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Just when I thought the Olympics couldn't depress me further....

weltweit said:
Its funny, I would have thought the time for such speeches would be after the games have passed without terrorist incident or widespread doping of elite atheletes. Making such a statement now, "look what we have delivered" seems a bit silly since we have actually not delivered anything yet.
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Yes, it is a hostage to fortune rather :D

But then again, he is a twat.
 
gunneradt said:
It was a mistake. Would any other country have stamped its feet like that?
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Thing is, I would imagine the team would be feeling a bit stuck between a rock and a hard place here. North Korean politicians have a fair bit of previous for coming down hard on sports people whom they feel let the side down abroad. This has included hours of televised ritual humiliation and having managers and key players sent off to labour camps!

I could well imagine that this might be a consideration behind their response?
 
Maybe he meant to say 'look at the missile launcher we have delivered to the roof of some flats. I will take personal responsibility for security by operating them using an app someone wrote for my iPad, since Im a bit bored of fruit ninja now and George says we cant afford to get me a Galaxy Nexus unless I really impress some rich business gods at the investment conference.'
 
2hats said:
One or two others, perhaps. Shame they couldn't do their research first or at least find someone who isn't a complete fuckwit to edit the video packages. The North Koreans are highly sensitive about their national symbols, calling DPRK 'North Korea', etc.
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Yes, I agree. But the name is also from outdated Comintern formulations to crudely define a specific kind of socio-economic and therefore 'political' development. Something that was revived during and after WWII to justify the 'liberation' then Soviet domination of eastern Europe, creatively interpreted later in Asia by the Koreans and the also-partitioned Vietnamese, by also incorporating Mao's take on it. So its association is with something that's now redundant and which the regime has now pretty much jettisoned. Maybe they should change it. ;)
 
pogofish said:
Thing is, I would imagine the team would be feeling a bit stuck between a rock and a hard place here. North Korean politicians have a fair bit of previous for coming down hard on sports people whom they feel let the side down abroad. This has included hours of televised ritual humiliation and having managers and key players sent off to labour camps!

I could well imagine that this might be a consideration behind their response?
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Among other things, a six hour public bollocking for the football team knocked out of the last world cup, wasn't it?
 
Captain Hurrah said:
Yes, I agree. But the name is also from outdated Comintern formulations to crudely define a specific kind of socio-economic and therefore 'political' development. Something that was revived during and after WWII to justify the 'liberation' then Soviet domination of eastern Europe, creatively interpreted later in Asia by the Koreans and the also-partitioned Vietnamese, by also incorporating Mao's take on it. So its association is with something that's now redundant and which the regime has now pretty much jettisoned. Maybe they should change it. ;)
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"Team GB" is rather inaccurate
 
Captain Hurrah said:
Maybe they should change it. ;)
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Maybe they will. But only if the Brilliant Comrade tells them to. In the meantime calling them North Koreans to their faces is only going to put barriers in the way of communication. Might as well call them whatever they want in order to make progress. When there we used the full "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" in every conversation and savoured the sweet irony. It keeps them happy and yourself sane, I think.

I doubt anyone associated with the Olympic team will cop it for this episode. Several hours of self-criticism in public in front of relatives, friends and co-workers, at worse.

But as for getting the flag wrong... Anyway, I've noticed the correct one is flying along various streets around London. Might cheer them up a tad.
 
Cameron's response? 'It was an honest mistake, honestly made': http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-18995657

a) I do not have enough facepalms to adequately express how I feel
b) He is a fucking twat
c) He wouldn't know what honest was if his life depended on it
d) He really is a clueless buffoon, really fucking clueless.

This is akin to displaying a swastika against the German team's pictures and introducing them as members of the East German football squad. It's a really offensive thing to do and required less than 5 minutes of google time to verify. Absolutely zero excuse in the internet age.
 
Well, it can't get any more depressing. The cauldron didn't go BOOM, & Boris wasn't sniped when giving his speech in Hyde Park :(

Fingers crossed things pick up this evening & for the opening ceremony. Alan Hansen is a prized target surely?
 
even the olympians are loving it
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-19003635
GB team women joining in with the public
_61833632_ol-11.jpg

Rachel Brown, goalkeeper, said the players had been made to feel "special" and were enjoying being based in the city centre.
She added: "It's been lovely being asked for photographs. We feel like proper Olympians and that's even more special.
"You need to detach yourself sometimes mentally and get out of the hotel.
"The city centre is on your doorstep and you can get out and do a bit of shopping. We've been enjoying the friendliness if the Cardiff people."
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two sheds said:
Fewer of the inappropriate posts, please. :(

I'm hoping the North/South Korean flag thing is going to turn into a sort of running joke by the organizers. Might even provoke a war out of this :) .
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When Yulia Tymoshenko's face appears on the Ukrainian flag we'll know that foreign office funny business is underway.
 
fair point! e2a to two sheds
hope seb foe has a g4s person that won't let them past and he misses something and his silly head pops off! and other things apart from a bored trigger finger army type accidentally firing a missile somewhere in the east end
 
Some quality comments on the BBC North Korean flag debacle article...

You can say a lot of things about the Brits (wonky teeth, fat etc.), but we don't take ourselves too seriously (unlike most Europeans) and we can laugh at our mistakes. Give it a few days and the Taiwanese will calm down, see the funny side of it, maybe thank us for cheering them up
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The problem was confusion I think and this is understandable considering that there are three Korea's


North Korea


South Korea


And for the person who put the wrong flag up


A Short Lived Career
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weltweit said:
Its funny, I would have thought the time for such speeches would be after the games have passed without terrorist incident or widespread doping of elite atheletes. Making such a statement now, "look what we have delivered" seems a bit silly since we have actually not delivered anything yet.
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it was his Mission Accomplished moment :)
 
Not been mentioned on N Korean propaganda news, which suggests they might not actually be that bothered about it after all. I suspect the team went off the pitch and refused to come out might not be so much to do with them giving a shit about being insulted but what they think might have awaited them back home had they not kicked up a fuss...
 
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