The Perfect Kleptocracy: How Equatorial Guinea Became the World’s Most Exploited Nation
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- Опубликовано: 8 апр 2024
- Discover the untold story of Equatorial Guinea, a nation overshadowed by its rich oil reserves and tragic human rights abuses. Join us as we delve into its history and geography on this eye-opening episode!
Every day I find a new channel narrated by this guy
I have been thinking the same thing! 😂😂😂
At some point, Simon will be making a new channel for every video.
This mother fucker is that guy from the Onion that had tens of thousands of jobs💀
How many youtube channels does this guy own?
Just how many breads have you eaten in your life?
Can't go wrong
I though N.K. and Turkmenistan episodes were depressing, but this might be the most demoralizing one yet. Forever thankful for where I was born
so true, it puts our daily struggles into perspective
North Korea is a case for itself, without any comparison in the world.
Equatorial Guinea is just an African country and dictatorship like many others. Nothing really special. People just don't know what's going on in Africa.
And it's just bs when it comes to numbers!
They rank at place at #148 when it comes to the GDP (PPP) in total und #90 per capita
And the GDP (nominal) #156 in total and #95 per capita.
I don't know where he gets his numbers from, but this being #2 after Luxembourg are just wrong numbers and I don't know where they should be from.
So you were born in Haiti…
@@djquinn11I know I shouldn't laugh but I can't help it 😂😂😂
I'd like an Eritrea episode now, while we're on the topic of depraved dictatorships
That would be interesting to see, the only concern I have with these compelling, unsourced video essays is that, it has been the case that every time they speak of issues or countries you are acutely familiar with they get so many of the basic facts wrong let alone deeper contextual inferences that it makes me question their information regarding matters I don’t know
yes, please
@@Sinais389 He does not evenn write tge scripts but some underpaid third party writer.
@@AL-lh2ht Underpaid, so you know how much he pays the writers?
Simon, we dont need the AI images, your voice and cinematography spliced with ACTUAL photos and news shots is enough.
Most of us LISTEN to your content, we don't need the never-ending flow of what a computer thinks you're describing. Your voice and script is enough (thanks Evan)
I may be wrong about it but I feel that Simon may not own this channel since it has no recommendations towards his other channels and instead he just hosts the show. (like he did on biographics or on visual politics wayyy back in the day.) so sadly the AI stuff maybe not his choice.
Do you mean stock footage?
The images/videos normally have nothing to do with "AI".
Or did I miss something (I haven't seen the whole piece yet)?
Are people now starting to use AI the wrong way, like the use of "bot".
People should check a dictionary before using certain words.
_Edit: Okay! The comic pictures look somewhat artificial. But they don't bother me. Rather the opposite. They fit the story._
@@yannick245it fucking says "ai depiction" every so often
What's wrong with ai image ? You all moaning using the point that most people just listen and Simons voice is enough, so why are you so bothered about ai images
AI is lazy.
Five star documentary about a country I barely knew existed. Thank you for the presentation.
FYI - The entire volume of videos on this channel is ripped from Simon Whistlers’ Channels. Every single video
It's just bs when it comes to numbers!
They rank at place at #148 when it comes to the GDP (PPP) in total und #90 per capita
And the GDP (nominal) #156 in total and #95 per capita.
I don't know where he gets his numbers from, but this being #2 after Luxembourg are just wrong numbers and I don't know where they should be from.
@@yannick245 He said it was in 2005 (39:00), but he's still wrong.
Between 2004-2014 EG indeed saw an increase in its GDP/capita - from around $5,400 in 2003 to a peak of $22,800 in 2008. After a $19,200 score in 2014, it sharply declined to about $11,000 in 2015 and has continued to decline ever since... This, acc to the IMF.
@@yannick245 In terms of GDP (PPP) per capita, it followed the same trend. It had $28,000 in 2005 and a peak of $38,000 in 2008, but has continued to decline ever since.
@@yannick245 While this was a huge increase, it's still incomparable to Luxembourg (and others), which had about $81,000 GDP/capita (both nominal and PPP) in 2005, ranking indeed first - and has largely grown ever since. Esp in PPP, the nominal amount did have periods of slight decline.
Just an interesting side note. Equatorial Guinea is pretty obviously the basis for the fictional country of Zangaro in Frederick Forsythe's 1974 novel The Dogs of War. The plot of that novel involves a british mining magnate, who has become aware of a massive platinum deposit in the otherwise destitute country run by the insane dictator Jean Kimba but believes noone else knows, hiring a mercenary to lead a coup to kill and depose Kimba with a small number of foreign mercenaries, then hand the country over to a former member of Kimba's circle in exile, who would then hand the wealth over to the company run by the mining magnate in exchange for being made the new dictator.
Forsythe apparently researched EG in detail as if planning a real coup on these lines, as if really trying to take EG which at that time was still under Nguema. He said that the arms dealers he spoke to during his research were the scariest people he ever met in his life.
Life imitating art as it often does, a real coup as detailed in the video was successful in 1979, and it wasnt platinum but oil that was the sudden source of immense wealth.
Documents since unearthed detail that a coup was being planned in 1973 headquartered in Gibraltar, and interestingly very similar to the outline in Forsythe's novel. It was thwarted by Spain arresting several principles in the Canaries.
The question of how much Forsythe and his detailed research had to do with the actual coup plot of 1973 remains one of life's intriguing mysteries.
Dude… how many channels does this man have? Lmfao. I love it.
they're usually all in the description
Can you do an episode on Crimea? I always wanted to know more about that place. That region historically belonged to so many nations and has been fought over by major powers again and again and many nations have occupied it in the past. It would be an interesting one.
This was one of the most fascinating yet unsettling stories in a while!
This is my first time hearing about that third type of elephant
when I read your comment I thought you were pulling legs. I didn't even know there were 3 types of elephants.
Theres like 6
@@Abby_LiuI didn’t know, either!
@@DEADG6Dthere aren't at all. There are two species of elephant alive today, the African and the Asian. The African is split in to two subspecies of bush/savanna and forest.
You might even say, it's the elephant in the room.
Why would someone hate their own people to this extent? Very saddening.
I don't mind the ai depictions but some of them look awful, and historical images should be used if available which I have no idea especially in a place like this
Petition for times new roman as font, also would have liked a few pictures of the places we spent an hr talking about...
I'm guessing images from EG are hard to come by on account of their warm welcoming to outside observers and journalists.... oh, wait!! 😂
Yes, there's an overuse of AI in this video, and yes purchasing usage and distribution rights would benefit local photogs - but how far do you want a new, independent, ENTERTAINMENT channel to go?
Thank you for the long episode Simon.
Dark and sad episode today but I learned a lot.
Good work to the writer/editor as well.
Yeah...
Damn, Equatorial Guinea could've been as rich and developed as any first-world country with those resources. Could've been Africa's success story. What a tragic waste
So deeply tragic.
Absolutely love this channel! I wish you uploaded to it more. I follow all your channels but this one is one of my favorites. Definitely deserves more views.
hopefully he’ll focus on it more as it grows, since this channel is still pretty new :)
Thank you for another wonderful documentary and educational piece
Holy shit, this is seriously one of the most tragic videos on the channel and that's saying a lot considering that both North Korea and Turkmenistan have been covered. Macias was such a fucking lunatic that he could almost make the Kim Dynasty in North Korea seem almost sane by comparison.
people were happy in turkmenistan. He let people do their jobs and didn't bother them too much. Simon describes this with all his propaganda techniques to make it sound like hell, but every country in africa has bad leaders who harass people and destroy crap. zimbabwe is MUCH much much more poor than this country
love your vids,, your style of presenting them is refreshing
As an Equatorial Guinean, I thank you for this coverage. Our country's situation isn't talked too internationally often. And you are totally right, our country is f**ked.
Please do Namibia in a future episode.
They have the skeleton coast, one of the world’s oldest deserts and one of the few deserts which borders the coast line (As seen in recent movies)
There is History of diamond and other precious metal mining. There is also some interesting military histories (albeit from before the independence).
"the most brutal prison in Africa" - That's a pretty high bar. Impressive!
This video is really painful. 😢😢😢
It is really sad what one man will do to his own people.
A government that goes out of it way to oppress its citizens
Isn’t that true of most governments?
Simon's early comment about the Kim dynasty being "jolly old uncles" wasn't a random comment. The first dictator sent his young daughter to North Korea to be schooled. Her mother abandoned her there an no one ever came back for her.
It's more complicated than that. Her mother did come back, but she was already 10 & had forgotten Equatorial Guinea and the language. Her mother had to go and protect her other child back home, that's why she left (Fidel Castro had sent him back to EG & he was in danger).
Thank you for clearly labeling what images are AI depictions. I don't mind AI depictions of such things but I do prefer them clearly labeled.
Great episode
This channel is Simons best yet..... but I really dont like the AI images
Wow great work guys
The book "My Friend The Mercenary" by James Brabazon talks about the coup attempt with the Boeing 727.
1974 novel The Dogs Of War by Frederick Forsyth was about a 1972 EG coup financed and planned and attempted by Forsyth.
In 1994 Margaret Thatcher's son Mark attempted a repeat closely following the plot of the novel
that story is wild!
I recommend reading "Tropical Gangsters" by Robert Klitgaard. He spent over 2 years there in the 80s as an economic consultant. Even though it came out a long time ago, it's a fascinating read if you're interested in the topic.
The only part missing is the children of the executed president were sent to North Korea. They're educated in North Korea under the guidance of Kim Il Sung. They lived there until adulthood. One of the daughters wrote a book on their family experience.
He did mention the children sent to North Korea.
Another one commenting before watching lol 😆
I was unaware of this situation and the involvement of the United States, but I must say I'm not surprised. Our concerns regarding human rights abuses tend to be limited to countries which have cut ties with us, or don't have anything to offer any corporation.
Ikr. My first thought is "let's boycott those oil companies" but good grief that's a long list, and who knows how well it would actually catch on. I think a lot of us don't know about this and automatically associate places in the Middle East with oil, but plenty of Americans have never even heard of Equatorial Guinea, let alone would guess that they have (at least for the moment) a massive oil supply that everyone has been digging into.
US currently supports 70 percent of the world's dictators or undemocratic regimes
What would you suggest? Invade & overthrow the govt? That doesn't have a very good track record.
@@darkgalaxy5548 No, but you don't have to cozy up to the dictator or do business with them either. That's a start. Also be vocally critical, bring it up in the UN, etc.
@@curtisthomas2670
For geo-political reasons.
Just when you think you've heard the worst story of an African country screwed by colonialism and then "liberated" only to face brutal modern dictatorships. How does one stop this without the regular citizens inevitably getting punished in one way or another? I feel like it's one of the most important questions that needs to be resolved in modern history - soooo many people in so many countries are suffering from this kind of thing. Idk whether boycotts or economic sanctions would work or not.
Some of the Ai depictions are not necessary especially the one that looks like its from a spider man comic. Its not horrible especially since i'm not starring at the screen so i miss most of them.
Love your videos Simon, but the AI pictures are getting old, and freaky... time to go back to archival pictures and footage.
I agree
What a hell hole.........time to hold these oil companies to account and freeze the ill gotten gains.
wow. this one was... brutal. halfway through and this feels like learning about the Kmer Rouge for the first time did.
7:42 some three-legged fellas on the right. AI is awesome.
"The Dachau of Africa" is a brutal but apt nickname
Edit: Jesus a life expectancy of 30 and child mortality of over 50%. Jesus that is unimaginable.
That's a Year zero tier efilism
This would also have been a good one for Into the shadows. Holi canaloni.
I worked there for two years and the poverty outside of Malabo or Bata is truly shocking to the senses.
very chilling
Where do you get the info for your topics on your channel?.
Have you produced a South Sudan episode?
South Sudan is usually on Warographics.
Please do Sandline Mercenaries on one of your other channels.
I choose to believe that the majority of people are good, or at least try to be.
Stories of countries like this really shake that belief.
Its the fact where it seems that certain countries achieve total control over their people by a lack of information. I'm specifically thinking of places like North Korea and Equatorial New Guinea. But in both those cases, the "heirs" have been sent to western countries to live and study before returning to their isolated homes. Meaning they have plenty of knowledge and experience of the way other places do things and then chose to perpetuate the cycle. I genuinely just dont understand it.
I just want one real life Prince Zuko story 😂 when the mad dictator send his heir out into the world to learn cunning and ruthlessness, but instead they learn the power of friendship and kindness and tea. And then they go home to overthrow their evil parent, with the help of a few friends and they reform their country for the better.
Is that so much to ask?
Ultimately most humans don't want to kill their way out of problems, even if that is the only solution.
There's been plenty of examples of them. But unchecked power well comes unchecked
The smaller the country, the more the adage "People get the government they deserve" applies.
I'm a writer in NYC and due to my past activism re: EG I can't visit there in person. Pronunciation aside, you do a good job on its history. Kudos team. D,A, J.D. NYC
God this episode was bleak. Thanks for the video, I didn't know much at all about Equatorial Guinea before watching this.
The surprising thing isn't that there are crazy people. The surprising thing is that they get ahead in life and there are people willing to support them.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is not far behind when it comes to exploitation, extreme wealth when it comes to natural minerals and yet miserable/horrible living standards for most of it's citizens... Very sad indeed.
Slight correction Bioko actually has a Bubi majority. Bubis are a different ethnic group
How many channels does Whistler have?!?! Im here for it.
somehow whenever I've heard the name Equatorial Guinea I always pictured a quiet, idyllic tropical nation. obviously, I know nothing. it's insane how many people around the world live under the yoke of just a few thoroughly depraved individuals
That has to be one of the most corrupt countries in our world today
Yes, it's in the top 10. Or bottom 10, depending how you look at it... Followed by Haiti, Nicaragua, North Korea, Yemen, S. Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and number 1: Somalia. In this year's CPI report.
0:49 is this about Clean Sweep Ignatius?
Lol. Need to add a caption for Simon in the thumbnail saying uWu. 👉👈
I love that you cover a lot of things one doesn't find in "mainstream" media. Especially because you (or your writers) actually seem to try to do so as unbiased as possible.
But please do not use AI Depictions, even if there aren't (or especially then) any actual photos aren't available. At least not photorealistic ones. Even with the "AI Depiction" tags, it conveys false information at least subconsciously.
Fernando Poo at one time on school maps 😅😅
every time i log into youtube simon has a new channel, i'm losing count lol.
Find if funny that at the start Simon's name pops up the same time he announces the country has been ran by the same man for 50 years 😂
What a great vacation spot..........
The trolls are out tonight
Malabo not molobo
Kinda mixed on the heavy AI imagery. I use them myself in my school projects but thats mainly to save time on providing sources. Then again maybe there aren't alot of images from these events? If so a disclaimer explaining that would clear things up alot
Eritrea, Zimbabwe would be interesting
How many channels does this dude have??
Man... This is depressing.. No moral in any world power's foreign policy, just "national interests". The darkest episode yet , but it gives a unique insight into international "politics". It killed a bit of the idealist in me.
ur blaming the west for corrupt african politicians? wut?
You just realized? The US ally with Saudi Arabia even though they commit many human rights abuse
And basically every other Arab country that they ally with
yeah, any nation that references a moral code is using it for political expediency. the world of upstanding nations never existed in the first place.
The U.S isnt the only ones, we are just ahead of the game. Ultimately, its up to the people to seize their destiny. No sane nations on Earth would send their troops.
Is Simon the reader for a whole bunch of different channels, or is there just a strange surplus of guys who look and sound exactly like him?
He's AI
It seems that super strong rulers are usually more than a little crazy.
So, where is the money? It has to be hoarded somewhere.
The money is in Europe. They keep the money for the same people they call dictators
Trinidad and Tobago please guys, oil giant next to Guyana
Am glad to be a Kenyan.
Ruto paid Obiang's son a visit btw 😅
@@MawzunNyamu 😠😠😠we can't catch a break
Yeah, u'r lucky. This is just sad...
@@dyawr Granted we have our issues. However, our situation is no where as grime as Equatorial Guinea's
No amount of curse words would be enough to sum up the situations at equatorial Guinea
It is so sad that Equatorial Guinea's rare valuable resource - oil - will soon be completely used up and *none of it* ever reached the population or was invested in proper development... Disaster; this country's future could have been so different. From Spain which actually made efforts to prepare it for independence, to the lucky discovery of oil that could've been used to properly set up the country into becoming a complex, industrialized and service-based economy, by the time it ran out.
Now/then what will it do, even if the regime will change? So much *wasted* potential that might never return...
Maybe I only noticed because I was listening with headphones, but was the music cutting out randomly throughout the episode? I don't mind having music or not, it was just weird. Great writing, though.
Yeah. Background music is horrbile and ruins the immersion.
@@emixmim I don't mind having background music, it was just distracting having it cut out at random moments for like half the episode.
My dumbass didn't even notice. I'm so pissed off at the exploitation my people are going through by the hand of one of our own.
@@2kayBaby If you or your family are from Equatorial Guinea, I'm *so sorry* things went like that for your country. It is just sad... and tragic.
Bro opens a new channel everyday & I kept commenting in every visual politik video : #BringBackSimon.
The aircraft at 45'58" isn't a 727. The tail engine is wrong.
23:58 Africa's longest-serving head of state.
Why do you credit people on some channels and not on others
Kinda unrelated but why doesn't everyone drive on the right? There's an actual demonstrable economic reason to do so (right side cars need to be re-manufactured for left hand roads, tourists and expats from other countries become a public saftey hazard, and border crossings require complicated change overs) unlike the handful of countries still using Imperial it isn't as simple as just printing 2 sets of units on measuring devices.
It's "Malabo" (not "Molobo"), 4:49
28:08 Wow, that's Kim Il-Sung and the Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu. Iconic photo
Is it too rarly to do one on Guyana?
Do Uganda next the people’s president Bobby Wine
@15:44 its called Nazbol
11:20 It is impossible that "by the mid nineteen thirties" the new "fascist" (It would be great if someone would make an analysis between fascism and catholicnationalism) regime of Franco. Franco didn't win the civil war until 1939. So, Simon, you will have to check that part.
Indicating your sources can help too.
For the record, if it was really in the mid thirties, it would have been done by the democratic* Spanish Second Republic. If I remember it correctly, I think that it was during those years that Franco defeated a rebellion in Asturias.
It's also just bs when it comes to financial numbers!
They rank at place at #148 when it comes to the GDP (PPP) in total und #90 per capita
And the GDP (nominal) #156 in total and #95 per capita.
I don't know where he gets his numbers from, but this being #2 after Luxembourg are just wrong numbers and I don't know where they should be from.
Need to do a video on the archipelago republic of Trinidad and Tobago(its not a twin island as there are many islands)
But with all this said, is the place a good tourist destination?
I seem to be finding a new channel that Simom hosts like twice a week. Does he just wake up and record scripts for his 20 channels for 10 hours a day? :P
The graphic designer/ digital artist demographic of your viewers really has your comments brimming with engagement lately lolol
“Then the mass educations stared” that’s one of the darkest lines ever uttered
Damn the cycle of exploitation in equatorial guinea has got to stop
I could really use some explanation on how they arrived at that GDP number???
The closest I could find is 30K$ PPP about a decade ago 🤔
Exactly. I don't know where they found that claim, the IMF & World Bank figures paint a diff picture.
This sounds like a nation that no one would bat an eyelid if some nation went to liberate it.
Like liberate or "liberate?"
@@chomskysfavefive why not both?
@@michatomaszewski9388 lmao based 😂
Yeah, hallucinogens and madness don't mix well.
Wait how is this a different channel from Geographics??? Simon, you madman 😂
So basically North Korea with a shit ton more money….
Canada is itself an oil rich nation, with the industry concentrated in our Western provinces. The father of our current Prime Minister managed to alienate those provinces so thoroughly in the mid-70s that even today they are staunchly anti-federalist. Therefore, our government, particularly those of the Liberal party, does what it can to butter them up. This includes not rocking the boat where the foreign actions of Western oil companies are concerned. So these horrible obfuscations of our knowledge of human rights abuses do not surprise me in the slightest...
As if Alberta never had open contempt for the country before Trudeau 1, lol
1.3 million? For a country? That is smaller than a suburb in Houston
Smaller than my backyard.
Some countries around the world are tiny like that. There would've been more if half the ppl (or more) wouldn't have died, fled, starved, etc...