Download The Looting Machine: Warlords, Tycoons, Smugglers and the Systematic Theft of Africa's Wealth AudioBook Free
A shocking investigative trip in to the way the source trade wreaks havoc on Africa, The Looting Machine explores the dark underbelly of the global market. Africa: the world's poorest continent and arguably its richest. While accounting for 2 percent of global GDP, it houses 15 percent of the planet's crude essential oil, 40 percent of its gold, and 80 percent of its platinum. One third of the Earth's calcium deposits lie beneath its soil. But definately not being truly a salvation, this buried treasure is a curse.The Looting Machine takes you on a gripping and stunning trip through anonymous boardrooms and glittering headquarters to expose a fresh form of financialized colonialism. Africa's flourishing growth is driven by the voracious hunger for natural resources from quickly growing economies such as China. However in the shadows a network of stock traders, bankers, and corporate raiders has sprung up to grease the palms of venal local politics elites. What's taking place in Africa's source states is systematic looting. In country after country across the continent, the source industry is tearing at the fabric of world. But, like its victims, the beneficiaries of the looting machine have brands. For six years Tom Burgis has been on a objective to expose corruption and give tone to the an incredible number of Africans who go through the results of living under this curse. Merging deep reporting with an action-packed narrative, he travels to the heart of Africa's source states, meeting a warlord in Nigeria's oil-soaked Niger Delta, and crossing a warzone to attain a remote nutrient mine in Eastern Congo. The result is a blistering exploration that throws a completely fresh light on the workings of the global market and will make you think twice about what switches into the cellular phone in your pocket and the fish tank of your car.
