, and suitable schooling for International children is not a surprise to me. Even in the 1990's, monthly rental charges for expatriate family housing, built before independance, could be tens of thousands of dollars. The Production Sharing Agreements between foreign oil companies and the Angolan national company, Sonangol, allowed accommodation costs, etc, to be recovered from the funds generated by the oil produced. When I left in 2000, the total oil rate of about 750,000 bopd was from offshore blocks adjacent to the coast. Subsequent, higher cost development of deeper water blocks, further offshore, is the origin of the increased oil production, to 1.5 million and more. In the late 1990's there were about one hundred aid organisations providing support to the Angolan people, many with representatives in Luanda. One may have hoped that the removal of Savimbi and the subsequent peace agreement would have led to improvement in the quality of life for the average Angolan. Life expectancy has increased from the 40's to about 61 and infant mortality has improved from about 137/1000 live births to 55. Agriculture is being redeveloped and other industries established. The apparently despicable activities of some of the Dos Santos associates surely does require detailed investigation and appropriate action taken, by the current Angolan authorities.
Regards Houston Express. That 747 replaced an MD11 that wasn't the most reliable.
Nobody got in taxis. You have drivers. Oil companies would often have minibuses. Taxis were/are not deemed safe.
Also flights were generally workers, managers and technical experts rather than executives.
"Executives" get their own plane. They're not going to stand for two hours in a queue at Immigration.
Now people are generally flying on scheduled airlines - from the US that's usually via Frankfurt.
Things a lot better now than 20 years ago for most, but way too much money has left the country.
Hopefully the elections tomorrow stay generally peaceful. First one since Dos Santos died.
Thanks for the insight!! Do you remember by any chance the nationality or ethnicity of the 747 and/or of the MD11 pilots? Best regards from Brasilia, Brazil.
Mentira, não acredito que um país conquistado pelos ibérico esteja corrompido kkkk … the more you know, the less you want to know …
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hi graham... recently i seen a online game and its name " sparc" very easy to use
I used to see the Houston express every week a few years ago.
“Why Nations Fail” by Acemoglu and Robinson shows how this was the norm around the world throughout history, until a very small number of nations started to escape in the 17th and 18th Centuries.
Seconding "Why Nations Fail"; it's one of my all-time favorite books.
Probably caused by psychological changes as depicted in "The Weirdest People in the World", which I highly recommend
@@pulse3554 LOL? Huh.
@@pulse3554 i was gonna say, half the book is about colonialism leaving behind bad institutions 😂
Definitely a good recommendation. And the reason why I do not really share the optimism that ends the video. As long as simple exploitation can make an elite incredibly rich pretty easily, this will be done by that elite. It is a very long struggle for nations to transform from extractive to inclusive
i lived in Portugal years ago in my youth in which i worked construction with many Angolan immigrants, and i can tell you these guys were some of the best people i ever met in my life. invited me in their homes for dinner and drinks, always happy and grateful for the opportunity they had to make a better life for themselves and their families
When I was 14/15 years old, I lived in Luanda with my parents in 1966-67. My father was a diesel engineer working for Gulf Oil as part of the first crew to begin drilling off of Cabinda on a huge flotation rig. Angola was a beautiful country and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Many stories to tell about that time. It is sad what happened in the 1970s and 80s with civil war, then again the corruption of the 2010s that derailed a chance for the population to improve on their condition. I hope they can get things straightened out.
On my first trip to Angola in the mid 2000s, managers from the company I visited mentioned that an apartment for six people could cost $100,000. I thought that was expensive to buy when prices in Eastern Europe were so much cheaper. I then found out that the price was MONTHLY RENT. Given the paucity of hotel rooms at the time, which went for $500 a night, it made sense. Wow!
@@Alia-bo9vw what are you even taking about?
$100,000 monthly rent?
Hong Kong: finally a worthy opponent, our battle will be legendary!
How much did you get paid considering these mad prices?
@@nazbmn242 The way it works is your expat "package" includes things like lodging. The extreme prices were partially how the multinationals were paying the landowners off. You never "see" the bill.
It also usually includes a car service too. Nobody hires American's unless they have to on the international market -- our taxing of foreign income and reporting requirements for foreign banks makes it too big of a PITA to hire us.
i can say the same for the feds.. make one about the feds cause what the feds and government got line up gor you yu guys here will burn your pockets nd mental..
Also, do not forget to mention the fact that 99.8% of the expats living there use the "Black Market" rate which usually is valued 3x higher than the official one. For perspective, 1 USD is equal to 426 AOA, With the black market rate, 1 USD could be valued over 1,000 AOA. This is great for the "rich" expats living there but terrible for the locals who get paid in their official rate prices. Even buying bread sometimes, is a luxury some cannot afford; despite being one of the cheapest things in the country. Therefore, the economic system in Angola is shambolic; it supports visitors but doesn't support the permanent inhabitants.
So if Wendover used the official exchange rate those stuff costs about 1/3 the mentioned price for foreigners actually. Which is still not cheap.
I've seen that in my own country in the 80's and 90's during hyperinflation: "parallel" exchange rates over 5x, 6x, 8x the official one.
This sounds almost exactly like Argentina where the official rate is 1 dollar $163, but unofficial is $340 and rising each day, also with hyperinflation.
@@hpatdh077 Ha! I knew it! Does Argentinian press inform this unofficial-but-more-than-official exchange rate on the news too?
@@guilhermesartorato93 Only in some media because the authoritarian Kirchner regime could send you to jail.
That's something that struck me on the rewatch too - they talk about the Westerners living in the elite areas but not even much discussion about other elite Angolans aside from the Dos Santos siblings.
When I saw the title of Last Week Tonight I just thought, man Sam already did this, are they just ripping off Wendover? Then you got featured and I felt better about it. Congrats!
If it is any consolidation, Last Week Tonight will get the word out to way more people, so it was a topic worth being repeated.
Which title ?
@@Rentta the carbon offset video
Wait until this video on last week tonight... It is so good
Of the talk show hacks, Oliver can be both the best, and the worst.
I'm angolan and live in Luanda, and I'm lucky enough to currently be within the middle-class bracket that can live comfortably, but the stark contrast between poor and rich here is absolutely and glaringly enormous.
I apologies if i sound offensive but why do most Angolans have no African names
@@incognito4809 Culture. My family has mixing with Portuguese and portuguese-descendants at the level of my grandparents and great-grandparents, on both sides I believe.
@incognito48_9: Look up the colonisl Portuguese term ""assimilado"" (?sp?) The Colonial Portuguese meaning of the **term** highly __enlightenimg__ (!!pun. Maybe? Imcluded!!😚😄😚😄
@@incognito4809 That's like Philippinos, they look Asian but have Mexican names, really trippy.
@@chechnyaNot trippy. That’s how evil colonial colonialism was
Lived there for 5 years. The difference between the rich and the poor is impossible to describe. Beautiful country that is run by corrupt people. However, this is the case for most of Africa to be honest.
Most of Europe too to be honest.
@@Churros1616 what’s the average salary in Europe compare to an African? Over 10 times more. Don’t be stupid
@@Churros1616not on same level. But europe is corrupt through and through
@@Churros1616not comparable.
While I was a merchant navy cadet I "visited" Angola, we were pumping gas so far off shore we couldn't see land. In the end it was destined for China but our ship was chartered by Total, pumping BP owned gas from a Chevron platform. I had a similar experience when acting as a floating oil store off the coast of Nigeria before that. The oil industry just wants to take from Africa with the bare minimum investment back to the countries there
Exactly.
As a Nigerian, I don’t blame the oil companies but the Nigerian leaders and people.
Exactly! It’s not the multinationals duty or responsibility to give back to the people … it’s their government!
That's a fair point, but there's no reason a fellow African family has to benefit; including unimaginable wealth from it. Something similar happened a few hundred years ago, the US had a Civil War about it
As a Brazilian, I am glad to see a video like this. Brazil and Angola share not only the language, but also problems such as social inequality and corruption. Unfortunately, the situation for Angolans seems much worse.
Angola has one-party Marxist rule. Brazil doesn't.
Brazil's corruption has been around much longer with no end in sight.
@@cabidela Bull. The elite in Brazil are far worse! They live behind heavily fortified compounds and horde all the money to themselves. They use the police and military to keep its citizens from rebelling. It's what America is becoming.
Good luck to you guys
And the same source: Portugal
I read an article that proposed that the reason Norway succeeded where others failed (in being a relatively poor country that discovered oil) was that even though Norway was poor when it discovered its oil reserves, its political institutions were strong and were not destroyed by corruption after the discovery of oil. Sadly, it seems that many african countries that discovered oil reserves did not already have strong political institutions in place to deal with the wealth that oil brings and protect themselves from potential corruption.
One has to take into account colonialism. Impossible to compare Norway and the African countries
@@EduardoMusasa fair enough but there are oil rich nations in the middle east which were colonised but are now very wealthy
@@EduardoMusasa
Not really. Singapore was colonized. The Gulf was colonized. There are 10 countries that never got colonized, but only 3 of them are prosperous. The other 7 are just middling at best.
Australia is another example of a resource rich and successful country. But it was colonised and settled by Britons who brought the Protestant work ethic and Westminster system of government. Success was ensured.
@@EduardoMusasanot sure you can blame colonialism for this over Cold War politics. Most of my family thought the country was headed towards becoming an independent multiparty multiracial democracy in '72, '73. Then cold war politics fueled a war that made the previous wars look like a sunday picnic.
You had the bizarre situation of the White House ok'ing American oil giants to exploit the oil there, with the royalty $$$ they paid to Luanda being used to pay Cuba for their troops, who in turn were fighting UNITA, also paid by $$$ from the White House. Bidding wars between the global powers made every 2bit warlord there into a player. That more than anything is what made corruption endemic.
I sometime troll old South African or Cuban vets, asking them what were they fighting for anyways? Just sad when I think about all those meaningless deaths
I like how he hooks in the old wendover fans with some airplane facts at the start of the video, before diving into a country report that taught me more than a semester in college.
I truly think this channel is my favorite now, over and above the history, gaming, music, and intellectual focused channels I could typically be found watching... it's just that damn good! Sam is just out here, killing it, every episode..... This is a Sam channel, right?
Keep up the good work, sir! You, and what you do, is very much appreciated!!!!
That last line was a little weird. "If the people can accurately predict which candidate will stick to their word - which candidate will find a path to turn natural wealth into human wealth - then all is not lost for Angola. It still has a chance at breaking the resource curse." The line implies that one - and only one - of those candidates will absolutely do just that. For all we know, both will. Or more likely, neither will.
This feels like the perfect opportunity to point to CGP Grey's wonderful "Rules for Rulers" video where he elegantly describes the forces that make corruption inevitable. Corruption is simply a tool for acquiring the keys to power, something a ruler needs no matter how honorable their intentions. If Angola's government is going to reform to better serve its people, that will almost certainly be because external players who benefit from it doing so have become more important keys to power. A well-intentioned leader is important, but destined to fail unless those keys to power change to help align his goals with his power base. The fact that this election is happening at all is a good sign, though.
I would like to remind you tha Bangladesh seems to have election every 4 years but in last 3 terms the same party has won uncontested while rest of opposition boycott election.
Another resource based (lot of natural gas) "democracy" which never seem get out of "get rich quick" skims.
@@AshrakAhmed Yeah, an election is a good sign but definitely not a guarantee that the people's wellbeing has become important for the keys to power.
@@CivBase hello my jake brethren
@@AshrakAhmed why not take the hungarian path and create an all encompassing anti-establishment coalition intended to take power away from the ruling party?
@@jonathanodude6660 because likewise it will still devolve to who holds the keys in power
I just spent 10 days in Angola. 4 nights in Luanda, took Macon bus to Kuito, took an express train to Luena, took a school-type bus to Lalumba, and finally travelled to Malundo-Sikongo border in Zambia on a private cargo vehicle - the most uncomfortable 18 hours! I was deeply saddened to experience the lack of infrastructure, the inability to communicate (although I’m fluent in Spanish), the extremely dilapidated housing, standing dirty water in giant potholes (which causes frequent malaria), and the mistreatment of children, especially boys. People were mostly kind and some were helpful also.
Just because you speak Spanish, that doesn't mean they can understand you. They speak Portuguese, not Spanish. Even myself, Angolan descend (Dad is Angolan), speaks Portuguese from Portugal and Angolan people still have difficulties to understand me and visa versa.
Angola speaks Portuguese not Spanish you sure you went to Angola?
@@relocatetoEUROPE LMAO! navkaur is a total moron!
Yeah girls are not mistreated *sarcasm* 🙄
Girls just got married as kids and r worded and beaten by theirs husbands but all is good
Im so happy you spoke about Angola, the wealth that the 0.5% hold is way too high, I can prove this video is also very much right as I am Angolan myself. keep up the good work :)
White Supremacy takes no Ls
The reason why they do not like 👌🏽💅🏾💄Ms Dos Santos is simple 1 reason. SHE MADE Portugal Angola's 🇦🇴 newest colony.
if Angolans pull out their money out of Portugal banks ..the economy fill fail overnight
THE SAME FAITH is for France w/ African countries supporting the. The same way for London with Nigerians hold up their economy
==================== at the end of the day " CORRUPTION MONEY do not stay in African banks ========================
they have no moral grounds when they accept a thief items. he has no words for allthe European banks or the Americans from Texas going to live off Angola's future. They too are taking food from the poor Angola.
White supremacy takes no Ls. = its ok for them to steal and plunder. its ok for them to be number #1 but is angry at ALL others for improving their country.
CHINA made their country great..from dirt poverty and they are pissed off
AFRICA is the future = and they are upset about it.
2022. No one needs to be in a place to know a place.
@@MagicMike_101 you’d be surprised
@@DanielPizarro184 I'd not. Did you see anything change? Just words on the internet, not a reality of people's lives getting better.
Desejo-te a ti e a todo o povo Angolano muita sorte!
Um dia toda essa gente cruel que vos explora pagará pelos seus crimes.
I believe that many won’t get how precise and unbiased this video is. Well done
Of course...
i can say the same for the feds.. make one about the feds cause what the feds and government got line up gor you yu guys here will burn your pockets nd mental..
Ehh... Can't cope with the unbiased part, don't think that such thing exists
@@josekiabala12 qq
The video doesn't mention the atrocities of UNITA, which was back by Apartheid South Africa, which kept the war going and completely destroyed the country and planted land mines every where as a result displaced millions of people. The war could have ended in 1998, after the fighting had stopped. There was an election, everyone was campaigning peacefully, but because neither candidate got 50% of the vote, there was supposed to be a run off election. Power Hungry Savimbi didn't like run off elections and was afraid he was going to lose, so he abandoned his election bid, and instead decided to continue his war campaign, killing millions' more villagers in the country side until he died in a shoot out with Government forces in 2002. Then after all those atrocities committed by UNITA, they expected the Angolan people to elect them to run the country. Very strange. There is a reason why UNITA keeps loosing elections. People remember what they did.
Congratulations on getting featured on LWT with John Oliver's Carbon Offset episode!
It's sad that the world celebrates the growing net worth of the richest in a poor nation. Celebrating the first billionaire is not what the world should aspire to. Instead, we should look at the opportunities for the poorest to escape poverty as good metric for improvement.
Also dont focus on the poorest, it will drag you down. Its the middle class that defines a nation!
@@ypey1 Unless you don't have a middle class.
Lol, you watch lwt? And on top of that you think getting featured on it is an achievement? Guys are lwt are terrorist supporting hypocrites, they aren't intrested in truth but rather whoever pays most
There is nothing wrong btw in celebrating rich in poor countries, what matters is how they got rich. Blanket hating rich mentality shows how tarded someone is.
@@mefisto05s.20 Nice straw man, no one hates all rich people, people just immediately question large income or wealth gaps, before watching the horror show of what lot’s of rich people do to be rich in the first place. It’s a process, not a knee-jerk reaction.
On May 1st 2017, Sonair decided to open the Houston Express service, previously exclusive to oil companies operating in Angola, to the general public, to reduce the impact of weak demand brought about by the low oil price and the flight became semi-open, with 80 seats per flight, among the 189 available, dedicated to public passengers, to be precise.
Very good stuff, once more. Thank you. As for the image chops and jumps: when working with interlaced images with differing framrates: convert interlaced- to progressive footage in the framrate it was recorded in, do it in a separate project (make sure field order and fps are as in the original or at least visually make sense when importing).
Then, import into your project; making sure the original frame rate remains assigned, so conversion happens in your final compilation sequence. Only the occasional single frame stop or drop will remain, being hardly if at all visible.
When I worked for an oil company with a large presence in Angola, graduates were earning 3x more than compared to their Houston counterparts and also got an apartment for $10k a month. Of course these positions were only open to sons and daughters of local politicians
Recognize the name LIS?
What did you do when you worked in the oil company?
@@qwerty1994ize pipeline engineer
Well done on the shout out from John Oliver's (HBO) 'Last Week Tonight.' That was the first time i've ever seen legacy media quote a RUclipsr, where the piece wasn't actually about the RUclipsr (ie Pewdiepie). Well done team!
Stop revering late night funny men
@@Mazortan but that late night funny man is Zazu 2.0
Short answer: oil. (7:30)
3:22 War for independence. [muffled "Death to the MPLA!" in the distance] (5:35)
11:00 Not much trickle-down, but a lot of transfers. (16:10)
20:10 Yeah, that one.
VIDEO IDEA: Since you're a big infrastructure guy, I'd love to see your take on the European Commission's July proposal that Finland and the Baltic countries switch their rail gauges from the 1,520 mm Russian Gauge to the 1,435 mm Standard Gauge: What the difficulties and benefits will be from the switch, and if and when it might happen.
Apparently Ukraine also plans to do so, but they don't see to have a timeline to do so, even one dependent on when the war ends. I read that in Ukraine alone, it's estimated that the switch will cost at least 100 billion USD, mostly because. it will require the replacement of most of the the country's rolling stock. (The train cars/engines themselves are wider than allowed on most European lines, so just replacing the bogies would not be enough for them to be allowed to travel outside Ukraine.)
Apparently the European Commission proposal was in large part motivated by the difficulties experienced by Ukraine when it tried to export its grain by rail while the port of Odessa was closed. I would assume that another motivation was making it harder for a future hypothetical invading Russia to supply its troops, and easier for the free world to supply their defending forces in the invaded country.
Is there any way you could make a similar video about sao paulo? The sheer amount of inequality that is present in that city is unprecedented. You could go from luxury and opulence above most European capitals to poverty and violence comparable to war zones in the blink of an eye. I think it would make a very interesting video, either about rio de janeiro or sao paulo.
Its not unprecedented, though. Amazingly, even São Paulo and its impressive inequality is nothing compared to many metropolis in other third world countries
yes, brazil is just rio de janeiro or são paulo... dont do about fortaleza... dont do about salvador, dont do about gramado... do about a fucking dump like this two cities.
what there is to say? you dont have high pay jobs for everyone because we have high taxes and anti-bussiness policies created by fucking socialists, there... it makes me mad that people like you even exist and there only so much you can do about a city.
inequality, that is not the goverment job to fix it, in brazil the goverment needs to get the fuck out of the way,open the markets, lower taxes, turn all this fucking state bussiness into private ones and fucking fire or fuck everysingle high pay public servent and give that money to public servents that do the job at the base of all things, the real elite of this country.
dont do about rio de janeiro or são paulo, do about minas gerais or something more interesting not this places.
@@FOLIPE Brazil is the most unequal country in the most unequal continent, Latin America. You can find world class universities, Ferraris, and the largest shantytown in the world in just one city, Sao Paulo
the only video sao paulo deserves is a video of its demolition
@@santiagorf77 Brazil isn't the most unequal country in the world nor Latin America. Brazil isn't the land of opportunity as the US, neither has the same quality of life as the countries in the west of Europe, but it is much better than Africa, Asia, and even most countries of eastern Europe. If you really want to see inequality look at Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and China.
Congratulations on having your video featured on John Oliver!!!
This one was amazing as always. Happy to see you educating the world and keeping us incredibly entertained while you do it.
Which episode was it?
@@JamesSmith-fm6pd It was on carbon offsets
CORRUPTION is the cancer of all African countries despite having vast natural resources. Africa is a truly blessed continent.
I agree
this is definitely a forte that black people and chinamen share in common. Corruption. No wonder the leaders of African nations and Xi the pooh get along so well.
I used to take that very flight every 28 days. I didn't stay in Luanda though. I took another flight to Cabinda and stayed at a camp called Molongo (sp). Kind of miss those days as I made absolutely killer money and only worked 6 months a year.
how do I get that job?
@@kennarajora6532 Work in Oil & Gas is the only way. I was over there training the locals how to laser scan (aka LiDAR) in 2014 to 2016. It was a very cool gig. It did suck being gone for a whole month at a time but the equal amount at home made it worth it. It isnt as nice over there any more. The work has dryied up for the most part and everyone I knew over there have moved on. The Houston Express flight is no more and there are other US airlines that fly over there. Only reason the HE flight existed in the first place was due to the government. They would not allow any US airlines to land there when flying direct from the US. Only way to get a direct flight was to take the HE flight. Only way to get a seat was to work in O&G. I was a huge money grab since the gov was the ones that contracted the flight and thus received the revenue. The people of Angola are super nice and I had nothing but nice memories from my time over there.
I’m trying to get into trading the physical Oil & Gas commodity
As an Angolan and long time subscriber thank you. You are on point, your research was well made. Yes unfortunately corruption is the evil of any society and it has been deeply integrated in ours and will take some time to turn the tide.
Are there any chances to turn the tide? What do you think?
Que pensa do governo Lourenço?
@@ozeppeo Not with a democracy. When you see a recurring problem, one of the variables is the issue. Why is the Arabian Peninsula more successful? Probably because they're all authoritarian regimes. Democracy in Africa is all about balancing economic growth and growing your personal wealth before your term ends. An absolutist, on the other hand, is more concerned about his people, otherwise he cannot assure his hold on the nation in the long-term. One of the first things Sheikh Zayed did with oil money was boost education among Bedouins. Educating children is a long-term investment that bears fruition perhaps not even in the Emir's reign, but this heirs who will witness a native, educated middle class, perhaps. Why would a president in Africa do that? Democracy is just the perfect rigging game for western corporations. You lobby for the candidate who benefits your corporate interests the most and the uneducated population is nonethewiser towards the propaganda, heck, illiteracy is actually a perk for the president's campaign.
Every sovereign European country once had their authoritarian leader that laid the foundation for their country, why is that development stage deprived for the developing world? Being the 21st century makes no difference if they're still weaving baskets and do not read or write.
It looks a lot nicer than when I was there in the 80s. It was a bit of a hole then, still with a slow war going on in the south. Little food available and infrastructure so poor that oil workers would not use the lift in their tower block a week before leave, in case it broke down and trapped them.
Luanda looked like it had been a nice place once, but was full of Cubans and Russians as well as the American oil companies. There were some interesting events with the Russian "trawlers" hanging around just offshore an American oil base and retransmitting all of the American walky talky traffic back over loud speakers to wind them up.
On another occasion luanda Airport was closed for the departure of the Portuguese prime minister, so our helicopter could not depart. So the crew of a Russian airforce executive jet came over and started chatting to the French pilot who showed them around. They reciprocated by showing us around the inside of their aircraft.. Not bad for still being in the middle of the cold War!!
This video is so information. I'm Angolan living in South Africa so I don't know enough about our history. Most of the history I know is South African because I went to school here so it's nice to learn about my own countries history.
Angola is such a rich country in natural resources, imagine if it were well administered rather than pocketed by few! I feel for Angola and many other countries like it where the wealth gets grabbed by those in power while the people suffer in poverty!😥
thats what happens in a dictatorship
are you going to pretend that you are not aware that outside powers and the oil companies pick these dictators and install them in these countries to do their bidding
Grabbed by agents of foreign powers
They wealth are stolen by American and Chinese Company not nercerally Angolan in power
Your people are the ones ultimately behind it though....
Congratulations on getting on Last Week Tonight. I hope you've got new subscribers because of it.
What's the context of the Last week tonight video?
Wait, which episode is that? What was the topic?
@@MalcadorTheSigilite It's part of the video he had about Carbon Offshoots being meaningless, specifically how a forest "set aside for Carbon offshoots" was actually owned by a preserve for decades and the company was lying out their ass.
@@bbd121 the lastest one about Carbon Offsets.
That's not an achievement lol. Lwt guys are sellouts, bitches doing bidding of highest bidder.
The Black Ops 2 campaign taught me all about Angolan history. Zavimbi will forever be remembered.
DEATH TO THE MPLA
i wish and pray.. angola will grow and recover in peace.. and all
its people will benefit from its earth blessing of natural resources..
love from
the philippines
I'm shocked that Portugal was in political turmoil for multiple decades, and I've never heard of it. For anyone wanting to read more about it, it's the Carnation Revolution.
Congratulations on the appearance on Last Week Tonight.
A good video. An excellent job at highlighting consistent problems.
Why are you shocked that you’ve never heard about it? There’s plenty of things that happen that you’ve never heard about.
@@eobardthawne324 Yes, but I like history a lot, and I feel like a revolution and military dictatorship in Portugal that lasted a good chunk of the 20th Century would've been something I encountered in my random readings by now.
@@TheHylianBatman Portugal isn't a country that hits the news very often so you probably wouldn't have came across it unless you were specifically looking at Portugal.
@@eobardthawne324 Very true, very true.
And regrettably, I've never deep-dived into Portugal.
Yup... Our king was killed in the early XX century, we then had a republic, were involved in the 1st World War and after that had a military coup in 1926. Salazar was invited to overview the finances in 1928, under the condition of having big veto powers and decisions regarding taxes and fiscal laws. In 1932 he was elected to the equivalent of a today's Prime Minister and in 1933 changed the constitution and became the dictator for almost 40 years. We stayed "neutral" during WW2 and managed to not come under fire in the wake of WW2 regarding our imperialistic stance, because Salazar alleged that our colonies should be viewed as an extention of our mainland Portuguese borders. From 1961 to 1974 we fought in the Colonial Wars and some of the Captains of those wars later founded the movement that would overthrow the dictatorship. Salazar died in 1970, two years after an accident where he fell from a chair. The brain injury got so bad that for those two years, he was led to believe by his closest people that he was still in charge and would still sign new laws and attend meetings (it's a wild story).
April 25th of 1974, the MFA (Armed Forces Movement) overthrew the regime and for a year there were riots, terrorist attacks and general uneasiness between the supporters of the newer, socialist-styled regime, the ones who were in favor of the old dictatorship and even within the higher positions of the MFA. Things got messy up until November 25th 1975, when two factions of the MFA (the "radicals" , who wanted a more communist-oriented country and the "moderates", that well... Were more moderate in comparisson) clashed and the moderates managed to subdue the other movement. To mention that between 1974 and the new Constitution of 1976, the US was watching the situation very closely, and there were even plans of a possible intervention (via coup or invasion) should the communist faction of the MFA come to power.
This is a veryyyy abreviated summary of the history of Portugal in the 20th century... It's too much happening for so little (historical) time.
3:44 Panhard EBR, that’s one of the best tanks for its class
6:02 Ratel APC, not sure how good it is in actual combat
6:39 Soviet MTLB, maybe?
My family came to Portugal in the 1975 airlift. I hope the new leadership isn´t just a change of people on top. Thank you for sharing.
An excellent documentary, I loved the complete summary of the Angolan last 60 years and the analysis you did.
I have friends from Talatona, some live in UK. My jaw dropped when I found out one of them has a dad who owns a private jet, his name is c. kapose.
They call it "partnership"..
Loved the experience of working there. Angolans are wonderful people too. So friendly.
Having many natural resources is a double-edge sword; you can increase the wealth of the nation on the positive, but corrupt and powerful people can put it in their pockets on the negative
How do Angola go about distributing wealth . They need investment in other fields not just mining and drilling. Also they need to control most of land since investors won't negotiate proper salary if they can buy these resources illegally for cheaper than the government rate.
All these silly countries needs to release you need to invest into production and service industries. Gotta make your own shit if you want wealth. Wendover IIRC once did a video why hot countries are poor etc, and its true with agriculture...You just haft to bloody make your own food if you can. Cant buy everything.
No there would be no utilization of the resources unless there was an influx of high iq individuals to run the operations
I believe that oil especially offshore deposits are a dictator's best friend because you only need a small amount of workers for a major operation, you can easily import workers instead of hiring locals, it's easy to keep your subjects away from offshore rakes
Only for a short period of time. That was one of the reasons the Spanish Empire declined and eventually became no more.
You did a very good insight in shorter time about Angola history, well done 👏🏾
The idea was to convince the portuguese angolans to stay, their businesses were important for the new government. However the start of the civil war proved that was impossible. My grandfather had a few bakeries, as a baker he was an asset. Decided to stay but was quickly turned into a hostage controlled for months by the MPLA until in a james bond like escape attempt he returned to Portugal. My familly all came from Angola. The Civil War and after the Dos Santos dinasty destroyed any hope for a future.
No one wanted to convince the Portuguese of anything, they wanted them out
Your White supremacy is so loud....acting as if you don't know you people are the cause for all the instability in Africa
@@idy1172 Yes, and that was the doom of Angola.
@@rogeriomonteiro760 that was no doom of Angola, you Portuguese should learn to move on, they (Angolans) don’t want you!
@@idy1172 that’s why they’re poor as fuck now
Wow this is an amazing video. I must say the sheer level of detail you poor
into all your videos is just amazing. I’ve been watching you for years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a video of yours that’s not been engaging and well researched.
Anyway hope your day stays great. Have a good one mate.
One of my closer friends was adopted from Luanda, very interesting to get a glimpse into what their childhood might’ve been like
hi m scherer... recently i seen an online game and the name is sparc ,we can earn reward even u lose
If one visits Angola, it does not look like an African country with Africans. The number of EU-immigrants I saw there was unbelievable. Goes to say, if there are any resources, the EU-immigrant will be the first one to show up.
Angola's historical population.
1990 - 12 million.
2000 - 16 million.
2010 - 23 million.
2020 - 33 million.
Future Estimates.
2030 - 45 million.
2050 - 77 million.
2100 - 188 million.
When the poorest decide to have a revolution I wouldn't want to be in Luanda especially after years of showing off all that wealth.
so , it's going to be a great country ....
In case you’re interested, in Portuguese, the “J” in “José” is pronounced exactly like the “J” in “João”. Great video, as usual!
Edit: Sorry I wasn’t clear. I was referring to the way “João” was pronounced in the video. My comment was directed at Sam (not that I expect him to read it).
please use another example, that seems the same to me.
Not exactly a helpful comment for non-Portugese speakers!
The "J" in Portuguese is pronounced pretty much like the "J" in French, as in "je m'appelle". It's not that different from the English "J" either. So in doubt, just pronounce it like you would in English.
What is absolutely wrong is to pronounce it like the Spanish "J", almost with an "R" sound. You are just doing an effort to end up with an even worse, mistaken pronunciation.
@@Walk_on_Part_In_a_War Compare "José" at 6:10 and "João" at 14:54
The first one sounds very Spanish and wrong, the second is not perfect but is much more accurate.
@@johnstevens3564 that was helpful thank you!
Angola is kept down for a very basic reason, the same reason everything is expensive: Everything is imported!
Angola is a mostly arid country (not necessarily desert, but arid), those billions of dollars go to food imports that the gov. doesnt even make a profit from. They've implemented water security measures in the east, and thats let the HDI move a little, and they've let NGOs operate vaccination campaigns... but otherwise? Angola is entierly chasing foreign money, with very few local wealth generation schemes. There is very little inter-provincial commerce that isnt through gov. subsudized transit.
Import duties would make a massive difference. People are paying that much that another 10-20% won’t make a difference.
@@gfjfjufidi2880 Why would you make it even more expensive for the avaerage Angolan? The Angolan gov. already imports food and medicine at a loss, all for the welfare if their people.
They need to tax luxury imports being bought by the aristocracy, not push that burden in the people. And that tax money? Is going to go back to imports.
If anything, Angola needs to use its petroleum reserves and cheap labor pool to launch into plastic production... but probably won't, because China is a heavy investor in Angola, and wouldnt like it if they suddenly became competition in a market they already dominate (plastics).
That was remarkably spot on,great work on this piece
I remember when my daughter was going to university and she met an Angolan diplomat at a university sponsored seminar. After a couple of conversations with the diplomat, he offered her a job when she graduated in two years time. The guy was very serious about the offer. My daughter decided she wasn’t interested and never contacted the gentleman again. She still is a world traveler who has worked and vacationed across the entire planet.
Smart decision.
@@Jump-n-smash why? sounds like she would have been extremely rich and successful either way.
World tour cock carousel.
@@jonathanodude6660 She made the right decision. I live in a neighbouring country. The poor are very nice people. Struggling hard to make ends meet. Politicians corrupt to the bone.
@Gloriellee X you should tell it to the thousands of Angolans that fled during the drought. We in Namibia fed them and kept them alive. What did your government do? We even paid for their repatriation. Some is still here. I employed some at great risk so that they could get money to feed themselves. The poor Namibians took them in. Our Government helped feeding them all while we also had the same drought.
It turns out that Angola is a great introduction to the history of the cold war and decolonialisation. It is a great video topic.
I am from Bulgaria and the best-ranked high school in the country is the private American College in Sofia. We don't have that many ex-pats, but we do have some, owing farm land, former state enterprises left from the socialist time or having involvement in the IT sector, the largest industry as of now (paying cheap estearn Europeans less than IT-specialists in the West). In the 1980', during socialism, we ranked #20-30 in the world by Human Development Index, now we are #56. The Angolan model spreads all over the world, even to Europe
That drop in the HDI index could be just that other countries have developed, not necessarily that you got worse.
@@Juho221 This, if I'm not mistaken Bulgaria was supposed to be one of the better Warsaw pact members in alot of things.
Since Bulgaria is now part of the EU it'll probably get better over time
@@Juho221 Well, exactly. Other countries improved on the index, while Bulgaria stagnated. Comparatively the HDI of Bulgaria dropped. Because we don't have a state whose priority is to provide welfare for the masses, social services (in general, the things measured by the HDI), but instead a state interested in facilitating the "business" (serving the rich)
I lived in Angola from 1 to 10 years of age. From 1966 to 1975. I still dream with that country. Good memories of my childhood..I loved that native people. VIVA ANGOLA.
South African cities like Durban , Joburg , Cape Town and Pretoria are cheap to live in , yet have more money , better infrastructure , more to do and most importantly are actually built by South African companies , these buildings in Luanda are built by Chinese companies . All to create the illusion of wealth when its actually not there
Joburg has one of the highest murder rates in the world, highest rape/assault rates in the world, and a significant minority of the population lives in abject poverty
Africa has suffered a lot. Wishing for peace and prosperity in the continent.
We all wish prosperity for Africa but unfortunately it's just a revolving door of one corrupt politician after another. Rwanda is the only African nation I can think of that is trying to turn around and change their identity. The Rwandan president is trying to erase tribal identity and replace it with a national one. He created community days to create a sense of community and nationality in the country; such as clean up days which now makes Rwanda one of the cleanest nations in the world. It also formed a military with every tribe serving as one and sends them on counter terrorism missions abroad. People might be upset that he's trying to erase tribal culture but tribal culture is what made Rwanda the host of the most brutal genocide in modern history. The unfortunate thing here is that the Rwandan president is a de facto dictator. Once he dies, or is removed the next dictator will just return to siphoning money from the country
It's actually quite curious how the greed of other nations resulted in so much suffering. The 1974 people's revolution in Portugal resulted in Portugal giving freedom to the colonies and, unfortunately, other greedy nations quickly jumped into supporting their factions to create another dictatorship. Poor people of Angola.
It's not the greed of other nations. It's the greed of human beings.
@@bjs301 What do you think nations are comprised of, if not humans? Orcs?
Violence, greed and sex are things that make this world moving. Embrace the facts.
@@genghiskhan7741 You missed my point. It is very easy, and very popular, to target groups to blame for human suffering. First, subsistence living is the way most humans have lived throughout human history. That is nobody's fault. It's the old saying. Life sucks, then you die. Second, blaming others feeds into the notion that if we just remove the others, that will fix everything. This is a perfect example of the flaw in that reasoning.
@@bjs301 Your first point is wrong, for most of human history, sharing and caring for others was the main way humans lived, a more communal type of living. Second, there is no human nature, humans aren't naturally greedy, human nature arises from material conditions of the time period.
Angola has one of the coolest flags ngl, red and yellow are one of the best color combinations
I actually lived in luanda during highschool. This is extremely accurate good video!
Not even 20 seconds in and he's mentioned a 747
😆😆😆 I love the fact that all research starts with an airplane.
At least we will know when somethings wrong, no mention of an aircraft 🥲
He does good work, we can live with his plane fetish.
This is an outstanding documentary and its crazy how the now dead former president stole so much from Angolas people. In 2010 it was so common to see all these angolans down town Lisbon buying Gucci, Dolce Cabanna etc. They would travel just to buy these brands and would go back right after.
Awesome explanation and very well edited! I yelled "WHAT?!" so many times in regards to the choices they made to collect their wealth.
I can't imagine living in that complex, looking across and seeing the very poor organizational city . It would break my heart, the level of suffering on 3rd world countries is EPIC
Thats is basically everywhere in Latinamerica and Africa.
You get used to it, unfortunately.
And american liberals call america a third world country lmao
@Deadpoppin bruh haha
@@granjuas Try the US too. Philadelphia , San Francisco, LA.
@@alifrazier4 it’s sad to get used to watching the misery around you. It happened to me.
Some private schools in Manhattan are $50,000 per year in tuition. I was surprised by how little the Luanda International School costed in comparison to everything else you mentioned.
It's relative though. In Manhattan people make a lot more than in Angola
Manhattan is home to many of the highest income people in the world, it has a street nicknamed "Billionaire's Row".
In the US you donthave decent public shools so everything else gets very inflated in cost
@@fgsaramago Many communities in the United States have good to excellent public schools. The problem is not that public schools are bad overall-the problem is inequality. I grew up middle class, in a community where most children attended the public schools. With most children attending public schools, a majority of tax payers had a direct interest in ensuring that the public schools had good resources. (In my state, citizens vote directly on whether to approve the public school budget.) Manhattan has a much wider income disparity than the community I grew up in, with wealthier individuals who can afford the tuition to private schools and choose to do so-this gives them less of direct connection to the public schools and less of an incentive to support them. Which means the public schools receive fewer resources. Middle income wage earners-especially those with children-tend not to actually live where they work-and one of the most important factors in choosing where to live is how good the public school system is. This further erodes support for the city public school system and means that more middle income wage earners move to communities with better school systems. Which further worsens the public school system which means more workers deciding to live somewhere with better schools.
@@fgsaramago
The US has plenty of decent public schools. They're just found in the wealthier parts while the not-so-decent ones are usually found in "the 'hood" known for crime and poverty and most of the residents either live on social assistance or make too little to contribute to funding the schools.
Also, your flight ticket costs are way wrong. Min price as Schlumberger that we could get was $4k+ in 2007 for economy one way. Tickets could only be bought after 14 day visa was secured, which was late 90% of the time for me.
Whoa. My dad worked in Luanda, he worked in Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria, too. All doing oil/gas industry stuff. All between 2002 and 2014
thank you for you coverage on Luanda. The lesson that GDP doesn't corralate whatsovever with HDI oder Quality of life, EVERYONE should take to heart!
The damage that the colonists have left in their wake on these African countries is still being felt and will be for decades. Their influence has still maintained a stranglehold long after they have abandoned their scorched lands. These people have been pawns of more powerful nations and business magnates profiting off their resources.
you blaming the colonists? What a 🤡🤡🤡 lol
We must appreciate how detailed wendover’s videos are.
Based pfp
@Deadpoppin ye Ik ik
@@ItzSamyam based opinion
@Deadpoppin whar
I'm from Namibia and it seems like we've struck oil in the recent months, really worried that it's a bad thing
interesting video. it really shows how the individual governments that freed multiple african countries from the grip of colonialism have failed to do their job and are actually siphoning africa's wealth to developed countries. the african people continue to not benefit, while these leaders grow reacher and richer along with their kids, family, and friends to support their lavish lives. what is happening in Angola, is happening in many other countries, and it's really sad to see that the very people who were meant to protect us only reached for power with the wrong intentions. and unfortunately the democracy in Africa is a mirage. these parties that freed the african people from colonialism have clung to power and created a system that protects them from ever being taken down. we have the right of suffrage, but our choice doesn't really matter, for the same people will remain in power no matter what. it is almost like a second wave of colonialism in the end of the day
As an Argentinian… I can relate so much.
I remember, between 2009 and 2011, going on my daily live and around the Alvalade neighbourhood I saw a BMW X5 just abandoned and rotting. And importing an X5 wasn't cheap by any means. Or visiting Kilamba Kiaxi, built by the Chinese, looking like one of those ghost towns we now hear about everywhere in China. Luanda is a crazy town (in a good and a bad way!)
you should go back to Luanda again to eliminate bias.
And the international airport that still hasn't been finished almost 20 years since construction started.
@@justinsayin3979 and the **last time I heard** Still Lacks Airconditioning___!!!!
Zaire smuggling weapons into UNITA was possibly the cause of the worst African Air disaster in history. In 1996, an overloaded AN-32 took off from Kinshasa's N'dolo airport but crashed into a market place, killing at least 370 people and injuring hundreds more. President Mobutu orchestrated the weapons smuggling at the time.
It amazes me that still under the very real threat of American invasion, Cubans still sent their people to help organize and protect the liberation struggle in Angola.
In the end, things didn't turn out for the best in Angola, but we should still learn from their solidarity.
And then Angola conveniently ditched communism for social democracy as their thanks for Cuba's support. LOL
well, Cubans did nothing but prey on Angola to feed on it's natural wealth. They didn't really care about Angola, they just wanted influence.@@shauncameron8390
Another fascinating video about something I wouldn't have ever discovered on my own. Thank you for your continuing efforts
I enjoy Sam's content so much!
Also me: ooh, this is going to have non-English words in it... :)
Still me: "Haygen-Doss". :o
Good video! But Angola is definitely not tiny (13:35). It's almost three times as large as California.
The MPLA and the 1974 coup in Portugal were arranged by the USSR , Isabel dos Santos mother is Russian. The USA backed FNLA against its NATO partner Portugal. Old Angolans say they would be much better off today if under Portuguese / EU rule, with more local involvement, rather than under the shameless cleptocrats of the last decades.
If Angola does break the 'resource curse' it will likely find itself spending much of the new found income on securing its borders.
Because it will have become the one and only 'honey pot' in a heavily populated region characterized by how little 'honey' any of those nations currently offer the 99.5%.
Such folks currently travel thousands of miles and cross seas in boats made of driftwood in pursuit of a little 'honey', so, crossing the border into Angola will be seen as a very welcome alternative.
Africas borders are all right on the edge between shifting again
Except Congo, all their neighbors are doing okay Gabon, equitorial guinea, Dr Congo, Namibia, Botswana. There wouldn't be influx like that
As an Angolan, it is with such sadness that I see my country degrading and ruining itself like other African countries.
The greed of our leaders, corruption, the European Union, the united states, and china are all a little to blame for this.
Totally agree.. But from ue, I can tell you that : ALL politicians, all over the world are corrupted, for some a little bit, for others a lot, some are working for money, other for power.
But they are still the puppies of BC and oil, diamonds leaders company.
They are the big champion of these stole..
Did US company goes to Russia Or China to prospect.? I don't think so.
Africa need to unify herself to be powerful. One of the richest continent must have a BC to trade with others in same way.
The European union has literally nothing to do with this
@@drunkensailor112 and he doesn’t blame China lmao
@@drunkensailor112 not the current union, but European colonialism destroyed Africa during century XX
@@FranciscoJG Portugese. Not Europeans who destroyed angola
I'm glad you're recovering.
I was in and out in 92/93 also based in Benguela and things were nasty then.
We were flying a contract for Diamag and others and we got all over the country.
Cabinda, Dundo in the north down to Cuito Cuanavale.
It was very interesting.
You should do the Gupta family next, the most hated name in South Africa
As an Angolan who's been watching a learning a lot from this channel, I appreciate this video and say that unfortunately, the 24th of August elections are again proving that MPLA is not ready to give up their control and corruption.
We wish for a country that creates an environment for everyone to thrive not only politicians and those who are attached to that corrupt party. Despite some efforts, we do not believe they will manage to heal the same illness they created and keep infecting themselves every day.
Just like in DR Congo. Stay strong bruver.
@@nanouekonzo5581
Just like the other Congo with Sassou-Nguesso and Equatorial Guinea with Obiang-Nguema.
@@nanouekonzo5581 Indeed :(
Unless they have arrested, charged, convicted, and put every member of the family who is not a minor, who has in any way accepted any benefits from this obvious corruption, to death, they have not gone far enough. Anyone who has so much accepted a free dinner from this corrupt family is complicit and guilty. That is how all oil kleptocrats of the world should be treated, from the House of Saud on down.
I would extend this to any one who even worked there for these extreme wages and paid these extreme prices for housing, food, schools and so on.
Great content! Thank you.