Adam Curtis TV - BBC News online - Document: Radio 4 - Bettany Hughes TV -
In Oman many of the Sultan’s advisers were ex-SAS men. They ran the Sultan’s guerrilla war against Marxist rebels. The rebels made a propaganda film attacking the Sultan and his British mercenaries. But the British won. Adam Curtis, The Mayfair Set I: Who Pays Wins ***** Channel 4 1999
By the early ’70s [David] Stirling had become a successful businessman. He arranged enormous arms deals, and his mercenaries kept many third-world leaders in power. Almost single-handedly Stirling had created the foundations of Britain’s modern privatised foreign policy. It is a hidden world of vicious guerrilla wars fought by British mercenaries, a world that occasionally surfaces in scandals like the Sandfire affair. It all began with Stirling selling Britain’s military power to countries he approved of. ibid.
The oldest independent state in the Arab world, Oman is one of the more traditional countries in the Gulf region and was, until the 1970s, one of the most isolated.
It is strategically placed at the mouth of the Gulf at the south-east corner of the Arabian Peninsula and, in the 19th century, vied with Portugal and Britain for influence in the Gulf and Indian Ocean.
The country has so far been spared the militant Islamist violence that has plagued some of its neighbours.
Oman has not been immune from the groundswell of political dissent in the region, however. Protests in 2011 demanding reforms were dispersed by riot police, and the government began a crackdown on internet criticism the following year. BBC News online 25 April 2018
In the summer of 1970 … the Sultan had been overthrown by his son Qaboos in a palace coup … Historians have long suspected London’s hand in the coup. Document: 23/11/2009, BBC Radio 4
I’m exploring the treasures of Oman … Its remarkable geography has nurtured civilisations for over 5,000 years. Bettany Hughes’ Treasures of the World s2e7: Oman
My first treasure is the archaeology of the Jebel Hajar, a mountain range rising 10,000 feet along Oman’s northern coast. ibid.
Until recently, little was known of the people of Magan. ibid.
The land of Frankincense: Dhofar in Oman’s far southwest. ibid.
Oman is one of the driest, hottest places on Earth. ibid.
Misfat Al Abriyyan … the water is shared among the community here. ibid.
This is Bahla, the ultimate oasis settlement. ibid.
The dhows still play a vital role connecting the coastal communities. ibid.
Musandram Peninsula … a shipbuilding and seafaring nation. ibid.