I have been against the hosting of the Olympics since the inception. It seemed a vainglorious waste of money, to enable politicians to wave the patriotic flag, even before they gave away all our money to the bankers. Now it is just crazy.
It is also scarey. It has been announced that 13,000 military personnel will be policing the event together with 8,000 private contractors and 12,000 police. There will be battleships on the Thames. Euronews has just quoted a British official as defending this as being in line with what was done in Beijing. But Beijing is not in a democracy. It also claims that London in 2012 will be the “safest place in the world”.
That is “safe” in the same way that Jean Charles De Menezes was safe with all those armed police around.
I urge you to cast a an open (suspend judgement) and symbolic savvy eye over Rick Clays videos which are removed from Youtube but can still be found here and there. It is as it is. http://bit.ly/w0FNzW
A re-run of the 1936 Games perhaps?
One good example of inappropriate use of the military. Why do we need so many soldiers during Olympics? What type of safety would this establish? Do we have civil war? 33000 strong security against whom?
@Charles Frith
Wow. I went to your link and on another video there they stated that (at 25 ) Rick Clays had committed “suicide” shortly after releasing these videos. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHL6QV3lE3E&feature=related
I haven’t yet followed up on the method used but wouldn’t be too surprised to find 2 bullets to the head.
It’s probably just Operation Vigilant Warrior again. With the entire armed forces in London, the attack will be on Inverness.
And over in the States the National Defense Authorisation Act – an abominable piece of legislation which quite openly shreds the US constitution – is due to be signed by Obummer. Sounds like a rush to militarisation of civil society to me.
I don’t know what paranoid, control freakery world these politicians are living in BUT I’m gonna be as far away from this bullshit as it is possible to get on £67.50 per week ( probably Reading)
Appreciated…. your closing Menezes sentence.
Mind you the 100 metres Drones might produce quite a buzz.
For the Olympics duration I shall be abroad. Absolutely!
Such over capability stinks of mongering, no more to be said. The obnce called ‘green Olympics’ could turn out to be a nasty shade of brown, some false flags might be waved, whilst the Indidans will probably stay at home. Almost the entire wrestling team will be naturalised eastern Europeans, lets hope they get their passports in time for the Moloch Olympics.
The Olympic Games has long ceased to be primarily a sporting event. Back in the 1970s it was already turning into a mammoth trade fair and tourist extravanganza – essentially a huge opportunity for everyone from hoteliers and concession-holders to gold medallists to make a quick few million bucks.
But I must object to “battleships on the Thames”, Craig. Obviously you were not one of those little boys who played with toy warships! A battleship is a particular type of warship, usually armed with guns of at least 12-inch calibre and heavily armoured. Britain’s last battleship, HMS Vanguard, was scrapped in 1959-60. Incidentally, the dreaded ARA General Belgrano was not a battleship either, many of the great and good to the contrary notwithstanding. She was not a battlecruiser or a heavy cruiser either, but a light cruiser – very similar to HMS Belfast, which can be seen to this day at its moorings near the Tower of London.
The Royal Navy has very little bigger than a frigate or destroyer nowadays, sadly.
I’m calling it now.
Soldier’s get mixed up in policing demonstration. British civilian gets killed. Riots ensue. More killing.
What a welcoming place London is going to be?
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With the border control agency checking every foreigner for finger prints, DNA, photo, and the usual interrogations, keeping the potential entrants in long queues for hours, that is for the lucky ones that have landed, and their aircraft has not been shadowed and diverted by the air forces jets.
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Then there is the welcoming natives ‘afro-bian’ or Caribbean
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Not forgetting the oodles of black clad armed men, menacingly keeping an eye on the would be visitors, in the silhouette of the battleships.
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Less said about muggers, buggerers, and gangs at ready to chase and beat up the visitors.
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So Beijing was known for the spectacular, what will London come to be known for?
Wasn’t the original idea of the Olympics to bring the nations together in a common cause?
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Their commercialisation and the ludicrous amount of security now considered necessary show that that concept has evaporated; it’s just another pissing contest. Quite apart from the fact that we can no longer afford essential goods and services for the home population. Allegedly.
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And weren’t we getting complaints about how a one-day strike would adversely affect output? Does anyone seriously imagine the Olympics will show anything but a colossal loss in the discernible future? After paralysing London for a month?
It’s fucking insane. It’s Pelion on Ossa. I am incandescent. Next time there’s a riot, I may very well see you all there.
Post disappeared. Maybe it was the phrase “f——g (redacted)
insane” that did it. You get the point, though.
As I begin to prepare a 3000km dance from the ancient Olympic site, Altis to todays modern Olympic site in Greenwich, London my research is bringing up a few interesting historic principals to reflect upon. One of them being The Olympic Truce…
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/truce.html
Tom Welsh I believe it’s going to be HMS Ocean, just back in their home port from their successes in attacking Libya with Apaches and the like. The crew participated in this MoD propaganda video which is vying with the Military Wives’ song in the popularity stakes.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDZcGz4vmJc 2.55 million viewings. Makes me feel ill and despondent that I am living among such nitwits.
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{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hR6O7VxKaQ} Military Wives 0.3 million viewings
Dont forget this whole idiocy didnt kick off until some clutch of fevered egos in the US senate decided that sending American sportsmen and women to London was a deadly risk. So of course, when Washington says Jump, Westminster says how high?
Someone I know has just flown from Australia to the USA, from USA to London, and from London to Dublin. (Not in one shift I hasten to add.)
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He was not searched leaving Oz or entering the USA.
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When he was *leaving* the USA for London, he was required to take off his shoes, and take out his laptop just to prove that that’s what it was. Otherwise not searched, and laptop not examined.
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At no time was he scanned (in these new controversial scanners) OR required to submit to a pat down.
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When he left London for Dublin, he was required to take out his toothpaste and deodorant and place them in a see-through plastic bag. Then carry on as normal. Nobody actually examined the contents of the plastic bag.
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I can make no sense of this whatsoever.
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Is this simply a half hearted “show” of security for public consumption?
And if so, WTF direction are they working in?
And last but not least, in the unlikely event that he’d been carrying anything in an attempt to attack London, what the f (sorry) use would a battleship (or military vessel of whatever kind) in the Thames be?
Battleships on the Thames – how exciting! They will be a good tourist attraction, and may also inspire some young people to serve their country when they grow up. One of my brighter childhood memories, almost faded now, was a visit to the U.S.S. Duxbury Bay when it was overseas (it was decommissioned a few years later).
Huh? I just did a comment with no links and it got gobbled.
I said “WTF” – could that be it?
“It has been announced that 13,000 military personnel will be policing the event”
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Not just squaddies either, lots of special forces types. Look on the bright side. Doesn’t this mean that the UK is not planning to be at war over the summer?
The athletes training already the Triathlon of racial abuse, parallel bars, and boxing medal is already in the bag judging by the looks of this performance.
MJ, it looks like they’re planning a war in London. I read that they’ll be deploying surface-to-air missiles.
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“To be really safe, you should always take a bomb with you when you fly. The chances of there being a bomb on your flight are very small, but the chance of there being two bombs are minuscule, so you should always take your own bomb, just to be safe.”
I followed the YouTube trail and found myself watching videos about simulated alien invasions planned by the New World Order, /and not being entirely unconvinced/… What is happening to me?! :\
It is a long tradition of London to have a good show. Nothing more sinister than that. Having given them a photo of your house from across the bay, I’d be more worried about what they do on their way out of the Thames.
@ Franz
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“I followed the YouTube trail and found myself watching videos about simulated alien invasions planned by the New World Order, /and not being entirely unconvinced/… What is happening to me?! :\”.
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LOL…don’t worry about it.You just got caught up in a Youtube worm-hole type loop.It happens.
I followed the YouTube …..simulated alien invasions……..not being entirely unconvinced/… What is happening to me?! :\
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Irrefutable evidence, that you are in a parallel universe to the rest of us.
Not a word about how much the disruption is going to hit our output. So it’s not a one-day demo then.
Just checking. 4°C here 33°C Accra. Not fair.
@ Mary
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I lived a good few years in West Africa.Believe me at this time of year the heat and humidity is insane.