Simon Mann

[sasguru]

WHS. But to give him some credit he was smart enough to anticipate how to squirm out of it if it all went t-1-ts up (or t-1-ts down, even).

has an influential mum

[Lucy]

Dear Dickhead, you mean his stooge then?

Your grammar is declining by the hour. Better stop now.

As for writing letters to yourself...

[sasguru]

Your grammar is declining by the hour. Better stop now.

As for writing letters to yourself...

Oh shut it, birdbrain. Don't you have some discussions on make-up to contribute to?

[Lucy]

Oh shut it, birdbrain. Don't you have some discussions on make-up to contribute to?

Why don't you go and bum Bagpuss, you know you want to.

[Bagpuss]

Don't you know this is Victorian Britain? and we should be composing formal letters to each other!

Or could it be an internet forum?

PS Lucy you can still sign off as Dickhead if you like

[Lucy]

Don't you know this is Victorian Britain? and we should be composing formal letters to each other!

Or could it be an internet forum?

yawn.

[Bagpuss]

Why don't you go and bum Bagpuss, you know you want to.

You must be about 12 to have these kind of theories, well emotionally 12 probably.

[ace00]

Oi! Stop nicking my thread! Start your own - can call it " I know you are, but what am I?" Or something.

Here's a bit of history regarding E.Guinea:

"The country became a republic in 1968 and the first elected president, Macias Nguema (the current ruler's uncle), took control.

Within a few months, he killed an opponent by breaking his legs and letting him die of malnutrition.

He then murdered ten members of his Cabinet and, according to Amnesty, massacred "tens of thousands of his own people".

The country soon got the nickname 'the Dachau of Africa' and more than 100,000 of its inhabitants fled.

Nguema next banned medicines - which led to the widespread return of tropical diseases, including yellow fever, malaria, leprosy, diphtheria, typhus and cholera.

He also took Western hostages, expelled missionaries, closed schools, banned the word 'intellectual' and declared himself President for life.

But in 1979, his rule was overturned by his nephew, then in charge of the National Guard and commandant of Black Beach.

Marcias Nguema was shot by Obiang's supporters shortly after he tried to flee with the country's entire foreign currency reserves - £100 million -stuffed into suitcases.

But the country's plight did not improve. Now acknowledged as one of West Africa's most feared despots, legend has it that President Obiang Nguema eats the testicles of his defeated enemies so that he can absorb their life force.

However, financially, he was far luckier than his uncle.

In the early 1990s, Equatorial Guinea was transformed by the discovery of two vast oil fields near Bioko Island.

The country now produces more oil per head of population than Saudi Arabia.

Yet the fortune doesn't reach the population at large.

Four years ago, the International Monetary Fund found that the government had received £65 million in oil royalties, but accounted for only £17million.

Observers call it "one of the most corrupt, oppressive and anti-democratic states in the world".

With water shortages in all major cities, little running water or electricity, the population is malnourished, forced to live on monkey meat, yams and bananas, and has an average life expectancy of just 43.

The country has the smallest proportion of GDP spent on health and education of all Africa.

Meanwhile, Forbes magazine estimates the President's personal wealth at £300 million, and in 2004 he bought his sixth private plane - a Boeing 737 - for nearly £30 million.

Nowhere are conditions harsher than in Black Beach prison.

As one senior government official said recently: "It is doubtful any Western prisoner could survive for more than three years because of the health problems in our jails."

Simon Mann has every right to fear for his life should he find himself incarcerated there."

-------------------------
You see life is not black & white. Mann was operating in a grey area, and personally I think we could do with more types like that, not less.

[Bagpuss]

Oh I see this was a Coup masterminded by the United Nations. Excuse me my ignorance (here's Lucy) I thought it was some opportunistic mercenaries who wanted to plunder the resources.

[sasguru]

Oi! Stop nicking my thread! Start your own - can call it " I know you are, but what am I?" Or something.

Here's a bit of history regarding E.Guinea:

"The country became a republic in 1968 and the first elected president, Macias Nguema (the current ruler's uncle), took control.

Within a few months, he killed an opponent by breaking his legs and letting him die of malnutrition.

He then murdered ten members of his Cabinet and, according to Amnesty, massacred "tens of thousands of his own people".

The country soon got the nickname 'the Dachau of Africa' and more than 100,000 of its inhabitants fled.

Nguema next banned medicines - which led to the widespread return of tropical diseases, including yellow fever, malaria, leprosy, diphtheria, typhus and cholera.

He also took Western hostages, expelled missionaries, closed schools, banned the word 'intellectual' and declared himself President for life.

But in 1979, his rule was overturned by his nephew, then in charge of the National Guard and commandant of Black Beach.

Marcias Nguema was shot by Obiang's supporters shortly after he tried to flee with the country's entire foreign currency reserves - £100 million -stuffed into suitcases.

But the country's plight did not improve. Now acknowledged as one of West Africa's most feared despots, legend has it that President Obiang Nguema eats the testicles of his defeated enemies so that he can absorb their life force.

However, financially, he was far luckier than his uncle.

In the early 1990s, Equatorial Guinea was transformed by the discovery of two vast oil fields near Bioko Island.

The country now produces more oil per head of population than Saudi Arabia.

Yet the fortune doesn't reach the population at large.

Four years ago, the International Monetary Fund found that the government had received £65 million in oil royalties, but accounted for only £17million.

Observers call it "one of the most corrupt, oppressive and anti-democratic states in the world".

With water shortages in all major cities, little running water or electricity, the population is malnourished, forced to live on monkey meat, yams and bananas, and has an average life expectancy of just 43.

The country has the smallest proportion of GDP spent on health and education of all Africa.

Meanwhile, Forbes magazine estimates the President's personal wealth at £300 million, and in 2004 he bought his sixth private plane - a Boeing 737 - for nearly £30 million.

Nowhere are conditions harsher than in Black Beach prison.

As one senior government official said recently: "It is doubtful any Western prisoner could survive for more than three years because of the health problems in our jails."

Simon Mann has every right to fear for his life should he find himself incarcerated there."

-------------------------
You see life is not black & white. Mann was operating in a grey area, and personally I think we could do with more types like that, not less.

So EG is a tuliphole. We knew that. But don't tell me that this set of buffoons were doing it to save the poor benighted people. All they cared about was putting in a regime that would allow them to plunder. I suspect if it was worse than the current one that would not bother them one little bit.