I arrived in Angola in 2006 and the country had just emerged from one of the world’s worst civil wars that had lasted for over 30 years, the suffering was absolutely indescribable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imagine being a parent, you haven’t eaten in three days, your child is starting to show signs of exhaustion, and you have no way to get food – and that was their smallest problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After kicking out the Portuguese in 1974, an internal power struggle began, and one of the liberation movement’s staff officers took over after some unexplained deaths of those who entered politics before him. I don’t remember the exact details, but MPLA, which was his gang, held the coast, in the north FNLA, which was Western-funded, and in the east and south, UNITA, which was in contact with South Africa, held sway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can probably guess who supported MPLA \u2013 Russia and Cuba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I arrived, the country was extremely corrupt, it quickly improved, but when I left in 2016, investments from abroad had disappeared for various reasons, and the country has been struggling since then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China was the dominant partner there, and when they behaved at their worst, they set up a system for oil revenues that went to the Chinese elite and Angolan elite through a company that managed the exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don’t have exact figures, but approximately \u2013 Angola sold oil contracts for the next 20 years for $20\/barrel when the price sometimes went up to $200\/barrel, if you remember?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference, since they sold at market prices in China, stayed in the company controlled by the president, his buddies, and Chinese generals. $20\/barrel went to the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Angola is Africa’s second-largest oil producer and a member of OPEC, so the money that stayed in the company wasn’t pocket change, but of course, other oil companies also had a presence there, but the major fraud was with the Chinese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast forward to 2025, British companies have started to establish themselves in the country for the extraction of rare earth metals, and landowners are allowed to extract gold and diamonds \u2013 it’s no longer a state monopoly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is significant because Angola sits on land so rich that you would have a hard time grasping it, they have everything, and just by poking a stick in the ground, you find gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They have agricultural land, in simplified terms, South Africa has 10% of its land for agriculture, and Angola maybe has 90% of its area that is arable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They have 4 harvests per year, and their vegetables or fruits are not modest like in Sweden, but substantial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Due to their territorial waters being underfished during the civil war, their fishing industry, the hardwood trees (that China steals in Mozambique), and more \u2013 historically good coffee, asbestos, and surely something I’ve forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The music is also good, and there is a large group of wealthy individuals living in Portugal or London, we always meet these cash-rich students when we are in Europe, trying to piece together so everyone can have lunch at a restaurant, and they choose the most expensive item on the menu and pay for their friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The country is centrally located, there has been a strong willingness for investment before, and it has just started again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The country is known for being tough negotiators, but they also pay according to contracts, more than can be said for some companies in Sweden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The country functions – not like in Nigeria where the money runs out after 30% of the project is completed (I’ve worked there!), but international companies can operate in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We were on the brink of an investment boom in Angola that would have led to prosperity across the board as landowners would get paid, not just the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some may shout about landowners, but the land is owned by everyone, big and small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, the generals each got 80,000 hectares in a province, but that was probably the last major theft, even though it was less than 10 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then \u2013 the more people come with money from outside, acting like the tourists we have in Sweden, they spend money in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Companies that establish themselves hire locally, regulated by law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Supporting services grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tax revenues increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Skills see other opportunities and start new types of businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s called a positive spiral, what the EU works so hard to prevent in our case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DPWorld and ADPorts recently took over the ports, and unfortunately, the IMF is also involved, even though Angola has been good at keeping those leeches away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just a week ago, everything started \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-protests quickly turned into riots and looting of supermarkets, banks, and affluent areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-the number of participants is growing exponentially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-weapons are now involved, shootings are increasingly seen on film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-on TikTok, endless live streams with “it’s all the whites’ fault” or “the rich have everything, revolution.” This is completely new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There’s no need to ask if a third party is destabilizing the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do Europe or the USA have an interest in jeopardizing their investments that have just started?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, it’s Russia or China, or both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mozambique has just gone through this, and when I was in Lagos, I worked with a Portuguese person born there who had lived there all their life and now moved away. There it was China, but not in the same way as this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you want to see firsthand how Russia’s subversive activities work, follow this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reason it hasn’t worked in Sweden is that the citizens don’t have it bad enough yet, but they are trying to change that by crashing everything they can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you think Angola has a higher priority than Sweden?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am most saddened by this, the country is a very fragile state and was just about to have its second major economic boom since the civil war, and moreover, in a much fairer way so that the citizens in general would have had a better life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have been searching for jobs in the country so that we could go there to work and be part of this upswing we thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia enters, and everything plunges back into darkness, but it is important that Russia doesn’t crash, according to Sullivan, Biden, Trump, and many leaders in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I noticed that some have returned as paying subscribers to my Substack \u2013 I welcome that you do so if you enjoy reading what is written \u2013 I put a lot of time into this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The advertising on johanno1.se \u2013 the purpose was to try to start covering costs, but it has covered the site instead \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone fell into the old trap “I only get Russian dating sites in the ads,” but IT managed to refrain from the cutting response that has brought down giants over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most likely, I will end up nagging at the end of the month not to forget to scan the QR code at the bottom of the page for the month’s Swish, and then the ads will disappear, but there are two weeks left for evaluation. Since everyone is now using ad blockers, the question is what the result of that evaluation will be, IT will inform us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you liked the post \u2013 please share it in your channels, and most importantly, share the English version with people you think would appreciate posts and comments they haven’t been able to read before. https:\/\/johanno1.se\/en\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n Continued appreciation for the page is always gratefully received and there is a QR code for this purpose as well as a donation page with links to Swedish Rescuers, drones 2 ukraine, and other organizations we have learned over time are legitimate and dare to donate to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Substack – there is still a chance to become subscribers and valuable for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n johanno1.se<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n