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Much Ado About a Miniscule Country I can hear the enigmatic strains of an Ennio Morricone harmonica - corrupt public officials, big money heavies, armies of all stripes, and, of course, plenty of greedy guys with shiny weaponry out for themselves. Whether they want land, gold, or a Fistful of Francs Africaines, they'll kill anybody in their way to get it. And that doesn't just go for the mercenaries. I would never figure the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, or any Englishman for that fact, as the Clint Eastwood-type. Yet Master Thatcher may be more Eli Wallach than Eastwood after his arrest by the elite South African Scorpions in March of this year for his financial involvement in an alleged coup plot against the President of Equatorial Guinea. Thatcher now sits in a South African jail fighting his extradition to Malabo and what would be a certain death sentence. Adding to the drama, it was recently revealed that both the British Foreign Office and the U.S. Defense Department were months forewarned by South African Intelligence about the planned coup. In conceit of international law, both countries did virtually nothing. Britain warned its citizens in E-Guinea of a possible evacuation. The U.S. froze its assets held in the less than angelic Riggs Bank. Perhaps the two countries didn't see any harm done installing President in exile Severo Moto in place of the grossly despotic Teodor Obiang Nguema who killed his own uncle to get the job in the first place. What's the big deal about E-Guinea, a country about the size of a football pitch squeezed between Gabon and Cameroon, and so poor that in 1968 it offered Cameroon $1 million to govern it? Well, it's what's offshore in the Gulf of Guinea. There's oil, lots of it. Exxon is exporting 300,000 barrels a day from E-Guinea and Marathon is currently pouring billions for liquid gas production into the country. At least five other U.S. energy companies are operating there. E-Guinea is so "happening" that there are daily non-stop flights from Houston to Malabo. Oil and Gas bring in more than $2 Billion to E-Guinea each year, yet the country remains one the poorest on the planet. The average E-Guinea resident lives on less than $2 a day. Guess where all the money goes. Want to do business in E-Guinea? See Mr. Obiang, and bring truckloads of cash. Houston-based Walter International is apparently picking up the tab for various Obiang family members at U.S. Colleges. It is reported that Obiang's son, Teodoro, the kid who would take over for pops, spends over $50,000 per year as a student at Pepperdine University in Malibu and as President of L.A.-based TNO Entertainment, a rap label that has produced no records, and is allegedly a drug-dealing front. It has been reported that other energy companies are being equally generous with the Obiang clan. As corrupt as Obiang is, Thatcher, et al's coup was not an altruistic Robin Hood venture. Media reports state that Moto was going to bless the coup financiers with access to the country's oil reserves, quite convenient for Thatcher who is a quasi-Texas oilman. He has made millions selling diesel fuel from South Africa to Zimbabwe and is married to a Texas Oil-Heiress. He also owns Redwork Gold Mines which were recently shut down by the Zimbabwean government over alleged smuggling. Still, Thatcher and his band of merry men insist that the cargo plane, about 80 men, and lots of weapons were heading off to guard Congolese diamond mines. West Africa is the New Middle East E-Guinea isn't the only emerging oil-state in West Africa that has cowboy capitalists foaming at the mouth. Nigeria and its bloody Islamic regime has long been an established example of the "Paradox of Plenty," a term used for the phenomenon of vast national poverty in the shadow of immense natural resource wealth. Texas anyone? Other up and coming POP statelets are Sao Tome and Principe, a tiny island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, as well as Niger and Chad to the dusty north. In addition to energy capitalists, there are two other significant groups quickly moving into the region that will definitely heat-up this new hotbed. Due to the corruption, poverty, and instability of the region, Islamic terrorists find it a cozy place. Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Hamas have a substantial presence in West Africa and are generating cash for their nefarious activities through diamond smuggling ventures directly aided by the corrupt governments in the region.
Where there are terrorists operating in the shadows, there are Western military and intelligence, and this includes Israel. Do you really think Mossad will let a little sea like the Mediterranean stop them from their appointed rounds of intrigue? Terrorists and oil nicely dovetail into a neat little foreign policy package for the United States. The Trans-Sahara Counter Terrorist Initiative, a group made up of U.S. Marines and Sailors under the auspices of EUCOM (United States Europe Command) has already finished training soldiers in Chad to fight the war on terror, and has now moved-on to the same job in Niger. EUCOM plans to extend TSCTI's operations southwestward into the other emerging oil states. There is serious talk of building a U.S. base in Sao Tome and Principe to guard oil interests in the region. TSCTI and the Pan-Sahel Initiative plan to expand into Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal. Considering what is unfolding in West Africa, perhaps Americans should look at their own "Paradox of Plenty." Though terrorism bred in the region is of great concern and stabilizing West Africa is necessary, the various stripes of profiteers mentioned above will get even richer on the backs of American taxpayers via an increased advantage courtesy of the U.S. Military. This may be a bit naïve, but maybe its time to force the Exxons and Marathons of the world to finally pay their fair share of the tax burden in this country. Yes, I can hear the gut-laughs from Houston, Detroit, and D.C.
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