Mid-Week Post

It's the mid-weekiest!


Fear of being shot is a very good motivation to win:

It's still only Day Four at the London Olympics but one early surprise is that North Korea are fifth in the medals table, a performance that will bring good news to the pariah state - and not a little relief for the athletes themselves.

The country's three gold and one bronze medals will spread a bit of joy to a people who have seen little of that lately - the North is currently battling floods that have killed scores of people and turned tens of thousands out of their homes.

The reality is that life is tough in North Korea in the best of times, however.

(Sidebar: you don't say.)

International sanctions over its nuclear weapons program, a decaying economy and a defective food distribution system have left almost a third of its 24 million people poor and hungry and it has few friends besides its neighbor China.

The gold medalists are hoping their feats will cover the country in glory and please its people and one man in particular - new leader Kim Jong-un, who only recently took over as head of the family dynasty on the death of his father Kim Jong-il.

"As an athlete I believe by winning the gold medal I was able to glorify my nation and give support to the people of my nation, so I am really happy," judoka An Kum-ae told reporters in London after winning gold.
"I believe I gave some happiness and joy to our leader, Kim Jong-un," she said fervently.

The North's official KCNA news agency reported that her family "burst into cheers and tears" watching her on television.

"She owes her success to the great leaders, the benevolent social system and the Workers' Party of Korea," said her father An Jong-ryon. "All my neighbors are calling at my house to offer congratulations to my family."

(Sidebar: not herself, her coach, her dad or Jesus?)

Best. Coach. Ever.

Kim Un-kuk, who set a weightlifting world record on the way to winning gold on Monday, said he was anxious for news of his triumph to reach Pyongyang.

For good reason: a life of luxury awaits the Olympians as reward for glorifying the Stalinist state. Elite athletes receive cash, cars, houses and the coveted membership of the Workers Party of Korea.

The consequences of sporting failure are far less palatable.

The coach of the national soccer team, who lost all three of their 2010 World Cup games, was reportedly expelled from the Worker's Party and forced to become a builder for his "betrayal".

A South Korean newspaper quoted an intelligence source as saying those who performed badly were even sent to prison camps, though that has been disputed by North Korean athletes.

North Korean defector Lee Chang-soo told Reuters in March that the difference between winning and losing an international competition could even be a matter of life and death.

So- why is North Korea allowed to participate? Perhaps asking the IOC is a waste of time.



Let's give these people a state:

"The visit helped Israel to spread the lie of the Holocaust, and does not serve the Palestinian cause. It has been clearly proven that the Israeli narrative [of the Holocaust] is fraudulent. [The Israelis] exaggerate what happened in order to garner international sympathy, which for years has come at the expense of the Palestinians." 

From this to this. People walk into the jokes about them.



God love these people:

Kieran Maxwell, 13, carried the Olympic flame through Bishop Auckland, County Durham, on June 17, 2012.

During the torch relay, the young amputee — his battle with Ewings Sarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer, cost him his left tibia last March — tripped over his heavy prosthetic leg. ...

But this week, Britain's biggest lottery winners announced that they're donating the funds necessary to get Kieran a lighter prosthetic leg.

And now, cats. In. Spaaaaaace.



(With thanks to one and all)