Scott Pelley’s excellent report on CBS magazine program, “60 Minutes,” on the causes of the “civil” war in Eastern Congo (it’s more a multinational war), is worth sitting through. Pelley refers to Congo as the “Saudi Arabia of minerals” because of its deposits of gold, tin, copper and coltan.” More than 5 million have died in this war since mid-1996. Pelley also tries to put US retailers of gold jewelry on the spot, but gets some vague answers. (Of the major gold retailers in the US, only one could say with certainty where its gold originates.)
Watch here.
Intrigued that you liked this; everyone I know (including the academic consultant who worked on the piece) was appalled by the oversimplification and poor explanation about it all. But I did enjoy the industry awkwardness.
Look there was a lot wrong with the insert (the first thing was Pelley’s outfit and his demeanor, but at least it did two basic things that most of the programs about eastern Congo don’t do: acknowledge that it is not a tribal war, but is actually multinational; and of course it made jewelers in the US squirm a bit. My expectations are quite low these days.