Lost opportunities: The world challenge

Egypt 1956: Nasser, desperate for energy to develop and industrialize his country, plans to nationalize the Suez Canal and use the new revenues to build a major power dam on the Nile. English and French paratroops descend...Congo 1960: Independence is won without proper preparation or local support. Internal problems mushroom. In the West, Prime Minister Lumumba is seen as a Communist. He is soon overthrown and assassinated...Cuba 1962: Global atomic alert; the Russians “blink first” and pull their missiles out, but all might have been averted had the US been more forthcoming from the outset.Suez, Congo, Cuba: Three chances missed, three moments when the powerful nations could have helped new nations to their feet. Each country had once been colonized. If the wounded relations between Northern countries and Southern excolonies can’t be healed and they could have been, they now must be re-invented.Bsed on Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber’s best-seller, this program should demonstrate how television can vulgarize political intricacies and make this historical overview accessible to general audiences. The WORLD CHALLENGE also makes use of the latest electronic devices to convey to the spectator a contemporary feeling.